Is Twitter for Everybody?
Mar 30th
Is Twitter for everybody?
This is the question that eventually gets asked by every person and every company trying Twitter for the first time. In the height of your initial frustrations, you may be wondering … is Twitter really for me?
Most social media hype-masters will tell you “yes.” Indeed, there is probably some business use or benefit you could discover for everyone and every organization.
But after working with hundreds of students and professionals across diverse businesses, I’ve come to realize the answer is no — it’s not for everyone.
Here’s an example. One of my customers is a brilliant management consultant. An engineer by training, he does not come by marketing instinct naturally and asked me to help.
This is a customer who would be perfect for Twitter:
- Small business-owner
- Enormous, global market potential (needs a lot of awareness)
- Small marketing budget
- Selling differentiated personal services
- No time to blog, develop extensive content, etc.
- Tech-savvy
- Is a charming, bright person with engaging personality.
And yet he WILL NOT TWEET. I coaxed, cajoled, and threatened him. I’ve trained him patiently and even prescribed a daily Twitter regimen. I demonstrated the power of the platform when I found him a potential new business contact on the very first day of our operation. He didn’t follow-up and seems content with his tweet-free existence.
This may seem strange, but it isn’t uncommon. I’ve found similar resistance from many people who can obviously benefit from this business tool. I asked my client ”why” and here is his answer:
“I’m not sure why really. I guess the idle chatter (which is mostly what I seem to see when I log on) just doesn’t make any sense to me. There’s obviously some self-imposed barrier that I can’t or just don’t want to cross. You were kind enough to introduce me to Twitter, and I appreciated that. There’s the old expression about leading a horse to water. Guess I’m just not that thirsty for Twitter water… at least yet.”
The Twitter Quitter
This type of reaction is not unusual. In fact I was a Twitter Quitter myself and had to really push through a few weeks of this non-intuitive communication platform before I started to understand it.
What is the difference between a Twitter-lover and hater? Does success on Twitter lend itself to a certain personality type? Some say it favors out-going people, yet introverts are quick to say that they love the platform as way to connect on their own terms and build quality relationships slowly. Maybe it has something to do with patience. Perhaps it is being creeped out by the crowds or by having strangers “follow you.”
Honestly, I haven’t figured it out, but I do acknowledge the fact that some very intelligent and wonderful people just don’t like Twitter even when they can see the benefits.
What About Organizations?
Is there a business case for Twitter for every organization and company? Like nearly every business question, the answer is, “It depends!”
Medical professionals, lawyers, financial managers, and defense contractors may have severe regulatory limitations on the information they can discuss in public. Remember, Twitter is a form of publishing.
When it comes to business communications strategy, it really gets down to this: What are your business objectives? What do you need to say? Where do your customers get their information?
If your customers are not engaging in this platform you’re going to waste a big wad of time on Twitter and get frustrated.
But I want to suggest two big HOWEVER’s before you decide your business is not cut out for Twitter.
HOWEVER, you may not really know where your customers are getting their information, even if you think you do! People are piling on to the social web in record numbers and are also spending an enormous amount of time there. In an always-connected world, the role of social media in the business and personal world is blurring.
Better check those customers again!
I have a client who resisted Twitter because she insisted that her customers had no interest in it. I conducted some customer research for her — completely unrelated to Twitter — and discovered that “social media” was the number one marketing and business issue for the majority of her customers! By getting in front of the curve and mastering Twitter before her customers were immersed in it, she capture a leadership position and guide them, become a valued subject matter expert, and even create new business opportunities for her company.
Now for HOWEVER number two — However, there are MANY other business benefits to Twitter beyond simply getting sales leads. Even if your customers aren’t there in force, it is still an incredibly powerful way to learn, connect with thought leaders, and identify new business opportunities.
I have seen an incredible diversity of organizations thrive on Twitter, from pizza joints to florists, from mega-brands to my handyman (who I found on Twitter). Colleges, hospitals, non-profits, shipping companies, government agencies, and utilities have all realized business gains from a Twitter presence.
There are just so many way to define success, create wealth, discover benefits, and even have fun with Twitter. Clearly there can be benefits for anyone if they have the fortitude to stick with it.
How do you handle the Twitter Quitters in your organization? Is it a matter of time or are you hitting a wall too?
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Five questions to help you choose your target market
Mar 29th
Ken Rosen is an important part of our {grow} community and a wonderful strategic thinker. Today he graciously offers this guest post on choosing the right target markets:
A Sales and Marketing Credo: “If you want to sell to me, solve my pain. And if you want to talk about my pain, do it in my language.” To market effectively, you need to talk to someone. But if you try to talk to everyone, you usually connect with no one.
To solve pain for customers you must choose some audiences…and not choose others. And stakes are too great to leave this to chance. This is one of the most important marekting decisions your company will make.
So what is the best way to pick target markets? We use five criteria. We call them “Market Success Factors” or MSFs … because every consulting firm needs a few juicy acronyms, right?
You obviously need to start with candidate customers groups. How wide you cast your net depends on schedule, budget, and selling experience. For one enterprise storage vendor, we literally started with every NAICS code (the new name for SIC codes). For young companies, we might build a set of 12 with the management team.
Next, evaluate each market against the Market Success Factors. At Performance Works, we use a five-point rating scale. Use what you like, but to keep things simple, a high rating always means “attractive.”
- How intense is prospect pain in the area you serve?
If the pain from the problem you solve isn’t setting prospects’ hair on fire, if they don’t think about it almost every day, your sales cycle will be longer. Personally, I greatly prefer customers who use words like “pain” over “need,” but both trump “desire.” Sell aspirin, not vitamins. - How well do you solve that pain?
This is where most companies are most comfortable, because it is the most inward-looking question: Do we solve the problem? For too many companies, a “yes” to this question implies “Ok, let’s hire the sales force and start advertising!” We humbly disagree. It’s one of five criteria and you’re not likely the only firm solving the problem. - How strong is competition?
This criteria is pretty obvious, so I’ll only refer you back to the statement ” ’5′ always means ‘attractive.’” To make comparisons make sense when you add up totals, a hypercompetitive environment gets a rating of “1.” - Can you actually close deals?
Many companies think about the problem they solve without worrying about whether they can actually reach a decision maker. Maybe she only buys integrated products. Maybe she only buys from F500 companies. Maybe she hasn’t changed vendors in 10 years because the cost to change is too high. Maybe the ideal market is fragmented and requires a sales channel too expensive for this stage your development. You have to convert someone who needs your product into someone who buys your product. - Long-term value of the market
Market selection doesn’t mean you cut your growth aspirations. Far from it. It means you believe the fastest path to growth is by saying something compelling to someone specific. So our final criteria: What is market growth? Will success lead you to adjacent markets (Geoffrey Moore’s “bowling pin strategy“)? Does one market offer better-known references? Does your team have special background that makes success easier?
If you’re tempted to weight criteria or sub-topics under each criterion, I won’t discourage you, but after doing this for too many markets to count, I’ll tell you a secret: It probably won’t matter. If you apply this approach to 8-15 candidate markets, here’s what’s likely to happen: 3-5 markets will rise to the top with almost equal scores. And you can only focus on 2 or 3 (maybe 4 if you have significant resources and a segmented sales channel). So use management judgment as the final cut.
Finally, what data do you use to rate markets? Here’s one more secret: talk to decision makers. Yes, just talk to them. One-on-one at first, then maybe focus groups and later, for validation only, you can use surveys. (FYI, here’s our view of when to use surveys.) If you don’t try to sell them anything (so no, your reps cannot do this step), people will tell you what they need and even how to sell to them.
When we do market-selection for clients, we start decision-maker conversation with, “I don’t want to sell you anything or change your mind. I just want to know what matters to you.” Executives routinely spend an hour on the phone with us, tell us we can call them back, and say they are surprised how much the enjoyed the conversation. Why? Because they got to talk about their world and what matters to them.
Takeaways
- Commit to focus: solve the pain of a specific market and speak to decision makers in their language.
- Pick markets based on the Market Success Factors above. Get data by talking to potential customers in non-selling situations.
- Align all your functions (Marketing, Sales, financing terms, product or service design, etc.) with your target markets. Remember, this is not a strategy to stay small within a niche; it is usually the fastest path to scale.
Ken Rosen (@ken_rosen) is co-founder of Performance Works, bringing the voice of stakeholders (and a little magic) to executive decisions. He blogs at Performance Talks.
Why are the “social media elite” ignoring us?
Mar 27th
I received an email this week from a reader who is struggling with a problem experienced by many social media newcomers. His question:
“How does a real unknown like me get the big name social media marketers to pay any attention to me? They won’t give me the time of day. I tweet to them and retweet their posts, talk about them on my blog, and don’t receive any acknowledgment. Am I just following the wrong people? Who would you recommend?”
The social web is an enigma. While many top marketers have built their careers touting the importance of “the conversation,” they have become so popular, they no longer have time to converse!
I’ve had the great fortune to meet many of the leaders in the field. And while we certainly have our share of iconic douchebags, the vast majority of these folks are hard-working, well-meaning professionals just trying to make a living.
It’s not always about the conversation
It’s a numbers game. At some point, the workload and crush of followers that comes with celebrity exceeds any human’s ability to engage in a meaningful way, no matter how willing they may be.
Even in my own little world on {grow} I am probably not as attentive as I used to be as blog subscribers and followers multiply. What’s the option? Block people out … or slowly become less tuned-in? I am succumbing to an inexorable corrosion of engagement like everyone else. Some people probably think I’m ignoring them. One popular blogger once told me, ”When you are standing in front of a stadium full of people, you can only slap hands with the people in the front row.”
Just because somebody is busy, it doesn’t necessarily make them a snob. So my first recommendation is, don’t take it personally. I doubt most people are intentionally ignoring you. Extend them some grace.
Looking for love in all the wrong places?
My second thought on this question – maybe the attention on the social media elite is mis-placed.
Many believe if they could only get their blog post tweeted by a social media superstar then everything would change! This is a pervasive myth. At some point I have been tweeted by about every leader in the field, including Guy Kawasaki and Alyssa Milano — who have enough followers to be small countries. After a short spike in traffic (Alyssa actually crashed the server), there was no lasting impact on the blog. I’m not exaggerating. I literally mean NONE. In fact after a Kawasaki tweet my blog subscriptions went down.
There is no shortcut to building a blog community. You have to work hard and create your own movement one reader at a time. Let’s use Dave as an example. By providing personal attention to him, I may create a lifetime fan who will actively engage with me and tell others, too. One connection with a self-proclaimed “unknown” will probably mean more to building the {grow} community than a dozen tweets from Chris Brogan. That is a fact.
Start your own sphere of influence
When I started blogging, many people thought I was on a kamikaze mission by ignoring (or even challenging) the status quo. But I don’t see it that way. Why does the world need another suck-up regurgitating the same old blog topics week after week? How many social media sycophants have gone on to stand out and create distinct value for their readers?
Spending all your time trying to get the attention of the big names is probably not going to have a business pay-off. So go make your own tribe.
There was a small band of beginning bloggers who supported each other when I first started out and we’re still friends today. Srini Rao wrote about this strategy beautifully last week. If you’re a blogging ”baby,” go find some more beginners and support each other. As you learn and grow together, you’ll be your own network of A-List bloggers!
Don’t get caught up in keywords, SEO and Ad Age bloggers. Your key to lasting success is originality, and the key to orginality is having the courage to share your own wisdom.
Any way, that’s my take on it. What has your experience been? Are you successfully connecting with the social media leaders? Any impact?
Shooting for the Starbucks of blogs
Mar 25th
This week I was sitting in a crowded cafe off of a hotel lobby in New York City. The cafe offered free coffee for the hotel guests and I helped myself to the delicious hot drink. I am not a coffee elitist. In fact, the more my coffee tastes like a milkshake, the happier I am.
A group sitting next to me had another idea. They scoffed at the free coffee and sent a scouting party across the street — in the freezing sleet and rain — to round-up four coffees from Starbucks. Probably paid $4.50 apiece for them.
I couldn’t help but draw a parallel between me — taking the convenient ‘free content” — versus the alternate group willing to go out of their way and pay for their content. As marketers and bloggers, isn’t that really our goal? To be so unique, so insanely great, to be able to summon a powerful emotional connection that would drive people out into the sleet to find us!
That’s awesome. That’s what I want to be when I grow up. Or {grow} up as the case may be. I don’t intend to charge for blog content but I do want to provide that kind of value to readers. A few people have told me — “I would pay for your blog.” I think that is the highest compliment possible!
How about you? What would it take for people to want to PAY to read your blog? Are you up to that big of a challenge? If you reached for a goal like that, what would you be changing right now about your blog, your career, your team, or your company?
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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