In twitter 101, I discussed the breakdown of how I tweet. The focus now shifts to why. The question comes up in conversation more than just about any other. Business professionals, teachers, single parents, and more ask me why I tweet. What I shared with them is best explained by using the graph below.
Branding
Personal:
No longer are the days where working in the corporate environment is a given. More and more professionals have included some form of consulting business to supplement or replace being an employee. Whether you work for a financially secure conglomerate or a mom and pop, focusing your efforts on personally branding will suit you well in good times and bad. Twitter is one of the best web 2.0 applications for personal branding, how strong of a brand presence you possess has been and will always be based on your efforts and determination to be successful.
Company:
Companies can have a significant impact for their brand by executing a strategic well thought out plan. In the case of Ford, GM, Zappos, and others they seem to have gained some momentum from a very concentrated effort executed by very talented leaders in social media. How each company evaluates twitter’s effectiveness for their brand awareness will differ based on pre-determined goals and objectives.
Networking
Grow:
If you can’t figure out how to develop and grow your network using twitter, you probably haven’t figured out how to do so in person and that’s ok. What it means is you should probably spend some time early on figuring it out. The technology allows us to connect with a vast number of people from around the world at the click of a button. How we go about providing value, gaining followers, friends, and building our networks is solely based on ourselves. As many have said before, listen first…talk later.
Strengthen:
Just because you’ve engaged with someone doesn’t mean you’ll be long lost friends. Building meaningful relationships take time. Learning about each other’s interests, dislikes, and more happen over weeks and months, not days.
Education
Learn:
Learning is a two way street and there is no shortage of valuable information found on twitter. Whether it is a link to an article that will help educate or information shared in 140 characters or less, many have increased their knowledge by connecting to other professionals who are sharing quality content. I find it’s much easier to find good content from trusted friends than blindly searching all over the internet for the same material.
Mentor:
Passing along knowledge is commonplace on twitter. Helping others is one way to help build credibility and often times will yield returned benefits. “Giver’s gain’ theory is in full effect and the community on twitter is typically known for being very supportive, especially to those just getting started. I believe that if more people started with the mindset of helping others first, they’re success spending time on twitter will occur quicker than if they started self promoting their product or service.