Using Twitter as a Twool

from Guy Kawasaki’s Blog 12/08 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz 11/13

I may get more value out of Twitter than anyone else on the planet because I use Twitter as a tool—specifically as a marketing tool—for my website. If the concept of using Twitter in a commercial manner – to expand your Organization – interests you, keep reading.

1. Forget the “Influentials”. You must buy into the theory that products & services reach critical mass because mere mortals spread the word for you. This defies the common wisdom that a handful of “Influentials” shape what the rest of us try and what we adopt.
Reliance on Influentials is flawed because the Internet has flattened & democratized information. Influentials don’t have as much special access, special knowledge, and distribution as you might think because of the growth of websites, blogs, and, of course, Twitter.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about influentials—if nothing else they can help you get to what some consider “nobodies.” But mark my words: a) Nobodies are the new somebodies, and b) it’s better to have army of committed nobodies and than a few drive-by somebodies. The most somebodies can usually do for you is a one day bump in traffic.
One more point: if enough nobodies like what you do, the somebodies will have no choice but to write about you. In this way, the buzz of nobodies begets the attention of somebodies and not vice versa.

2. De-Focus your efforts. The goal is to get to masses of people because you don’t know “who can & will help you”. (If you knew exactly who they were and what they can do for you, then you’d focus on them—then we’d be back to focusing on Influentials—albeit less known ones.) The catch is that defocusing isn’t actionable unless there’s an inexpensive, easy, and instant answer to reach massive amounts of people, and per dollar there’s nothing better than Twitter to do this.

3. Get as many Followers as you can. Ignore people who tell you that it’s the quality of your followers not the quantity. They’re trying to make friends, not use Twitter as a tool. And, truth be told, there are only two kinds of Twitter users: those that want more followers and those that lie. The reason you want more followers is the law of big numbers: the more followers, the more people talking about what you do, the more you can reach the Tipping point. If you think you “know” exactly who can & will help you, you are deluding yourself.

4. Naming. You will face the issue of whether your Twitter name should be your organization’s name or your name. You should try to get both to prevent domain name squatting. My theory is people are more likely to follow a person than a company, so 90% of my attention goes to my personal account. Also, someday you may leave your organization, and that account will probably go with the acquirer. However, if you go with your name, you need to not tweet only about your organization—indeed, you have the moral obligation to tweet informative posts that have nothing to do with your organization.

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