Context in Twitter-where is it?
Category Archives: Twitter
What exactly does adding value mean? 7 simple examples.
That was the question asked of me via Twitter and I thought, “Wow, apparently value is still the jello we’re trying to nail to the wall.”
In it’s most simple of terms, value is not:
“I just ate a salad”.
Value is:
“This salad was so good I’m sharing the recipe..”
Or value isn’t:
“I’m at the Expo all week”.
Value is:
“Anyone who would like to go to the Expo, here are some passes”:
But even more, value isn’t:
“I’m too busy to work with this client”.
Value is:
“Hey @bethharte I have a client that could really benefit from your knowledge, here is their name and number and email.”
Value is not: “I’m reading about 10 superb social media presentations.”
Value is: Here is a link to 10 superb social media presentations
Value isn’t, ‘Thanks Sonny.”
Value is: ” If it wasn’t for @sonnygill, I’m not sure what I would have done”.
Value isn’t reading about an Amber alert.. Value is Retweeting an Amber Alert
Value isn’t about applauding someone for giving money to a good cause. Value is about stepping up and coming together as a community to help someone out because it’s the right thing to do.
The reality is you knew all along how to add value. You didn’t need me to tell you, but just in case, perhaps these 7 examples helped you out.
20 Twitter brands behaving badly
I was doing some research for a Twitter webcast that I have coming up, and something caught me by surprise. I came across a post featuring the 100 most mentioned brands on Twitter. While the list is interesting, what I thought was more interesting and what prompted this post were the number of brands that were mentioned(talked about) a significant amount of times and the ones that I could think of, who did NOT have a twitter presence. Some might not think much about it. But to me, given what is happening with Twitter, I think it is somewhat significant. Why? What a golden opportunity to talk with people about your brand that already talking about YOUR brand!
Below is a list of large brands that are currently doing a really poor job of managing the Twittersphere. This easily could have been a much larger list.
- Nike
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Coca-cola or Coke
- Sony
- Adidas
- Nokia
- Skittles*
- VW or Volkswagen
- Subway
- Mercedes, MercedesBenz
- Audi
- Heinz or Hjheinz
- Lexus
- Budweiser/Budlight
- Rolex
- Levis
- Converse
- Toyota
- Mountaindew
As a marketer you are challenged every day for marketshare, eyeballs, mentions and anything else that can get people talking about and engaging your brand. For big brands, people already are talking about you. Good or bad They want to talk about you. Twitter allows you to do both. You can listen to what they are saying and you can create communities of brand champions. Yet these 20 are a) slow on the draw b) don’t care and or c) are too arrogant to “bother” with Twitter. We’ll see how long that lasts, but know this, There are many many more.
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Do Twitter users have an obligation to provide value?
The short answer is No. But I suppose it all depends on why you joined Twitter in the first place. Some of us joined because over 2 years ago, it was the new shiny social media “thing”. We had no idea at the time, nor did Biz and Ev for that matter, it would be what it is now. I almost don’t recognize it.
Beth Harte a few months back, talked about social media purists in a blog posts about the 4 faces of social media. For the purists out there, I think Twitter is just another extension or another channel to communicate, share and learn. That’s CO-mmunicate. As in 2 way. or as Beth mentions, The purist “truly embraces social media as the conversation that the tools allow people to engage in from day-to-day”.
The purist on Twitter doesn’t feel “obligated” to share information or provide value, they just do.
For those that are not into Twitter for the value that they can give and get from conversations, chances are they are misguided in to what they think Twitter can do for them. The operative phrase there being “what Twitter can DO for them.” Or rather, at some point along the way, for these “takers”, it ceased to be about the conversation, and more about them. Chances are, it was never really about the conversation in the first place. Essentially Twitter became a vehicle for narcissism.
This user will take value but won’t re-purpose or share value. Nor will they provide value. Unfortunately this person seems to be appearing more and more often in the space and for that reason, one is now forced to create niche like silos for information that hasn’t been tainted so to speak. I have maintained that that concept (silos) seems to make the most sense to really get and give the most value from those you follow and those that follow you, but by creating your own walled garden, you do miss out on some morsels of good content from time to time. But, to some degree, we now have no choice.
I’m going to semi-quote a song by a really famous band that was pictured above and rehash the words.
In the end, the value that you take, should be equal to the value that you make.
So what’s the answer?
You think about it.
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Why people are leaving Twitter
According to Nielsen last month, a full 60% of users who sign up to use Twitter fail to return the following month. And in the 12 months before the “Oprah effect,” retention rates were even lower: only 30% returned the next month.
I have a theory as to why that might be and it’s pretty simple.
Example #1
It’s probably a given that most new users have heard about Twitter and want to try it out. But this homepage doesn’t do much to explain it. Does it? By the way, the home page? That’s pretty much the same one they have used from the get-go. Of course you may click on the watch a video link for a how-to, but me thinks most will just go ahead and sign up and jump right in. In which case you get the following screen after you have registered.
Is this intuitive? Don’t you think it’s time to at least re-do the UI/Homepage?
The popularity of Twitter @replies
Here’s my quick take on what’s happening over at Twitter and then a quick link over at ReadWriteWeb-Twitter puts a muzzle on your friends-Goodbye People I Never Knew
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Twitter angst redux-10 reasons why people bail on Twitter
According to a recent article by Nielsen Online, more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month. Or Twitter’s audience retention rate is currently about 40 percent. If this surprises you, then perhaps you have not been using Twitter the “right ” way either. Yea, I know I have said on numerous occasions and to more people than I care to count, that although there are many ways to use Twitter, there is no clear cut right way to use Twitter. However, there are indeed, wrong ways to use Twitter. If you use Twitter the wrong way, I guarantee you, you will walk before the month is out, dissing it as the door hits you in the ass…
This is only part of the reason why 60% of Twitter users do not return. But in a nutshell, it boils down to ten distinct reasons why people do not return:
-By using Twitter incorrectly, people fail to see the value of Twitter. If you can’t see the reason to do something, then why hang around? We’re an impatient society, wanting everything now, Twitter isn’t about the quick hit.
-By using it as a one way communication mechanism, as if it was an email blast, people fail to see the return on their efforts.
-By not engaging in conversations with people on Twitter- you cannot possibly understand the value.
-If people new to Twitter think it’s about the number of followers or the number of people you follow, then they are failing to see what the true purpose of Twitter is.
-If people new to Twitter have never been educated on how Twitter can be used, then they may never understand how to use Twitter.
-If someone thinks that Twitter is a race, then after one month, they will never return. Twitter is a marathon/long distance race.
-Twitter requires effort. Some people are lazy. Some assume just by signing up that that might be enough, when they cannot see the value right away, they will bolt.
-Without any type of proper education or instruction-everything seems foreign and impossible.
-If taught to use Twitter the wrong way, Twitter people will push back, met with resistance, N00bs will bail.
So although it may surprise some that the numbers of people jumping ship so early on in their Twitter experience is so high, when you think about it. It makes perfect sense. The key or trick is, If we show people the way twitter should be used, that number will go down as the numbers of people still joining continues to go up.
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Twitter Angst
It’s tough to avoid writing about Twitter, it’s everywhere, but you know what? That’s ok. We did the same for Facebook too. As more and more N00bs flock to Twitter, I thought it was important that right out of the blocks, some things are done right. Here is a vlog promoting some of the things that you might want to think about. In short, I talk about tweeting as yourself, using your pic as an avatar,understand why you are following and why you follow and lastly-it’s all about value.
Don’t Blame Social Media
I was reading an editorial by Jonah Bloom of Adage titled, “In a crisis, don’t get too distracted by Twitterati” in which he essentially says that social media people are the one’s that fuel the fire when brands screw up.
To which I might say, “What’s wrong with that”?
In the social media sphere, yes the mob mentality does it exist. And when things go awry for brands, bloggers and the Twitterati alike, will flock to the subject and beat it to death- points taken and noted. I get that.
But…
Saying that Brand marketers can’t respond to the Twitterati and or bloggers “because of the incredulity and self importance of their wailing”, couldn’t be further from the point.
The problem is, brands are afraid to engage. They are afraid of putting a face to the brand, and they drag their feet. When in actuality they have the perfect vehicle to be proactive-social media. But instead they are still sitting around deciding whether they want to engage their users/consumers using social media.
What are you waiting on? A crisis?
Don’t blame the promoters and champions of social media for the mistakes that a brand makes. And don’t blame them for the mistakes that a brand continues to make after the fact.
Social media pundits, champions and promoters are just as quick to ask why a brand has not done something, as they are to point out when a brand does something great as well. In fact Peter Kim provides a huge list of companies enagaged in some aspect of social media. A positive.
Beth Harte just did an awesome post on a Dominos franchise that’s getting it right…another positive.
But I suppose that get’s overlooked since it’s an inconvenient truth.
The compassion of Twitter
My Mom was one of the most social people I knew. Having people over for dinner parties, going out, having brunches, dragging us to an event, a social gathering, a parade, an art opening, or concert, you name it, she was the one, she did it. The consummate hostess, tour guide and cruise director all wrapped into one. What’s more, she was big on documenting those events with lots of photos too. Her attention to detail was astounding. She was in essence, a social creature using social tools before social media was so cool.
It’s funny, but looking back, I didn’t always want to “go” and do this or do that or go here or go there, but once I was there I usually ended up having a pretty good time. She was truly back in the day, a key influencer. We talk about how important those “types” of people are today and my Mom was one before it even had a name.
I’d like to think that I have some of those social qualities that my Mom possessed and I think to a large part I do and I utilize them every day in the social media sphere that we all are swimming in right now, and that’s pretty cool.
Granted, she also had her fair share of things that we choose not to talk about or share, our demons if you will, but at the end of the day we all have them and we’re all like that. There is the personal, the really personal and the social and the really social.
This past Friday April 10th, 2009, I chose to share the really personal in a really social setting with my friends on Twitter. I know some might have wondered or questioned why I did, but though the way we communicate has changed, the choice to communicate with friends has not, at least for me.
And thus I told whoever was listening Friday that my Mom had passed away on that day.
It hurt tremendously to say, but for me the response from Twitter helped me in more ways than I have yet to understand. It humanized Twitter even more for me. It validated it for me. Why? Because when I tweeted it, no one was home and I needed to talk and I couldn’t do it on the phone without unraveling.
As of today, the warm wishes and condolences are still coming in and that means a lot. Though these people are not immediate friends and family- the impact on me has not been lost. And I know somewhere Nikki Meyer is smiling at just how social I was on her behalf… even in the end.
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