Today I will tell you about Twitter.
I'm on Twitter all the time, way more than I am on Facebook. It's been great for me as a way of keeping in touch with people I've met, meeting new people, and participating in online dialogue about any number of interesting topics.
Without going into too much detail, the company we moved here for (but my husband didn't end up with) recently joined Twitter and, in my opinion, don't seem to get the point of it. Or realize that not only are they on the Internet, but when someone goes to Google the name of their company, these stupid Tweets will show up on the list.
Now if you have a business and are on Twitter and are using Twitter to promote said business, you want to be professional, relevant, interesting, and interested. But if you are Tweeting about how this whole 'work' thing is interfering with your surfing, how working on the weekend sucks (um hello, welcome to being a business owner), only talking about music and things entirely unrelated to your business, then your potential clients will lose interest fast. They may start to think "wow, these people are wholly uninterested in what the rest of the industry is doing". That's the impression I get. The ironic part of this story is that they were recently featured in a local newspaper article about business who are 'using social media'.
Um, Tweeting three times a month about asinine topics is not using social media, it's just embarrassing you and your company.
Very timely topic. I myself am struggling with the best uses of social networking media. I'm an indie yarn and fiber dyer, but I'm also a person with interests and life circumstances that don't always tie in with what I do & sell. Sometimes I use twitter to vent minor frustrations, not really thinking that it might be giving potential customers the wrong impression. I love what I do and I'm very committed to it, but that may not always come through in my tweets & facebook posts. I guess it's sometimes a fine line.
ReplyDeleteI think with indie crafters it's a different story. You probably work from home and have a different level of interaction with your customers. We work on a more intimate, personal level. The people I'm speaking of are giving off an immature and incompetent depiction of how they are approaching their business. The industry they are in is more of a Boys' Club with very high professional standards, international award events, and an expectation that people who are in this industry are in it because they love the thing they are producing and not (in theory) for the glamor or money...
ReplyDelete(Thanks for your post Sharon!)