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Over the past week or so I have been to a number of social media events; from the social media workshop with Steve Bridger and Euan Semple at our very own Annual conference; social media for membership organisations at Freshnetworks; and via live feed (oh the technology) the ‘rock star’ social media event of the year – Likeminds in Exeter.
Out of all the great insights that I took away from these events – one comment really stuck out for me as a kind of reality check not just for us already on twitter, but for those of you starting on your social media journey.
@Cosmond at both the Freshnetworks seminar and the Likeminds conference likened social media to participating in the national lottery. You have to be in it to win it, but only a few people will ever win the big money. Most of us will only ever win a small amount, £10 or so, for time to time.
This is the same for organisations participating in twitter – attend any social media event and at one point or another someone will highlight the success of Dell’s twitter feed, amongst others – which is purely promotional - as an example of the revenue that can be directly generated through twitter.
However these are the exceptions the to the rules – its not that they do it any better than anyone else, (although they were very early adopters) it's just that they were lucky.
Not everything goes viral and even by following all the ‘rules’ in your participation the mass majority of us won't experience those levels of direct revenue generation success.
Why? Well in terms of strategy I believe twitter should be part of your retention and ongoing customer relationship management strategy. Use the channel to connect and communicate with your customers and supporters. Answer their queries; monitor what they are saying about your organisation and respond, and stop looking to monentise your twiter feed.
As Chris Brogan said at Likeminds ‘Coupons are not conversations’
For the mass majority twitter should not be seen as a acquisition or recruitment tool. Yes it will help raise awareness of your organisation and what you do, allowing people to see a more personable side of your brand; which will bring incremental sales and donations. But is about the conversation and having a relationship before the sale and in fact a relationship after the sale. It’s about creating a true two way dialogue which brings you closer to your supporters and customers.
So if you are new to twitter and want to see instant monetary returns on the time and resources spent, then you are approaching it all wrong. Look to engage, to share, to learn, and you will see without being a ‘try hard’ or pushing or wares onto your followers that being on twitter produces the ‘halo effect’. The activity that supports your overall strategy, helping to shape peoples perception, knowledge; and ultimately desire to buy from (or donate too.)
The Halo effect: What you advertise & communicate and what you make money on can be two different things.
What do you think?
ps join me on twitter at http://twitter.com/ClaireRollo
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