Twitter use is still in its infancy in rural Norfolk County, Ontario, however, there are tweeps who are leading the way at effective and entertaining use of this incredible social media tool.
Looking for Norfolk County inspiration, and examples for how to get started on Twitter? These are 10 local accounts to check out. Each one has a specific expertise. And they all focus on quality tweets vs a zillion tweets about, well, nothing much.
My grandfather departed this world long, long before there was even the phrase, social media or Twitter. But I think he would’ve liked the concept behind Twitter.
1. Tell stories to build your personal brand. Yes, 140 characters is short. So make them short stories. My grandfather liked short stories. I heard plenty of stories from his days walking the beat and life on the horse farm. He’d spin some short tales from his usual spot on the couch. Through his stories, I learned my grandfather was a no-nonsense cop and a no-nonsense guy who just happened to have a soft side (for horses). Who are you? You are your stories. Tell them.
Measure! You have to be able to measure it! What’s our measurable return on using social media?
It started out as a great idea by cellphone company Fido. Hold a contest to select a dog to appear in its advertisements. But weeks after the contest began, Fido found itself literally buried in complaints one morning by barking entrants. And we don’t mean the dogs.
With less than a week before the contest deadline, Fido disqualified hundreds and hundreds of dogs without notice. “It was blatantly the case that some people were voting multiple times for the same dog” in violation of the contest rules which limits daily voting, a spokesperson told the Montreal Gazette.
One of the classic mistakes made by new businesses on Facebook is to hit ‘Like’ on every post you see. You think that by doing this you’ll build your page Likes fast. True, you may do so. But there’s a long-term pitfall of being a ‘Like’ spammer on everyone’s most recent posts.
I regularly see businesses robotically Liking every new post that is added on Facebook. After a while it becomes plainly obvious that you are not genuine. You will quickly be identified as a serial ‘Like’ spammer with little authenticity behind all your thumbs ups on Facebook. You may eventually start to lose followers too. Most certainly, the social value of your Likes on posts will be diminished. People will soon figure you out….. “Oh, he/she clicks Like on everything!”
It’s easy to do a tweet on Twitter or add a post on Facebook. Businesses and organizations do it every day. Some are fanatical about adding lots of posts. But sadly, that’s where it ends for many businesses and organizations.
Check any organization or business Facebook or Twitter page. Too many businesses simply add a post and then forget about it. It’s selfish. They want you to read their posts and tweets. But they don’t really care if you comment. That’s because they have no intention of engaging with you. It’s all about them. It’s not about you.
For more than a century, the public has turned to newspapers, radio stations and television stations for news. No medium has quite challenged these institutions like social media. Today, sites like Twitter and Facebook provide the public with unfiltered access to organizations, celebrities and sports stars.
So what does this mean for your organization or business? It means you can also tap into this direct conduit to your audience. Certainly, I wouldn’t recommend eliminating the use of traditional media. But with social media, you can tailor your message and be in control of it, respond directly to inquiries, and carry on a conversation.
Yup, it can get pretty frustrating talking to some people and organizations about social media. You get every excuse in the tattered book of tired old excuses. No time. We don’t need it. It’s just a fad. That’s just for the kids. It’s nothing but people telling other people they’re going for a coffee. And so on.
You can try to talk sense into people. But there are always those individuals who won’t listen. That’s when it’s time to roll out Plan B. OK, Plan B is about literally whacking them over the head. With analogies, of course.
Yes, you need to be careful what you tweet. Especially if you hold a key position within an organization, are high profile or a celebrity. It is becoming routine for journalists to look at tweets on Twitter to source quotes. If you don’t want to see your words in print or on air, think before you hit ‘send’.
But there’s an oddity with this whole grabbing quotes from Twitter craze among journalists. Who’s grabbing tweets made by journalists? Sadly, I do see regular examples of some journalists who cross the line with their comments on Twitter. If it’s clearly your Twitter account for company use (ie. @BillatTHISNEWSPAPER), you should be careful. It’s not the place to go spewing verbal darts that raise serious questions about your ability to be impartial when doing your job of reporting.
