I heard a statistic the other day that surprised, no ASTOUNDED me: 75% of all Twitter users have less than 10 followers. I say astounded, yes because I have over 5,000 and I am connected to some users that have over 25,000 and furthermore there are even users that exceed the 1 million mark. Ironically this 75% of users were probably in the mind of the original developers, rather than the professional networker like myself. That idea being take you 10 best friends and tell them what you are doing during the course of the day.
It is the professional networker and superconnector that has come along and found a tool that fulfils our needs to touch the lives of a large number of followers and do it safely. One of the key aspects about Twitter is that you do not need to give a person your email address, phone number, or real address. It is possible to stay entirely anonymous. You can find me as @pgiblett and if I don’t wish to tell you my other contact details then that is all you shall know. Yet at the same time I can talk to you about business opportunities, jobs, or anything else that is relevant.
I have obtained consulting work through Twitter and I am currently leveraging Twitter as a marketing tool for an upcoming web solution in order to build interest even before we have a product to demonstrate.
Having 5,000 followers I thought I was in the bottom 10% or 20% of users until seeing this statistic. Yet also some people ask if you have over 5,000 users you cannot know what they are all saying all of the time – very true, but I cannot hope to and really do not wish to. It is not a case of being rude it is a case of how professional networkers use Twitter. Here are some things that are worth thinking about:
► “I am off to the cinema now” type communications are not normally relevant.
► 99.999+% of everything on the internet is of no relevance to what I am doing right now.
► Networking (including Twitter) is merely a means to extend the scope of what I am doing.
► The people on my personal ‘A-list’ warrant special attention.
►Replies always need personal attention
For professional networking answering Twitter’s question “What are you doing?” is normally the worst way to use the site. Facebook‘s “What is on your mind?” is probably closer to the truth. But the professional networker is really on Twitter to “Tell the world something significant“. At the end of the day everything you say is visible to the world. Blogs are the darlings of the search engines as they provide gigabytes of new content every day to be analysed. Twitter is one mechanism to driving people towards your message and it is pretty effective at doing just that.
The question “What are you doing?” should not be answered unless you are telling people in a conversation that you are no longer available (e.g. you have gone to a meeting). Your reason for being on Twitter is twofold: to promote what you are doing; and to intervene in the marketplace. Revenue opportunities do exist, but they will come in the course of your other activity. Don’t expect Twitter be become an instant money making machine.
Promotion of what you are doing: This is your opportunity to promote corporate blog posts, forum discussions and everything else the company is doing. Every message you send should be:
► Up-to-date
► Relevant
► and provide real value
Intervention in the marketplace should be about making you the expert in your market. Whenever anything is said about your product, your brand, or your company then it is important intervene intelligently and appropriately. If someone complains about how this is the third time they have travelled on your airline this month and you have been late each time, then it may not be correct to give them a 10% discount voucher but it may be appropriate to arrange for a senior customer services manager to call them and listen to their concerns.
Building Twitter connections is one method that can be leverage in getting your message out. You should be connecting to:
► Customers
► Prospects
► Anyone else who in the future may be interested in our product
► People having interests in our marketplace
► Competitors
The reason for this is to demonstrate expertise in our marketplace. A must for connections are customers, people who work for them. If a prospect is on Twitter connect with them. “Anyone who may be interested in our product” – this can be quite a wide net to cast, however if you are a realtor in Queens then you are interested in connecting with anyone in New York to start with as they may be interested in the properties you have for sale. When people follow you think about whether you can potentially help them, then follow back.
In following back you are not interested in people offering naughty naked pictures of themselves, those pushing MLM schemes, or those pointing you at sites where you can make astonishing wealth. These folk are not interested in your message.
A final word on following. Get connected. Don’t be afraid of followers, they cannot get to you unless you give them your personal details. If you do decide to give details then only do so via a Direct Message.
