I don’t want to appear to be focusing on Twitter as the savior to all things “bloggy”, but I linked to a blog this morning (see link below) that outlined some very relevant information about Twitter and its use as a marketing tool. I couldn’t resist sharing. (I could also share this thru Twitter, by summarizing one point per Tweet, or by summarizing it in about 100 characters and inserting a “tinyurl” linking to the article. But its exposure would suffer as those who NEED to read this aren’t Twittering.)
Here is the scenario: Harvard Business School professor
Andrew McAfee lost a bet and conducted an experiment in which he sent
100 Tweets in one day. He not only picked up new followers, but he also saw his Twitter ratings jump (see my Twitterer posting for more insight). Of course, no one has the time or energy to consistently tweet 100 times per day (and no one wants to RECEIVE 100 tweets a day either!) But in the experiment, he came away with a few interesting take-aways:
1. Tweet about more than yourself and your company
This is much like my “content is king” comment in the “Invitation…” blog post a few days ago. He noticed that the tweets with the most response came from posts that provided usable information rather than “what am I doing now” commentary: “Ten Things I’ve Learned from Teaching” and “Twenty Great Poems Available Online.”
2. People like lists
He further noticed that offering rankings of items is a surefire way to get people involved. He picked up extra traffic when other people starting Tweeting about his lists, driving people to his website and his blog.
3. Engage in multi-platform promotion
Use Twitter in conjunction with other media tools, such as websites and blogs. McAfee successfully made his day of 100 Tweets into an event by blogging about it beforehand, generating reader curiosity and encouraging them to follow him to see the results.
4. Be prepared for a few snarky comments
If you’re willing to put yourself out there on an interactive platform, your efforts will draw their share of criticism. The bottom line is that it keeps the conversation going and shows that you’re striking a chord with people, which sometimes is all we can ask for in a world of so much competing information, tweets among them.
Overall, McAfee’s experiment gave me a renewed interest in further exploring how to shift my tweeting away from random thoughts and commentary on my activities, toward content that will further build my brand across a wider audience. Like a good chess game, it means seeing a number of moves ahead, and “keeping the end in mind.” I encourage you to do likewise.
“It's not the effort that companies put into innovation ... [but] how firms go about doing innovation that separates leaders from the rest." --- David Midgely, INSEAD professor