Lynnelle Wilson's BOLD Business

More Friday Twitter memes - Beyond #FollowFriday

This from a Mashable article:

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 #shabbatshalom - For the Jewish tweeps out there, offline until Saturday night.

 #leadfriday - Tired of following? How about being a leader?

 #goodnewsfriday - Good news comes on Friday.

And then there's the original Friday Twitter meme #followfriday . #FollowFriday was created by @Micah.

Read about #followfriday here, in @Micah's own words...

Be Careful What You Tweet For

Twitter is taking over the world!

Well, not really - but it must seem like it at times. It's EVERYWHERE. CNN is broadcasting live while showing live "tweets" on screen; Twitter is now a leading breaking-news source for traditional media; Twitter was a key component in Obama's election campaign for both message delivery and fundraising (he has about 140,000 "followers" to-date).

I'm doing a workshop tomorrow on BLOGs and Micro-BLOGs for Business and am doing some final research. (Twitter is a Micro-BLOG) I came across a BLOG post that, while not untrue, I feel should be read "with some caution". Granted, I'm from the 'OLD SCHOOL' and the author, Heather Nolte is from the 'NEW'. Still, there are some important business fundamentals that I believe are missing in her post. Read her post here and my comments are below.  Heather's Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Be On Twitter.

First, let me say congratulations To Heather on her five years in business and what is seemingly a very successful company. (Glamajama.com) Second, congratulations on her nice position of blogger on a popular site. And, yes, I do know what a struggle running a business can be - with or without children so my (virtual) hat is off to her. Regarding why business owners should be on Twitter I also suggest she focus on the business objective rather than those she lead with.

#1. Free - there are a lot of free things out there, many of which don’t advance a business’ goals. You mention Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. How / why should a business choose Twitter versus (or in addition to) any of these other free tools?

#2. The Next Big Thing - Yes, it's important to stay informed and knowledgeable about the new and upcoming... However, rather than jumping ON Twitter straight-away, first be aware of Twitter and what it means to business”. If “what it means to business” is important to YOUR business then YES - get on. (I would agree, that most of us should be on Twitter, at least to the extent of your #5. see below.)

#3. Time-strapped - AREN’T WE ALL? If the entrepreneur is time-strapped because of a lack of organization and/or email/website overload, then Twitter will SINK them without a disciplined objective and strategy. Be careful here. Twitter is GREAT. Twitter can be a time-sink.

#4. Maximum Use of Content - Be careful about blatant self-promotion on Twitter. Twitter is about community and conversation and adding value. Yes, there’s a way to get your “stuff” out there and you should. Be careful in the delivery. If all you’re doing is broadcasting about your STUFF you will be “un-followed” faster than you can say “Tweet”.

#5 Research - Spot-on. For any “newbie” getting into social media, in general - Twitter, in specific THIS is the #1 way to start: LISTEN. You can learn a lot by listening to what is being said - live, real-time on Twitter - about your business, your industry, your market, etc.  Twitter is a GREAT learning tool.

It’s important to keep in mind that Social Media - including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. etc. are all TOOLS for business. Set your objective and then match the tools for the job. Social media has just expanded our tool box in an amazing way. Good luck.