A Startup Guy

About 3 months ago, my buddy Dave Delaney ran a poll asking if people found Twitter auto-direct messages (DMs) annoying. (Auto-DMs are automatic direct messages sent to someone who follows you – usually through a service like SocialToo.) At the time of the poll, I didn’t get too many of these and answered no. I’m the kind of guy who gives people the benefit of the doubt, if I can. I assumed most of the auto-DMs were from well-meaning folks and tried to take them in the spirit I imagined they were given. What a difference 3 months can make.

Today, I get at least a dozen auto-DMs a day. Many days, I get way more than that. The problem is that more than half aren’t much better than spam. “Thanks for the follow. Check out my website to find great deals on SEO!” Here’s the thing about Twitter, it’s all about relationships. Even when you don’t know the people you’re following, or who follow you, very well, it’s still about developing relationships. Auto-DM spam is no better than e-mail spam or cold call sales pitches you get in the middle of dinner. It’s people trying to make you check out their products that you probably don’t want, weren’t looking for and didn’t ask about.

In moderation, a direct message thanking me for following you could be nice. However, there are just too many now for them to make an impact now anyway.  If you want to get my attention, find something more creative and original. Better yet, engage me on Twitter. Build a relationship. Find out if I even care about your “Make Cash in 2 Minutes a Day” package before shoving it in my face.

And to Dave Delaney, change my vote there to a No please, will ya, bro? Thanks, man!

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Here’s a funny irony. I believe technology is forcing businesses to come full circle with regards to service and interaction with the customer. Way back when, the way to address prospects and customers was generally on a one-to-one basis. You had to interact with people individually to sell them your products and then again for any follow-up customer service. Technological revolutions began changing that system so that we could address more people at a time. Newspapers would let you tell groups of readers about your products through ads. Then radio let you address larger audiences, then TV came along and you could reach millions. Cable TV let you reach audiences internationally and e-mail and the Internet let you do for pennies what used to cost dollars. Automated phone systems let you receive and route the increasing number of incoming calls without having to hire a bank of receptionists. Fax blasts and e-mail newsletters let you address tons of people at the press of a few buttons. Amazing!

But something has happened. These same technological wonders have enabled massive fracturing of your audience. No longer can you run your TV ad during the CBS News and reach 10s of millions of viewers. TV networks are ecstatic to pull in 6-8 million viewers now. More than a third of US households with a TV have digital cable, meaning they have hundreds of channels to choose from. You’ve got to be selective about where your ad dollars go to gain the most effect.

Fax blasts? They just end up in the trash. E-mail newsletters? Gone are the days when you could just add filler materials around your ads. You have to invest in time (and people) to really put together good information or readers will simply delete or unsubscribe you. That takes more team members.

Automated phone systems have become so convoluted and frustrating that many companies are abandoning them and going back to good old human receptionists to answer the phones. The Internet may draw in lots of visitors to your website, but these days, they expect personal treatment when you respond to them. And online social media services like Twiiter are all the rage in reaching out to customers, but they also require a highly personalized interaction.

So, it seems we’ve gone from one-to-one interactions through one-to-many (broadcast) and now we’re heading back to more one-to-one interactions. Have you noticed the same thing?

Oh, yeah, one more quick question. Are you interacting personally with your customers or are you just pushing information to the masses in hopes of making a connection?

Bonus: Here’s a link to David Armano’s post which got me thinking about this. Thanks, David. If you don’t read his blog, start now.

Despite a virtual flood of blogs on the Internet, there are a lot of businesses that still don’t have a blog. Is that good or bad? The answer is an unmitigated YES!

Most businesses, if not all, could benefit from a blog. It’s a great way to communicate with the outside world, establish yourself as an expert on your subject matter and build a community. However, there are hurdles to implementing a good blog. You need to have time to write and to engage your visitors. You also need to have something to say. That sounds easier than it really is. If you post 3-6 times a week, that’s 150-300 posts in a year. It’s easy to start running out of things to say after a year or two. You need to be passionate about your subject matter and honest in what you’re writing.

So, what if you own a business, but you don’t want to blog. Is it OK to have someone else blog for you? Absolutely, under certain conditions. Anyone officially blogging for your company needs to be honest about who they are and why they’re blogging. Never let your PR folks blog in your name or, for that matter, let anyone blog as someone they’re not. Readers WILL find out and it will bust any credibility you have. One thing that’s worked well for many are team blogs. For instance, my friend Nicholas Holland has his team blog for his company centre{source}. Among the cool things about team blogs are: no one person has to write all the time; readers get to experience different ideas and writing styles from different people; and customers and prospects get a good chance to get familiar with your team. It can be very personalizing.

Does your business have a blog? What has it done for you?

Do you not have a blog? Why not?

Leave a comment and share with us.

P.S. These same principles apply for other social media such as Twitter, YouTube, Jaiku, Plurk and Facebook.

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"I love Twitter" photo from Lost Art of Blogging blog

OK. In my last post I noted what Twitter has done for me. But how do others use it to effect? One of the fun things to watch as Twitter has grown is how it’s gone from being a platform for marketers and techno-geeks to becoming a real communication tool for people from many walks of life. Early on (a year ago), we had lots of discussions about if people like CEOs would ever adopt Twitter. I had my doubts as there is (at least at this time) no measurable return on investment for using Twitter. Interactions online don’t generally directly yield sales. And CEOs are usually too busy to bother tweeting on a regular basis. Despite that, they’re coming online. And its fascinating to see how they’re adapting Twitter to work for them. Many people still don’t get it. There are a lot of marketers rushing to open Twitter accounts for their clients because they’ve heard that’s where they need to be. “You’ve got to be on Twitter. It’s the new frontier.” But many more ARE getting it. They understand that Twitter is for talking AT people, but for talking to them. And if you’re lucky, starting a conversation with them. Here are some examples:

Politics
Twitter was a breakout this political cycle. We saw congressmen and senators adopt the service. We saw a John McCain campaign staffer get in trouble for using the service to point people to questionable videos. But we also saw Barack Obama use the service as an outreach program. It was a big part of his grassroots organizing system. Obama became so successful at it that his was the first user account to garner more than 100,000 followers.

John McCain, on the other hand, never really got Twitter. His campaign had an account (opened by default by the Twitter folks simply to enforce a fairness policy), but only made 25 tweets and only picked up fewer than 5,000 followers.

Entertainment
Twitter may prove to be marketing gold for some people in the entertainment industry. Not as a push/sell tool so much as a community-building tool. Some accounts are actually set up and used by the entertainment personality. Many are set up by PR, marketing or agency people. In both cases, again, some people get the power of Twitter, many don’t. One case for the “don’t” category is county music star Aaron Tippin. He’s got great music, but his Twitter account proves a bit tone deaf. I’m sure it was set up by a label or PR flunkie, but it’s Grade A fail. Aaron’s account was set up in June 2008, follows no one and has only 28 followers. It also has a paltry 2 entries. One notes that they’re setting up a Twitter account. The other encourages people to go buy Aaron Tippin’s newest CD. No wonder there are only 28 followers.

On the other hand, there are plenty of celebrities using Twitter to build community and communicate with fans. Some follow back, like rapper MC Hammer, others don’t but are still very conversational, such as Heroes stars Greg Grunberg (there’s something fun about Greg posting photos of his chair on the set) and Brea Grant and Christian music artist Jeremy Camp. They don’t follow many people, but they do keep up with conversations about them and often respond to people who address them.

Business
Another fun trend to watch has been businesses getting on Twitter. They were slow to adopt at first, but they’re beginning to carve out strategies on how to effectively use Twitter. You can now contact Comcast (Comcast Cares), Zappos (a phenomenal online shoe seller, this Twitter account is actually manned by their CEO), Virgin America and The Home Depot (manned by one of their corporate communications people, but well run). Dell has become legendary in their use of social media to connect with customers, including their use of Twitter. They have some 23 Twitter accounts, including one that links to Dell employees who are Twitter users, some for work, some not. As always, some of these accounts are used well, some are just more places for PR people to push information.

In my opinion, Twitter works best when used as a communications tool. That means to put out meaningful information and respond to others as well. It also works best when it’s personal. You don’t have to be the CEO of a corporation or an entertainment star to use the “official” Twitter account (though it helps), but the communication needs to be personal. People need to feel a connection with whoever is talking for the Twitter account. Otherwise, it’s just a one-way conversation.

One final word of warning, be careful about fake users. There are plenty of people who have Twitter accounts claiming to be someone they’re not. It’s mostly done for fun, but that doesn’t make it any less painful to be tricked.

Additional info:
Jeremy Peppers’ rules for using Twitter
A list of companies, celebrities, governments and others of note using Twitter
6 Unual Entities That Tweet

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Image via CrunchBase

Do you Twitter? Twitter has blown past the three million users mark. People worldwide are checking out the benefits (and drawbacks) of microblogging 140 characters at a time. Yet, even as we begin to find new uses for the service, many people still have little clue what Twitter is and even less about how it can be useful. To help out, I thought I would write a little bit about what I’ve learn in my year on Twitter.

What is Twitter?
Twitter is a service that lets you communicate with other users online 140 characters at a time. The character limitations are a throwback to the old days of SMS when messaging (such as texting by cell phone) had the same restrictions. The hard part is it’s not always easy to say what you want in 140 characters. The good part is that it forces you to be concise in your communications. It also forces you to post comments that take more than 140 characters in more appropriate places, such as blogs. Or even to say nothing at all.

Twitter is social in that you may choose people to “follow” and people choose to follow you. Sort of like “friending” on Facebook. Then, you can choose to read the “tweets” (posted comments) of you and the people you follow. Originaly based on the simple question, “What are you doing right now?”, Twitter has evolved and now fosters not only comments on what users are doing, but conversations, obervations and helpful information.

What is Twitter Good For?
I have to admit that my first thoughts after joining Twitter were, “This is going to be a huge time sink.” and “Does this really have a productive benefit?” After a year online, I can confirm that the answer to the first item is “Yes, if you let it.” The answer to the second question is an overwhelming “Yes!” In the last year, I’ve used Twitter to help me find new acquaintances, meet the people on the cutting edge of the social media movement and get answers to questions. On several occassions, I’ve found my followers have been able to help me with mySQL and ASP.NET code challenges. When I went to Podcamp Nashville in the fall of 2007, I knew about 2 people there from past jobs and about 3 I had met through Twitter in the month or so I’d been on it. When I attended Barcamp Nashville this summer, I knew about 5 people from school and past jobs. I knew more than two dozen through Twitter or other social networks (or events I had learned about through social networks). Through Twitter, I’ve even made new “real life” (sometimes called IRLs or “in real life”) friends and possible future business partners.

Another cool use of Twitter is to observe “back channel” chatter during major technology events, such as Barcamps, Podcamps, Startup Weekends, and even SXSW. Attendees carry on conversation on Twitter to discuss presentations as they’re occuring. They also disseminate information to people who can’t attend, spreading the knowledge and fostering new discussion.

Oh, and the time sink thing? If you’ll push through the learning curve of how to use Twitter, you’ll develop a use pattern that you can use to keep Twitter from being a time sink.

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