Can Twitter be a marketing tool?

A few months ago, after resisting it for a while, I went ahead and signed up for a Twitter account. Frankly, it was mostly out of curiosity. What is this twittering all about? How can it improve my life? I started following my immediate group of contacts and people were following me as well. It was (and still is in my opinion) mostly a time sucker. Most people write meaningless information. Do I really care who that someone just ate a sandwich or is waiting in line somewhere? Not really. It was too much. I ended that experience pretty fast. I signed off Twitter and that was the end of that.

Last weekend I presented a new workshop here in LA called “Nuts and Bolts of Winning Proposals”. 12 interesting design and marketing business owners came from all parts of Southern California including one attendee that drove from Arizona.  When I asked him how he heard about this workshop he said: “I found it via Twitter." You can imagine my surprise. Twitter? Really? Apparently someone heard about my workshop and twittered about it. And then someone else twitted about it and so on and so forth all the way to getting this guy to drive from Arizona and spend the day at my workshop.

So this changes things. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not about to start twittering but it makes me rethink about the power of twitter and how it could be used as a marketing too. I don’t have to twitter but it may be good to know people who are active twitters with big following. And that’s a marketing tool right there.

So, do you twitter? Is it affecting your business?

 

Comments

[Karen Commins]

Hi, Peleg. My Twitter account is an integral part of my branding efforts. I tweet mostly about voiceover, marketing, and audiobook topics with occasional personal comments. I actively look for others' tweets to which I can respond with substance. I run my Twitter feed on my blog and as a second blog entity in my LinkedIn profile.

Twitter gives me an opportunity to virtually meet and chat with interesting and creative people whom I otherwise wouldn't know. It also continually establishes my position as a voice actor in the minds of prospects. One of my Tweeple even gave me a referral to someone who may need voice talent.

Through Twitter, I also have conversations with my peers in voiceover. I feel a closer sense of community and belonging in the industry because of interaction with other voice talent.

Beyond my branding, though, Twitter has become a primary source of news for me. If I want to know what's happening at any moment, I need only look at the cloud of words in Twitscoop.

Like anything else, Twitter can be an enormous time suck if you let it. I deliberately limit my time on that site and others, including this wonderful marketing blog. (BTW, I recall tweeting about an article I saw on this blog, giving you the credit for the info.) In fact, I wrote a blog article which explains how I use social networking sites in my voiceover business.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter, and I look forward to more articles from you on this blog.

Cordially,
Karen Commins
Voiceover talent

[TurtleBlueBird]

One swallow does not a Spring make.

(You might have gotten the same result - or better - with an announcement of your event on this blog. After all, vast Twitter only yielded you one exra attendee. How good a response is that really?)

All tools work for somebody and some situations. But since none of us has the time to do everything, picking and choosing becomes very important.

And since Twitter/social media is the ONLY tool some people are using, of course that is what they will see results from. Which doesn't mean it's necessarily the best. Or even good. For them or for everyone.

(According to the Wall Street Journal a few months ago, super-successful financial advisors Edward Jones to this very day starts its people out by KNOCKING ON DOORS. Really! Talk about a social media - one I'm glad I don't have to use.)

[Lisa Ghisolf]

I've found Twitter is an excellent tool for a variety of reasons - for finding talent [and sharing it, yes!], broadening my networking circle, and sharing a ton of useful links and information,

It's not a catchall, nor is it the sole answer to finding new business, but I've found a great number of folks I would not have otherwise. To me it's another way to expand my world.

Thanks for finally writing about it!

Lisa Ghisolf
gizmodesign on Twitter

[Dani Nordin]

I found a great client through twitter, actually. I find that it's great for the way I think - in short bursts - and it's also great for sharing both personal and professional information, which makes me much more "real" to the people I work with.

That said, it does take some time to get used to, and definitely you find yourself having to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Especially when the "social media marketers" and "gurus" start following you.

[Abe]

I was as skeptical as you were Peleg, if not more. I just had to see what all the tweet was about. Though it can be a time waster, its becoming more of a marketing tool for me. One of the things I'm doing is setting a standard for who I will follow. For example, if someone begins to follow me. I'll send them a tweet and see how the conversation goes, if nothing gives then I'll move along. It's a bit like being at a business mixer but online.

Twitter.com/thesoulcreative

I help businesses build brands through good design

[Sarah Z. Cordell]

I've found that if you use one of the programs that have been inspired by Twitter, managing and making it work for you can be a little bit easier. I've downloaded TweetDeck, which lets me organize the people I'm following into different groups. This helps keep me from getting overwhelmed, which happens all too easily with Twitter!

[Stephanie Todd]

I use tweetdeck. I've gained oh... 200 friends in the last 3 weeks. I'm not seeing an increase in business relationships or new projects coming in because of twitter, yet. I've only been active on it for the last 3 weeks; but what I have seen is a big increase in visits to our site. Which is always a good thing. =)