Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong?
Marketers love Twitter these days for a list of reasons including using it converse with customers and influencers, sharing content and driving traffic to websites. There has been so much talk about Twitter in Marketing circles, you would think that everyone would have it figured out by now. I’m not claiming to be a Twitter expert but I have been a fairly heavy user for the past couple of years and here are a few things I see folks doing that I believe are just wrong:
1/ Focusing on followers instead of engagement – Social Media folks have been saying “it’s about the conversation” over and over for years now but this is still a stumbling block for a large number of marketers. There are plenty of tools out there that for a fee, will follow people based on keywords, unfollow those that don’t return the favor and follow some more until you have thousands of followers. That’s great, right? It is if your only goal is to try to impress people (who know nothing about Twitter) with the number of followers you have. If your goal however is to drive some awareness or action, 15,000 followers could well be the same as 100 if none of your 15,000 ever talks to you or shares your stuff. There are some interesting tools coming to market to judge how “influential” a Twitter user actually is. Klout seems to be the most sophisticated out there, creating a score that takes into account how often people respond to you or share things you’ve posted and how influential those people are. Topsy (the folks that power the retweet button on this blog) is also measuring how influential folks are by tracking how often they are cited in other people’s Tweets. People should stop bragging about the number of followers they have – it’s easy to buy followers therefore the number is meaningless.
2/ Broadcasting instead of interacting – I’m not saying you can’t share your own stuff on Twitter, you can. I never post a blog post without Tweeting about it a couple of times because frankly, if I cared enough to spend the time writing it down, I generally care enough to share it. Where this doesn’t work however, is when that’s ALL you are doing. It becomes like advertising, and by that I mean boring and really easy to ignore. Yeah, I get that this works for Mashable but chances are, you and your company are nothing like Mashable. You are going to have to do a whole lot more listening and talking to be taken seriously within a community and that means interacting and being helpful instead of just pitching and selling.
3/ Ignoring people that are trying to talk to you – Sure you might get away with this if you are Ashton but what amazes me is when regular old tech folks, or worse, people representing companies ignore people. I’ve had this happen to me more than a few times and every time it does, I’m perplexed and annoyed. Why don’t they want to talk to people? Do they think we won’t notice that we are being ignored and be mad about that? I can see missing a few messages (it happens to me) but I’ve seen many users that only interact with a small group and pretend the rest of us don’t exist. I do exist. I exist and not only will I unfollow you, I will mock you and your lousy social skills over drinks for the next 6 months. If you’re Ashton, that might not matter. If you are a regular person like the rest of us, (even a somewhat well-known one) it might not kill your brand but at a minimum you are missing out on an opportunity to expand your community.
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Twitter: Are you Doing it Wrong? | Rocket Watcher by April Dunford: Marketers love Twitter and use it to converse … http://bit.ly/ci1Dx3
RT @aprildunford: Blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
RT @aprildunford: Blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
Twitter: Is #Marketing Doing it Wrong? by @aprildunford http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt marketing
Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? (Via @dannybrown) http://bit.ly/bVDI1J
You'd think ppl get this by now, right? RT @cubanalaf: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? (Via @dannybrown) http://bit.ly/bVDI1J
Who’s wrong? Who’s right? Who defines which is which? Do you? For, even you are not right all the time.
You inspired me to write my own blog post: http://ariwriter.com/stop-diluting-social-medis/
Hi Ari,
LOL – I’d be the last person to say I’m right all the time!
There’s a reason there is a question mark in the title of this post – make up your own mind about what’s right and do it that way.
Thanks
April
Twitter: Are you Doing it Wrong? April Dunford on 3 no-nos of Twitter marketing http://j.mp/btAiUi
Twitter: Is marketing doing it wrong?
http://ow.ly/1U4Yd
RT @aprildunford: Blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
Hey April
Your blog covers what I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Number 2 is especially true of a lot of people on Twitter – then number 3 is the worst! If someone representing a company isn’t going to reply to @’s then they may as well not be on Twitter! Man, it drives me mad, isn’t that the whole point? You don’t go to networking and just talk with a megaphone so why do it online!
Just yesterday a journalist was looking for an Italian football fan living in Wales, I messaged her saying I had a contact if she wanted it, then the next day she carried on Tweeting looking for an Italian football fan. Then I messaged her again (mistakes can happen) and she didn’t reply. Definately going to unfollow! Feels good to get that out there (!)
Hi Arek,
Thanks for the comment. I don’t understand why people ignore it when folks are trying to talk to them on Twitter but it happens to me all the time. It’s happened to me twice with a person who also blogs and I’ve promoted his blog both here and on Twitter. After a while, it’s hard to stay enthusiastic about a person or a company that doesn’t care enough about you to acknowledge you exist.
April
RT @jyamasaki: Twitter: Is #Marketing Doing it Wrong? by @aprildunford http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt marketing
RT @aprildunford: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0
Right on the mark! Totally agree! RT @aprildunford's "Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong?" http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
I would agree with this one – Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? (Via @Dannybrown) http://bit.ly/bVDI1J
Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? (Via @dannybrown) http://bit.ly/bVDI1J
Great points! RT @cubanalaf: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? (Via @dannybrown) http://bit.ly/bVDI1J
How #marketing often gets #Twitter wrong: http://bit.ly/bCXEcW #PR #HumberPR
Thanking @dannybrown for linking to @aprildunford's thoughts at http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 inspiring me to create http://ariwriter.com/?p=4080
RT @aprildunford: Blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
RT @aprildunford: Blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
RT @aprildunford: blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
RT @aprildunford: blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
RT @aprildunford: blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
RT @aprildunford: blog post: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 #prodmgmt #marketing
RT @Birgit_Dondorff RT interesting! @AskAaronLee: How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB … http://bit.ly/dp1DSc PLS RT
RT @Twitter_Tips: How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB
RT @AskAaronLee: How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB via @Twitter_Tips
RT @AskAaronLee: How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB via @Twitter_Tips
NewsSheet: Twitter_Tips: How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB: Twitter_Tips: How Twitter Mark… http://bit.ly/94dS8t
RT @Twitter_Tips: How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB
Do they??? RT @AskAaronLee: How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB via @Twitter_Tips
How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB http://bit.ly/d35wnB
How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB http://bit.ly/d35wnB
Tweeting errors; Marketing off the mark: http://ow.ly/1Us70
RT @AskAaronLee: How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB via @Twitter_Tips
How #Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong http://j.mp/btUrvB via @Twitter_Tips @AskAaronLee @suthisak
It’s amazing to me that there are people NOT doing these things correctly. They are kind of “well, duh” to me. I think the same people who use Twitter wrong are the ones who don’t know what customer service is and, as a result, do it wrong, too.
Come on folks! Get with the program.
Hi Jodi,
Thanks for the comment. I’m like you, I’m stunned at the number of new followers I have that have thousands of followers and yet never talk to anyone and only Tweet links to their own site. It’s crazy but there are just LOADS of them out there….
April
How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB http://is.gd/cDC4p
Wise advice RT @aprildunford: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 h/t @Twitter_Tips
RT @Twitter_Tips How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB (Marketers read this, good info on why myself/others unfollow )
RT @Twitter_Tips: r/t How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB
How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB via @Twitter_Tips
r/t How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB http://url4.eu/46XYM
RT @Twitter_Tips: r/t How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB
RT Twitter_Tips: r/t How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB http://ow.ly/17Dmpz
Twitter_Tips: r/t How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB http://ht.ly/17Dm7q
RT @aprildunford: Twitter: Is Marketing Doing it Wrong? http://bit.ly/cHSrX0 a good commentary about quality and engagement vs. qty!
RT @Twitter_Tips: r/t How Twitter Marketers Do it All Wrong: http://j.mp/btUrvB