By Rebecca Happy
I had a great experience the other day on twitter as I was trying out a new twitter tool and thought I would tell you about it to underline the reach of power twitter has. First a little intro. Twitter is the fastest growing micro blogging and perhaps social media member community going today. 64% of users are between 25 and 54 yrs old with 20% of users are 55+. People communicate in short messages no longer than 140 characters long. It is a way of exchanging info as to what you are doing, reading, or thinking multiple times daily with people who want to hear about it. Twitter keeps its numbers closely guarded and has yet to monetize its service but hundreds if not thousands of twitter tools and twitter automation software programs have been created and are making money.
News can spread around the world in a matter of seconds because of it. When the earthquakes hit China, people on the streets knew about it before the government could control what info went out. When the plane went down in the Hudson River, people driving by tweeted and broadcast it to the world before news broadcasters had heard.
These events underline the power of social media and were a wake-up call for many including the news media and the Chinese Government. I would suspect that these groups would keep a close pulse on new twitter tools and twitter application software to help them source information the fastest now if they aren’t creating their own.
The other day I was trying to learn how to use a new feature in a twitter tool I was exploring so I could group my Social Traffic team in a list and easily find what they were doing. For the life of me I could not figure it out. Some of these twitter tools or twitter automation software programs are great but there is of course a new learning curve with each one. I thought I would ask the twitterverse to see if anyone knew the answer for this particular twitter tool and would help me out. I tried a couple of un-targeted questions to the world with no tweetback.
I decided I would ask a specific person who I thought would know and hoped that she was around and noticed my tweet. @AlohaArleen is a very active twitter user who is both followed by and follows many people. I had seen her around a lot and also seen some of my colleagues interact with her.(clue) I have had a few interactions with her myself and she was quick to respond always with great info.(clue) I intuitively knew she would be able to help but could not recall exactly what her business was.
@AlohaArleen quickly responded that she does not use twitter tools because she has too much traffic back and forth they always crash on her so could not answer my question. To help me out however as a service, she put a series shout outs to her 80,000+ followers and asked if anyone using the twitter tool in question could help me. Within seconds several people showed up who were familiar with this particular twitter tool and asked how they could help. Some could some couldn’t but they took their time based on their trust of @AlohaArleen and responded to her call. How cool is that!
This is just a fun little story but think of how it applies to your business. You can get and provide instant answers to questions to people who want your services. You can find out what they are wanting and how they want to be communicated with. If you help them out you will gain their trust. Nourishing this you may even get an evangelist or customer from them.
Twitter is an easy entry point to the social media world. It is like being at a cocktail party or networking event. Tidbits of info are shared. If you find the conversation worth developing you may exchange details and move to another tool like, a website, email, skype or phone. As I already mentioned there are numerous twitter tools and twitter automation software to save time through automation or organization of efforts.
I came to learn Twitter through Simon Ford’s Social Traffic training course. I met Simon Ford on FB when I first started on Social Media. He slowly started to engage me in conversation and helping me out. His Twitter module got me up and running. Here is a short clip you can watch now:
The Social Traffic course walked me through getting started which included getting clear on who I was and who I was looking for. Simon always underlines the importance of group participation and learning/helping each other out. Add value first to build relationships of trust. Find leaders and learn from them. The twitter tool I was exploring helps when following multiple accounts as well as grouping people into categories of interest. It saves time when searching for the leaders you want to exchange with.
Simon is definitely a master at building online communities and I will continue to learn from and apply his knowledge to mine. Following Simon’s Social Traffic teachings I have been able to find great leaders such as @AlohaArleen. I will certainly be keeping a close watch for her on twitter. If I can help her out one day I will. In the meantime I am grateful for her help AND for the fun I had getting it. In less than five minutes I gathered the information needed, applied the knowledge and met a bunch of new people.
