I first Tweeted on March 15, 2010. On a relative basis I was late to the game, but I wanted to spend time studying what others were doing, to craft an approach that made sense for me and my objectives. My initial and sole interest in the Twitter platform was, and continues to be, to contribute relevant ideas and feedback based on my day-to-day interactions with clients and team members, and the insights I continually discover about internet marketing. This is distinct from a corporate Twitter account, where typically the author(s) is not featured or identified.
To date, I have logged, 172 tweets which is a miniscule number relative to many people, but nonetheless, that is 172 business-oriented ideas and observations I have put forward over the past seven months for those who have chosen to follow me.
Within the group of people that I am following there are a handful of individuals who continuously intermingle business and personal tweets and for the most part, I don’t think are able to blend their different message types effectively. Some do, but most fail miserably. They are potentially detracting from their professional image, which I would imagine to be more significant than chronicling their feelings, etc., throughout the day. This intermixing of personal information also dilutes the significance of their business-oriented tweets.
Another dimension of tweeting that I struggle with is re-tweeting. For those of you who are unacquainted, that’s the exercise of passing along someone else’s tweet to your followers. Sure it makes sense to share valuable insights from others with your followers, but it seems some people are more focused on re-tweeting for the sake of gaining some visibility instead of creating original content. I probably don’t re-tweet often enough, but I would suggest it’s better to err on the side of fewer re-tweets.
A personal Twitter page can be helpful to your business if it is maintained and comes across in a polished, business-like manner. Like other social media channels, if used effectively, it can help establish credibility. Used inappropriately, it can be perceived as amateurish and self-serving. There is no exact line in the sand here, but the more engaged you become, the greater your ability will be to develop a presence that works for you, and, as a result, a loyal following.
Given that “promoted” tweets are here and additional paid opportunities are likely to follow in the near future, now is an ideal time to hone in on your personalized Twitter game plan, and really understand the potential of this medium.
Lastly, please follow @MoreVisibility and me, @andrewwetzler, on Twitter.
