No One Knows It All
We’re a marketing company and we do a lot of Social Media. Believe it or not, people actually pay us to do it! You might be thinking, big deal. Right? Anyone can do Social Media and you don’t need to be an agency to know what you’re doing. To a degree you would be absolutely right. Social Media is moving and changing so quickly that it’s tough to be “expert” in all phases of it. Consequently, we stick to those aspects of Social Media that are more useful for businesses because that’s who we peddle our services to. Long story short, this means we focus primarily on:
- YouTube
What’s My Point?
As I said, it’s tough to be expert across the board but we do pretty well on just these four. If you’re willing to put in the effort, we can help you build a pretty strong profile on any or all four of these. We’ve danced the dance with a number of clients and we’re managing 15-20 profiles on these at any given time. Of the four, our experience is that businesses usually have the least comfort with Twitter. This brings me to the point of this article.
Twitter Ain’t Facebook
Businesses are naturally uncomfortable with Twitter because they don’t know as much about it and it moves really fast. Twitter lives in the realm of the sound bite and you have to move often, move fast and move on. Businesses can struggle will all three of these. They want to treat Twitter like they do Facebook and it doesn’t work very well. Here are a few of the most common misconceptions we see with clients as they first step into the Twitter arena.
Twitter Misconceptions
- Too many Tweets is bad – Wrong! Too few Tweets is far worse than too many. I’ve yet to see a powerhouse Twitter user who doesn’t Tweet like a hummingbird on speed. The stream moves so fast if you’re not Tweeting at least, at the very least, a couple dozen Tweets per day hardly anyone will notice you.
- We need to just Automate our Twitter Account – Not completely wrong. We definitely use automation to a point. It’s OK to schedule Tweets so you can generate content around the clock. You can even automatically Follow and Unfollow although we generally prefer some human insight in this area. Most importantly, though, you need to interact. The biggest benefits of Twitter are in the personal interactions. The Shoutouts, the DM’s and the banter back and forth. You can’t automate humor, outrage or friendship. For that you need a personal touch.
- Twitter doesn’t generate business for us – Really? Are you sure? While it may not always be obvious how Twitter is generating leads that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. In our experience, you’ll generate far more traffic to your main website from an active Twitter profile than from an active Facebook page. Facebook is better for direct consumer interaction but we like Twitter for driving business leads.
The Moral of the Story
Twitter and Facebook are both Social Media but they serve different roles and require a different approach. Twitter is an animal of a different variety and just because you have a personal Facebook page doesn’t make you a Social Media guru. If you try to tackle Twitter like you do Facebook you’re going to struggle and you’ll never get a return on your investment. Whether your investment is time (i.e. doing it yourself) or money (i.e. bringing in an “expert” like us), we’re guessing you’d like a positive return.
Do you think this is brilliant? Do you think I’m full of it? Either way, let me know in the comments below. We love the input!
