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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Perspective on How Best To Use Twitter

TwitterYes, Twitter is in the news. It's making headlines and conversation and generating plenty of digital content. What appeal to me most in the digital content are articles offering perspective on how best to use Twitter - in other words, practical marketing perspectives.

I haven't yet uncovered any Twitter silver bullets. None of these articles and posts will solve all of your marketing and communication challenges or opportunities. However, they do offer ideas and angles worth exploring. It's the exploration that will lead you to the solution that is right for you and your business; it will also help you determine how best to integrate a tool like Twitter into your marketing mix.

Take Steven Berlin Johnson's presentation on Twitter - it had me appreciating the 140 character micro-blogging platform in a new light. This post and video - Twitter Founder at TED Charts Adoption & Gestation Milestones - offer similar big picture perspective.

Now, Twitter definitely has its challenges. Best practices aren't self evident and immersion in the platform has its own issues [so you have an account, then what? you tweet about your breakfast?]. That's why I really enjoyed this New York Times article from David Pogue titled Twitter? It's What You Make It.

Josh Bernoff gets right to the heart of the most powerful aspect of Twitter -- customer interaction and service-- in his 5 practical uses for Twitter from Twitter is a 5-tool player -- how it should get paid. More specifically, do research, talk to people, energize your brand advocates, support your customers and embrace customer feedback.

Practical Resources:
Duct Tape Marketing's John Jantsch created Using Twitter for Business, a terrific down-to-earth resource. I also like Ragan.com's A Twitter primer - in way more than 140 characters [premium membership required]. You'll notice similar guidelines and information; I like reading them to remind me of an angle I might have forgotten or not fully absorbed.

Lists to Explore
If you think you're really serious [and borderline geeky] about Twitter, consider bookmarking the ever evolving masterlist of Top Twitter Tools, Twitter Resources, and Twitter Services from John Kremer [count as of 7/27/09 = 327].

Do check out 100 Twitter Tools to Help You Achieve All Your Goals.

In your spare time, consider taking a look at Twitter Fan Wiki. You'll be astounded at all that has been created. Warning! I found it overwhelming.

What other useful resources and perspectives on how best to use Twitter have you come across?


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2 comments:

  1. A friend of mine told me to narrow the issues I tweeted down to 3-5 max and try to stay focused on those. I took her advice. It was freeing to have those parameters - and I quickly connected with people/ideas/articles in a whole new field that I had really wanted to learn about. I went "in" to Twitter kicking and screaming about 6 months or so ago, but it has been a very rewardomg way to explore and connect. @AndreaLearned

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andrea, I love your advice. Thanks for sharing it and also for taking the Twitter plunge. I do enjoy your tweets! CB

    ReplyDelete

Reminder: Please, no self-promotional or SPAM comments. Don't bother if you're simply trying to build inauthentic link juice. Finally, don't be anonymous: it's too hard to have a conversation. Thanks, CB

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