Comments on: Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Be On Twitter

By: Ryan Lewis

Ryan Lewis — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:41:10 +0000

I totally agree with the first 4 points and thank you very much for the post. But I don’t agree with the Market Research point quite yet. Market Research should be based on a much larger and diverse sample for accurate decisions on company direction. I have seen some companies rely a little heavily on twitter for the pulse and it usually alienates some crucial buyers. I think in the future it will be a great tool for research, but right now it requires more content and feedback report on a different company controlled web page or blog.

By: JeepnDave

JeepnDave — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:16:13 +0000

Thanks for putting the spotlight on the value of twitter for the entrepreneurs. I have been using twitter for a few months now and I was completely unaware of your reference to Twellow and that service.

Thanks again Heather

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:53:07 +0000

I’ve joined the Twitter bandwagon. In my opinion an effective way to use this is by publishing interesting tidbits of information about your company or industry. A BIG turn off for me are the people who tweet garbage like “going to lunch”, “checking email”. Who cares?? I stop following those and focus on the people who provide relvant information. Otherwise I think they have nothing better to do with their time.

Concerning the time for Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, etc., I am learning their are applications that talk to each other. For example my blog automatically posts an update to Twitter and the feeds are automatically updating LinkedIn and Facebook. Cool stuff!

Of course the best thing I like about Twitter…it’s something my 18 year-old knows nothing about!

@smtcpa

By: Click and Inc.

Click and Inc. — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:01:27 +0000

networking sites have come a long way in the past few years and with their success, they also have brought about greater dangers for those who reveal too much information. It seems to be great for businesses though and congrats to twitter for coming along so far.

By: Heather Nolte

Heather Nolte — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:56:52 +0000

Great Comments! You’ve brought up some valid points and I wish I could have addressed them all in my article. While I agree that there are people on Twitter wasting time and tweeting needlessly 24/7…I don’t think that is necessary or representative of the whole. I personally use Twitter about an hour each day spread throughout the day..15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. During that time I’ve made some great connections, found some great info, and managed to make a couple sales promoting my site. As with most things, there is a personal preference involved…Twitter doesn’t work for everyone. No Marketing Tool does. Every single one of them needs to be used with a concise plan of action and direct way of measuring performance.

By: renee

renee — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:56:33 +0000

Seeing as I ‘time strapped’ right now, I’ll make this quick. Great post, but my one critic is that Twitter is not great for Time-strapped entrepreneurs. The most effective tweeters are those that are consistantly and constantly tweeting…i.e. using up time to tweet. 24/7 tweeting capabilities sound all warm and fuzzy, but it takes the personalization out of the communication process. If thats what people are doing, then they got the idea of Twitter all wrong. The objective is to have real-time human dialogue.

By: Lynnelle Wilson

Lynnelle Wilson — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:48:02 +0000

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

#!. 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 - rather than getting ON Twitter, be aware of Twitter and what it means to business” would be my suggestion. If “what it means to business” is important to MY business then YES - get on.

#3. Time-strapped - ARENT’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.

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.