It’s time to talk Twitter again. I’ve been hearing things from clients, like, "We think our audience is moving away from Facebook and more onto Twitter."

"Really?" I ask. What is the data you have to support that? [Crickets]

The state of Twitter today, in my mind, is still very mixed. Let’s examine how Twitter can be used, and explore a few of the things that make it maddening for the new users, who are still abandoning at a 70 – 80% rate after 30 days. * (this stat was totally made up, from previous information and inclinations, if you have a real number, please contact me and I will update the figure.)

GOOD TWITTER

• Marketing Research: To get a quick read on what topics are HOT, Twitter is a great place for information. Search Twitter for a topic or a hashtag and immediately you can see the sentiment (positive or negative) and the volume (how active is the topic). And my favorite Twitter tool, TwitterVenn can draw a quick compare and contrast graphic for 2 to 3 terms or hashtags.
• Brand outreach, messaging, coupons: If they follow you, they want to know about you. If they don’t want to know about you  but they follow you, they are probably scammers and spammers. Real people use Twitter every day to gather information on people and companies they are interested in. If you Tweet for a company, try and make the information useful and not merely marketing messages. (That’s the quickest way to get unfollowed.)
• Communication with your TWEETING friends and followers: So people love Twitter and take to tweeting immediately. Those people and companies LOVE to be tweeted at (using @username) and tweeted via DM (using Dusername). If they GET Twitter, use it.

BAD TWITTER

• How does an individual get started?: If you want to learn Twitter, it’s best if you start up in small steps. Follow a few people or companies you are interested in. Read. Respond. ReTweet.
• Can a business use Twitter and make money or see benefits from their Tweeting? That depends on your objective. Do you want to blast coupons out every Friday night to entice users to buy your pizza by delivery? Do you want them to know about your charity efforts during the holidays, so that they think better of your company? These are great ways that Twitter works. The first can be revenue increasing, the second might be building your brand equity, but will probably not drive sales to your bottom line.
• "I don’t get twitter.": If you don’t get it. That’s okay. You don’t have to be on Twitter. You don’t have to Tweet. You’re going to want to, if you get it. But, really, it’s 100% okay if you don’t.
• The SPAM on Twitter is deafening. It is hard to opt-out of Twitter once you get going. Unfollowing someone is just as difficult as following them. You have to click UnFollow on the spammers just as you followed them.

It’s all in how you use it.

• Follow back people that interest you.
• Don’t be part of the "team follow back" fad. If you follow everyone you’re going to be subscribing to spam. So follow who and what is interesting to you. Pay attention to who you follow.
• Follow more people to get more followers. Again, don’t follow everyone, or you are going to get a lot of information that is useless and "spammy" to you. If you follow your interests, or business associates, you are more likely to get valuable information from Twitter.
• Aside from that, try Twitter.
• Try a few of the Twitter tools. (Tweetdeck, Hootesuite)

My Twitter motto is: You Get What You Give.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth) permalink: https://uber.la/2012/12/twitter-strategies/

Check out the Strategist’s Notebook page and these other posts about online marketing:

• Workin Facebook < all the Facebook Posts in one place
• uber.la quickies < a streamlined takeaway from today’s best marketing sources
• Social Media University < 2 minute educational videos
• Social Business MBA < the reading list
• Becoming a Social Media Rockstar: The Quick Path < um… let’s discuss

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