In a well-intentioned attempt to be hip and “down with it,” companies have signed on to accounts only to discover no one cares if their board meeting is moved from Thursday to Friday.  The resulting lack of followers discourages them from posting ever again.

Whether it is the individual who does not care to share every waking moment with strangers or the business who is too enthusiastic about the banal, in each case the problem is not Twitter but the message being shared.  Part of this is the fault of the company who created Twitter.  There is a valid criticism that on the website above the place where you write your 140 characters of pure genius they ask, “what’s happening?”  For the business aspiring to get the message out about their company, that is certainly the wrong question to ask.

But we will get to that in a moment.

Twitter is shortsightedly demonized and overlooked.  It is merely a communication medium: if you are a business, it is another medium of telling your story.  All popular communication methods must be vigorously pursued if you want to grow your business.  It does not have to make sense to you or fit in your personal lifestyle habits.  Twitter is used fanatically by millions of people across the United States and that is all that should matter.

If you do not realize the results you first envisioned, the problem is you.  Instead of thinking of what you want to say, ask yourself “what does your audience want to hear?”  Or if you want to get even more basic, first ask yourself who your audience is.  If it is the mom in her 30s with 3 kids and you are a grocery store or kid’s clothing department, she wants updates of your specials.  If your clientele is everyone in the region and you are a club, they want to know what artist is performing this weekend.

It is so simple that I wonder why businesses do not take advantage of the golden opportunity.  A great example of doing it right is the local Whole Foods (@wfmsc).  They have nearly daily updates of classes and specials and even respond to questions.  If you want to hear the lecture on “Internal cleansing and colon health” it is on Tuesday.  Sure, they only have 414 followers and some of them are spammers, but think of the rest who they are communicating to on a daily basis for free.

All of the Twitter controversy leaves me wondering what there is to lose. Free communication to people who want to be updated is a no-brainer.

The last piece of the puzzle is creating a compelling message.  For Whole Foods, it is pretty easy to figure out but the bike shop down the road might be perplexed.  Ask yourself this: what do your customers care about?  If you are a bicycle shop, they obviously care about the latest innovations and gear on the market.  If that is the case, look each day for links to share of what is happening in your world.

This is not rocket science, I realize.  But you would be surprised how many business owners cannot even see the trees much less the forest.

Twitter will only be as good as you make it. If you need help crafting your message, we are always happy to help. Shoot us an email or give us a call at (888) 716-5272.