STOP Pushing Your Twitter Marketing Messages At Me!

It never ceases to amaze me how many businesses and nonprofits continue to use Twitter as a broadcasting mechanism. They think that Twitter is simply a place to amplify messages about themselves, push out specials, push out events, push out articles about themselves, push, push, push… Twitter is not television. It is not a free way to push a marketing message to people that really didn’t want to hear it anyways. The old way of marketing does not work when using social media. Yet, over and over again this is what business and nonprofits are doing. And they are failing. I don’t care if you have 1,000 followers or 1 million, it means nothing if they are ignoring you and believe me, they are ignoring you when you continue to use twitter to market to them like they are mindless idiots staring at a screen simply waiting to read your message. They are not!

The main excuse I have heard from many businesses and nonprofits is that they simply don’t have the resources to use Twitter to engage and connect with people. My answer: If you don’t have the resources to do something right, I would encourage you not to do it. Doing something poorly does not help your business or cause and it may even hurt it. A business should not consider social media marketing unless they are willing to make an investment in it. Even though most social media tools are free, using them correctly requires time and effort. There is a cost involved…it’s your time and the time of your employees. Social media can be a much less expensive way to market your business, but do not think you are getting anything for free. You are not! So what am I saying here? Nonprofits and businesses need to figure this out. If you are going to be in a social media space, learn how to use the tools effectively. Don’t waste even one moment tweeting if you do not have the resolve and belief that this tool is an awesome and powerful tool if used strategically. If you are not fully committed to learning how to use this tool correctly and devoting resources to using the tool effectively then don’t use it. Your business reputation is on the line; so do not go into this without a plan and the resources to do it correctly. Check out this post where I will give you some simple tips to start using Twitter for marketing effectively…you didn’t think I would leave you hanging with no hope did you?