I wanted to quickly give you some food for thought. The opportunities for large AND small businesses on Twitter are huge.  Watch what Scott Monty from FORD says about their experience on Twitter in this Fox Business segment. Notice he says they are not interested in advertising on social networks like Twitter; rather it is about connecting with their target demographic on social networks like Twitter. This is a trend that is here to stay: customers are EXPECTING for your company to be on Twitter and have you interact with them.

I asked Scott via Twitter for 1  benefit of Twitter for Ford. He Tweeted this response.

My favorite quote from the video clip. Scott: “It is less about a campaign and more about a commitment… It is an ongoing way of doing business that we are going to see…”

Some of the Ford Twitter Accounts: Each account serves a specific purpose as a communication channel to address different market segments.

FordTrucks

FordDriveOne

FordDriveGreen

FordCustService

FordMustang

FordRacing

Side Note: Even the anchors on Fox News are on Twitter. You can follow Fox News anchor Liz Claymen on Twitter.

I was recently asked to present about Twitter for a digital marketing series of webinars by the cool people over at BrightTalk. They had 8 great presenters over the course of the day today talking about digital marketing, branding and measurement. So if you want to get your head around Twitter and the opportunities and benefits quickly in about 45 minutes; you can watch the replay of the webinar presentation that I did. Enjoy the recorded presentation and share it with your peers.

There has been a disturbing Dodo minded trend that I have seen in the past few months related to automated delivery of Direct Messages (DM) on Twitter. The trend is that when you follow someone they use a third party service to auto-follow anyone that follows them (not wise). As soon as they follow you, they send you a Direct Message that usually looks like this “Thanks for following me. See you in Twitterville” or something equally pointless, annoying and non value adding. The other type of message that we see look like this where they point to you to a link  “Thanks for following me on Twitter. Make sure you read my blog at www.xzy.com” or “You gotta see this www.abc.com”.

These types of Automated Direct Messages are frustrating to the large majority of Twitter users because they add no value and these messages start to feel like more junk in my Twitter “inbox” that I need to delete.

Telling me via an automated DM to check out your blog and giving me a link feels a bit like a hard sell; and by the way I already went to your blog (while looking at your profile on twitter) before I decided to follow you. It is insulting, annoying, a poor practice and actually reflects badly on the person sending the auto DM. Many people will actually choose to unfollow anyone that sends them an auto DM (myself included). Sending these non value added Auto Direct Messages shows lack of knowledge of the eco-system and some of the informal behavioral rules that exist on Twitter.

Best Practice:  There are only rare exceptions where Automated DM could be percieved as valuable. If you are not sure if your use is the rare exception; most likely it is not.

Tip: Your first Direct Message to someone better add value as you get 1 chance to make a first impression.

Marketers like to be heard and want to “make people” pay attention. One of the really nice things about Twitter is the control is with the users; if I don’t want to hear your marketing messages, I simply unfollow or block you and you have lost the ability to communicate with me. Marketers can’t make people do anything on Twitter.

Tip: Focus on building trust, adding value and beginning a relationship first.

So let’s just hope that the non value adding Automated Direct Messages on Twitter will soon go the way of the Dodo bird and become extinct. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/rumford

I heard of this plane crash from my wife as she got delayed and did not hop her flight to CT. She told me a plane had just crashed (I was reading a book). I hopped on Twitter only to become horrified to learn of the details as they unfolded on twitter right before my eyes. I used to work for a company in Clarence Center. I love the people of this tight knit community and have always had a soft spot for them and flew in there regularly for many years.

I immediately learned via Twitter that Keith Burtis http://twitter.com/KeithBurtis was there when the plane crashed and heard it go down. Soon he was on Fox news talking with Julie Banderas from FOX news http://twitter.com/JulieBanderas She had discovered that he was an eyewitness via twitter immediately after he tweeted this. http://twitter.com/KeithBurtis/status/1205256171

I turned on fox news and saw this on the TV and shared it via twitpic to Twitter http://www.twitpic.com/1gnlu

My point in this blog post is to show an example of how Twitter is in fact a communication channel that people use for news discovery, sharing and adding value and changing the experience of this tragedy. I immediately relayed all info related to emergency efforts and helping the families. I wanted to help spread as much helpful information to as many people as possible quickly.

I immediately became immersed and went to find the exact location of the crash on street level view via asking people on twitter if they knew the location; and someone on twitter responded within minutes. The crash site was about 1.5 miles from a company I worked for many years ago. Click on the map and you can “drive” down the road where the plane crash occurred.

View Larger Map
I also discovered via Twitter that there was a flight recording from the air tower with the conversation that you can hear here: http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/files/folders/27435/download.aspx

I also discovered via twitter a live stream from the local buffalo TV news station and still have it on at 2am pacific time. My life is changed by social media and how I communicate, share and experience events is forever changed. Additionally, it is yet another example of how the news business is leveraging the communication channel of Twitter to listen, discover and share. Social Communication Channels are not a fad. This one is here to stay.

In closing, my heart and prayers go out to the friends and families of loved ones that were lost. I still do not know if there is anyone I knew on the plane at this time. You can go to donate and help the families of this horrific tragedy on Kieth Burris Blog http://keithburtis.com

Twitter also allows me to share my favorite tweets that are related to the tragedy that I bookmarked here http://www.twitter.com/rumford/favorites

I have been using Twitter for over 2 years and I sometimes forget that people do not see all of the uses and functionality of Twitter. So I wanted to ask a simple question and not skew the data with my reasons for asking this question.
Please take the Survey: How often do you favorite a tweet?

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15 Reasons Why Your Retweets Fail on Twitter
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Please feel free to share this and Retweet. Thanks for your attention.
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Being that it is Superbowl Sunday you can expect that many people will be using Twitter as a communication channel as people share updates about the game, festivities and the Superbowl commercials. The NFL has a prime opportunity as this is the worlds largest televised sporting event watched around the world.

The NFL has a Twitter account as well as a Twitter Superbowl 43 account. You can see the updates that they are publishing on their Superbowl website. It would appear that they are simply publishing updates at a very infrequent rate. It is Superbowl Sunday morning as I write this and there has not been a post in over 12 hours,  which sort of misses the point and where they have an opportunity to create enhanced brand value.

They are trying to make the Twitter content on the event site more formalized. Which misses the point of immediacy and conversant tweets. I will say it is step in the right direction, but the execution misses a lot. They might be much better served to display on the website what all the FANS are saying about the game. This then acts as a true lens into the football audience and what they are doing, thinking and sharing. They could have taken an idea I had months ago; which is setting up a team of Superbowl Tweeters who could have been at the game and all the pregame festivities who could group twitter and share photos, videos and it would feel much more intimate. It is important to note that they have only 2390 followers on Twitter which means they have not promoted this channel at all. In fact it is pretty well hidden and only an edge person like myself tracked it down, and I had to hunt to find it.

Business advertisers are spending north of 3.5 million dollars per 30 second advertisement to reach the audience, create buzz, drive brand awareness and sales. As everyone gathers around the water cooler on Monday people will be discussing their favorite superbowl ads. Many of these ads actually will drive large amounts of online traffic as people go online and make the cross from broadcast television to online engagement. We will see some cross channel promotion as some of these advertisers have a presence on Twitter to continue the engagement and conversation after these Ad spots. You can follow the Twitter conversations regarding the Superbowl Ads at #superads09

I do know of one Superbowl advertiser that is doing something very interesting around Twitter: H&R Block. They have a very interesting Ad spot which features Murray the Tax preparer and they have extended the character and given him a presence on Twitter. You can follow Murray the Tax Guy on Twitter here.

I think the important ideas for brands to take away is that and H & R Block has done an excellent job with these areas for distribution, awareness, consumption and engagement. A few key points:

* Extend the Superbowl beyond a 30 second spot by integrating across all marketing channels. They will be incorporating across the  HRblock.com homepage, Youtube brand channel, Myspace brand channel and Facebook brand channel and all will be integrating the Superbowl spot after it airs today.

* Enable two-way dialog by being active on Twitter and having multiple brand channels open.  Murray is a character extension that will be a little fun to see how the rest of the story of the ad plays out.

* All of their channels are open for customer dialog; which is where they do an excellent job in execution and engagement.

This is my personal favorite Tweet from Murray thus far…

Fully understanding Twitter and it’s potential impact from a business, marketing, sales, branding and PR perspective has tremendous value. Knowing how to best engage via this channel is crucial to businesses; both big and small. Twitter is a content distribution, consumption and engagement channel that can be used in a multitude of ways for a variety of business purposes. Failing to understand this fully could be a real downside from many perspectives.

The first thing that people need to understand is that Twitter raises the bar for engagement from a consumer expectation level. People expect companies, businesses and brands to be represented on Twitter and interacting. They want to be able to communicate with your company and with people within your organizations in a multitude of capacities.

Think about the Fax machine for just a moment. When only 1 or 2 people had one it was not very valuable. Soon everybody had a fax machine and everyone could communicate via fax because they got connected. Well, Twitter and the millions (6+ at last count) of people are communicating on Twitter are a network of thought leaders, influentials, bloggers, and every day consumers and they are connecting and communicating at a impressive velocity. Twitter is a true game changer in the history of communication channels.

It is unlike anything that we have seen before in the history of communications (both web and mobile). It’s reach extends far beyond the Twitter website in a variety of ways and iterations. Oh, did I mention that it has a messaging amplification factor that is truly mind boggling in the way in which content spreads virally and at tremendous velocity thru it’s network and platform.

Its simplicity is its genius; Twitter can be used in a multitude of capacities such as reputation management, customer service, support, product launches, brand building, brand extension, PR, sales, etc… Knowing how to set specific business goals and follow proven best practices for your specific and clearly defined use case is critical.

I have been using Twitter for over 2 years in a professional capacity and have seen many damaging missteps that are commonly made by the newbie. That was part of my motivation for writing this book. I am sharing proven best practices, use cases, 30 business and personal branding examples, case studies, network building processes, effective tools and processes/methodologies to interact effectively so that your business goals align with how you use Twitter.

Please sign up for our newsletter (no spam) and we will immediately email you a PDF of Chapter 5 from the book. (A Communications Game Changer)

As an FYI if you click the retweet button below and retweet this post, your picture will show up as well as a link to your twitter account.

Twitter search is coming in 10 days.  It would appear that Twitter will start rolling out search as an integrated feature into the homepage of Twitter for about 1% of their users. Twitter is smart to do this as it give them a relevant path to monetization and a way to enhance the service and make it easier for users to find the content (conversations, products, services, brands, topics) that they want to find.

The reason this is important is because Twitter has said that they would use search to introduce businesses to people. This is exactly what I wrote a week ago and mocked up a few different versions of  what it might look like here.

Biz Stone, one of Twitter’s co-founders, told The Times: “Search integration is a way of introducing relevancy to people. This is not just about ‘What are you doing?’ but about what everyone else is doing. Twitter is about finding out what is going on out there right now in real time. This is a powerful new way of repositioning the product.”

He said that tracking keywords for companies, giving companies an official presence on the site and helping them to introduce themselves to customers were all possible revenue generators. Read between the lines here; this means advertising, paid placement, data mining and monitoring (brand and reputation management).

“Hi I would like to introduce my business to you”… this sounds like an advertisement to me. Companies will pay money for an audience and exposure at relevant times to that audience. I just happened to call it “People You Should Know”, which is effectively the same thing.

I think that this makes tremendous sense and is win/win/win. I would also suspect that there will be “Official” business accounts on Twitter that might look just slightly different. As Twitter continues to grow at a rate of well over 700% anual growth, not being on Twitter will become the equivilent of a business not having a blog.

As an FYI if you click the retweet button below and retweet this post, your picture will show up as well as a link to your twitter account.

It is important for businesses, organizations, departments,  and companies to understand that there are many valid business reasons (that can deliver a positive ROI) why they should be participating on Twitter. The ways in which companies choose to use Twitter are quite varied. The use cases and ways in which they use it are typically determined by how they want to interact and the business value that they wish to extract.

Twitter is a Business Tool; how you choose to use that tool will be determined by what you want to use it for: ie. news distribution, customer service, sales, branding, extending product awareness, product launches, promotion, relationship building, etc.

In these tight economic times, Twitter offers your business a way in which to proactively listen, engage and extend your marketing, branding, support and business objectives for no hard costs. So put on your thinking cap and allow your mind to absorb this information and think about how these reasons can be applied to your communication channels & marketing mix.

Just remember that in today’s world… “Conversation is the new currency that fosters business & relationships. Twitter is the Stock Exchange of conversations where interactions get traded.”

17 Reasons Your Business Should Be on Twitter:

People are talking about your product, brand, company or service (you better be listening)

Lack of participation by your business could have negative consequences (ask Exxon or Motrin)

People want to interact with your business (seize this opportunity and the positive options that surround it)

Twitter drives website traffic & awareness

Twitter has the ability to allow your content to spread virally

You can make new connections

Twitter can be used as a channel to access people you that you might not otherwise have access to (networking)

Twitter allows for product feedback

Twitter allows you to touch and interact with customers in a personal way that they value

Brand evangelists on Twitter can be rewarded and encouraged in a variety of ways

Twitter allows you to gather insights and news from the people you follow

You can extend your brand in a new and meaningful way

Your competitors are already there (or will be soon)

You can create a network of influence to help your business in a variety of ways (sales, marketing, support, marcom)

Search Engine Visibility

Twitter allows you to have 1 to 1 conversations in a public way that can extend the reach of your business

Twitter allows you to turn brand detractors into evangelists

This list could have easily been over 50 reasons that your business should be on Twitter. The point to take away here is that Twitter is a new communication channel and it is not going away;  lack of participation will be looked upon negatively by your prospects and clients. The business opportunities abound; it is how you use Twitter that matters. You can learn more here.