A few years ago, I wrote a post on the benefits of Twitter for B2B organizations. At that time, the percentage of online adults that were using the platform was around 10%. If you had asked me back then to predict what that percentage would be in 2012, I probably would have thrown out 30% to 40%. Well the platform hasn’t fared as well as I would have predicted with only 15% of online adults currently using Twitter (2012 Pew Internet Research). This comes as a bit of a shock to me considering the integration of Twitter into just about everything we consume. Twitter icons are everywhere. Hashtags are displayed in the bottom corner of most network TV shows. Tweets are referenced throughout news broadcasts and sports talk shows. But still only 15% of adults are using it. Why?
Twitter is a Firehose
Digital publishing platforms, and the internet in general, have given everyone the ability to have a voice online. This very fact is revolutionizing our lives and culture, but unfortunately, all these voices just turn into noise because we’re all talking at the same time. Twitter, with it’s 140 character format, global reach and multitude of mobile apps, is among the easiest and most efficient platforms to utilize. Users can easily fire off anything and everything that is happening in their worlds (insert what I had for breakfast here). The firehose is wide open and it’s not surprising that Twitter newbies (often my clients) quickly get blown away by the relentless stream of irrelevant content and conversations that fill their profiles.
After a few visits to the platform, many people walk right up to me and this conversation ensues:
“Brody, I don’t get Twitter.”
“Ok. Do you have a Twitter strategy? Are you following the right people? What are the relevant hashtags within your industry? Has anyone ever shown you how to search or create relevant lists?” I ask.
“Uh…no.”
A Twitter of Hope
In the next five posts on this blog, I’m going to do a deep dive into Twitter strategy and try to help you tame this savage, noisy bird. I’ll also probably turn this series into an eBook after it’s finished, so I’d love to get your comments and questions to include within the content. Here’s a quick outline of what I’ll cover:
- Twitter Profile & Content Strategy
- Proactive, Targeted Following & Engagement
- Twitter Management Tools, Tips & Tricks
- Searching Twitter for Golden (and Local) Nuggets
- Creating / Using Twitter Lists to Turn the Firehose into a Targeted Trickle
