Twitter for Business? Call Me Dr. Jekyll…
August 4, 2009 
4 Comments
Social Media and Twitter
About a year ago, back before Twitter became the Social Media giant that it is today, I watched a video of Jack Dorsey giving a presentation
of what this new “Twitter” thing was, and like most other college kids,
I set down my bowl of Ramen noodles and said, “Uh…like, yeah, we’ve
been using Facebook Status Updates forever”. As someone already
updating his friends on “what I am doing” through Facebook, I thought
Twitter seemed redundant; another username and password for me to
remember in the vast expanse of cyberspace. Not to be left behind the
curve, however, I logged on to Twitter, created an account, posted my
first Tweet, and then never used Twitter again.That is, until I started working at Central Desktop.
It was an exciting
first day at the office, learning that I would be working on our
marketing materials, writing copy, and spending summer doing a bunch of
cool stuff that was *not* flipping burgers. But this excitement was
short lived, because I soon discovered that I would also be responsible
for maintaining the company Twitter account…[insert dark clouds,
thunder, and lightning here]. I could just picture it: I would sit all
day long, reading 140 characters after 140 characters about people I
don’t know talking about going to see Harry Potter and listening to
music I don’t like and boring me to death with minor details about
themselves…I would be Prometheus chained to a cubicle, and the
Twitter bird-mascot would fly down and eat my liver every day for
eternity.
Ok — that might have been a gross over-exaggeration, but I think you get my drift: based on my experience using Twitter in my personal life, I was not looking forward to using it in my professional life. Yeah sure, everyone else was using Twitter–but I considered myself a conscientious objector. I had already known Twitter was a great tool for marketing, but that was just what I heard from The Powers That Be, not from any measure of personal experience.
So began my love affair with Twitter. I begrudgingly logged onto the Central Desktop
Twitter account and started Tweeting about company buzz: blog posts,
announcements, events, etc…pretty basic stuff. But then I got
curious. I downloaded TweetDeck (awesome
application, for those who don’t use it) and started following
important terms, such as “Central Desktop” or “CentralDekstop” or “collaboration software“. Lo and
behold, there were tons of people talking about our product–giving
Central Desktop praise, asking questions, responding to buzz. Suddenly a whole world of
interaction I hadn’t experienced opened up: I realized Twitter is not just about “me, me, me”, but rather a world in which I can directly represent
our brand to the people that matter. I began answering questions,
responding to praise and problems, and even seeking out
potential customers to interact with. This is marketing at the
grassroots level, and I actually enjoyed it.
Here’s my point: there are still a lot of you out there who have dismissed Twitter, and there is a part of me that agrees with you–I still don’t use my personal Twitter account. But there’s also a part of me that, having experienced it first hand, sees the power Twitter holds when it comes to the professional world–power you can’t afford to miss out on. Normally I’m Dr. Jekyll, comfortably watching from a distance as everyone else Tweets away. But in the office, I’m Mr. Hyde, diving head-first into the Twitterverse to interact hands-on with our brand. So to those of you still sitting on the side of the pool, come on in–the water is fine. And when you do, say hello @centraldesktop — we’ll be listening!
Related Post:
>> Your Brand on Twitter – Are You Listening?
Related Story:
>> Central Desktop Using Twitter for Sales, Service, and Brand Monitoring Conversations – by Bill Ives
Yes… I like you have been trying to figure Twitter out. Someone told me it is one of the best research tools ever made. I am trying to figure that one out.
Great post Josh! I’ve had the same experience with Twitter. I feel like I enter in a relationship every time I sign up for yet another social network… “I love you. I hate you! Why are you so complicated?!”
Anyway, glad to say that Twitter and I have worked out our differences and I find it very useful in my personal and professional life. The company I work for, Wildfire Interactive- wildfireapp.com, has me doing “Guerilla Tweeting” from time to time. Fun stuff. Anyway keep up the blogs! Very entertaining!
You’re absolutely right, and with such buzz about social networking, new sites trying to be “the next Facebook” pop up so frequently it almost breeds apathy with me…it’s like, how many times do I have to connect up with the same people in different places?
I’m trying to stay open to it all because, like I’ve seen with Twitter, sometimes “the next best thing” actually is as important as it says it is.
Let’s catch up sometime soon, it’s been too long!
More and more I’m starting to agree with what that Someone told you, especially when it comes to things like Brand Image and Public Opinion…thanks for your comment!