About a month or two ago a creative director friend of mine sent me a notice on my Facebook page to follow him on Twitter. I didn't know what the heck he was talking about and told him so. Then, a few weeks ago I was reading a blog on blogging and stumbled on an article about why you should Twitter, especially if you had a blog you wanted to promote. I read it, was interested and now I must say, I'm a Twitter fan.
For those of you who don't know what Twitter is, basically it's a social network based on a social network device. You know the part of your MySpace or Facebook or LinkedIn page where you write what you're doing at that moment in time or some funny line (for instance mine could say "Mike is writing a blog on Twitter" right now)? Well, Twitter is basically that and nothing but that. You get 140 characters to send out a blurb about yourself to anyone who is "following" you – basically your network. You can post links to interesting things you found there. Or ask a question and do an impromptu poll.
So, what are the marketing possibilities? Well, as I explore Twitter, I find you can follow more than just friends. You can follow bloggers in your profession an learn things you might have missed, without having to always scan their sites to see what they're posting and if it interests you. You can follow companies. A friend of mine is the marketing manager at the Canton Library. You can follow the Canton Library and get updates on what events are coming up or books have arrived or whatever. You can follow your favorite political candidate. You can follow your favorite brand.
So, if you are a company or a brand, this is a way to tap into your raving fans. You can send them updates about your products, let them in on special deals, poll them for opinions, direct them to your web videos, etc… And Twitter can be installed on your computer desktop and linked into your mobile phone – which means you can be in constant touch with people who love your product and are most likely to pass on word-of-mouth praises to others. Think of the possibilities.
Mike McClure – Tweet me at http://twitter.com/mikekmcclure
