Why Did I Start Tweeting - A Business Argument

I was talking with a friend and fellow entrepreneur yesterday and when I mentioned I had decided to start using Twitter a few weeks ago she said, "Oh please tell me I don't have to start using that!" Today in a meeting with two investors we got speaking about different ways to market yourself and I got quit a bit of push back on the cost (in time) to learn and keep a twitter, LinkedIn, or other social networking account fresh enough to give it a reasonable ROI. Here is what I told them about why I believe it is important to start now and why they won't regret the small amount of time it takes to keep it fresh.

1. Twitter was one of the easiest social network profiles I have set up. As well, it is so very easy to use both from my browser and my phone. Really, this was the "no brainer" profile I was looking for. I hate spending hours or days to collect information or navigate complicated profile applications.
2. Twitter is a great way to follow some of the people I respect and look up to. The first thing I did was start following all my favourite authors. Then I added some mentors and business associates I have met over the years that I respect. What I found is that many of these people would follow me in return. Also, people that followed them would now follow me. Some were interesting and some were not. If they were interesting then I followed them. My point being it became easy to get a list of very interesting people to follow.
   

   Note - I could not necessarily find all the people I was interested in following and in some circumstances I could find too many with the same name. You have to add a picture or a very good profile detail so people can tell you from the others with the same name.



3. Tweeting was not like blogging, writing an article, or creating an RFP, it was simply a line of thought or an update. I gave an example that I could tweet right now that I was sitting with two investors, both with international investment portfolios, and if they had a Twitter account I could link to them, pushing their information out to the people that were listening to me.
4. I described the Twitter browser interface (technical description from my Tech-writing days) aka "the web screen" and how simple it was to update and receive tweets. You don't have to do anything to see the tweets from those following you and you don't have to read all the tweets that come to you. If you inadvertently follow someone that turns out to be too verbose (re"twitter"ative) then you can simply stop following them. I was following someone that tweeted 20 - 30 times a day (or more). I had to flip back pages past all her redundant updates just to see my favourites, so I stopped following her. Problem solved.
5. You get to find out about seminars, webinars, and calls which are often free events. I love being able to get a chance to hear about how others do business so I can make mine better. When I have time to listen I make time to learn and Twitter just gives me a new way to be 'in the know'.
6. You can create credibility and presence by tweeting, which you can turn into business. There are many businesses on the web that focus on helping companies do this. Two of them that I follow are @GinaBell and @ChristianMasson. I have met and trust Gina's husband @Coach_Bell and Christian at a conference in Montreal last April and have had the privalege of hearing Gina speak on two occasions. Now my tweet about this blog has just created credibility for all three of these people.

Firsthand example ROI

I got a tweet to download a recorded call from Jill Konrath (@jillkonrath ). I've heard her speak before and knew there would be value in listening to the interview. The interview was with David Wolf of Smallbiz America (@smallbizamerica ). After listening I found the radio link and listened for a while. I found the information so compelling that I decided that others needed to know about it so I put there syndicated radio link and logo on my website. No cost to them. The more syndicated buttons, the more listeners - The more listeners, the more advertisers. You've got to like a business model that gets your clients to push your business at no cost to you.

After I described this to my colleagues and then showed them some of the tweets I was following, they all said "This is now on my 'To Do' list." As it should be. I think business is hard enough. We have to take advantage of the small, easy things when we get an opportunity.

Note - "re"twitter"ative" means someone that twitters the same message in a different manner so often that it becomes irritating to their followers. I made that up :)