Happy Birthday Twitter! Twitter turned 5 yesterday. They announced on their blog that there are now 400 employees to support the 140 million Tweets per day and 500,000 accounts created every day.
Did you celebrate? I know far more people who are NOT on Twitter than who are. I know people who outwardly question Twitter's utility or ability to connect people from around the world in an instant. And I know more B2B Marketers who maybe have a Facebook page but are not on Twitter, do not blog and who question social media's importance in the world of B2B Marketing, in Marketing in general. Heck, even in the world at large.
Click to view Twitter's Birthday Video
Follow Your Interests. Discover Your World.
The Twitter video title is true not just for Twitter but for all of social media. In Why Do You Tweet? Social Media and Your Personal Brand I discuss how I feel compelled to participate in social media. As marketers, I think it is our duty to connect with an audience, discover a brand voice and create content that people want. This is the essence of personal branding.
The Collective "Digital Footprint"
I believe that a strong personal brand can act as a positive voice for the companies we all represent. But how can we achieve this at scale? This was recently covered by Sima Dahl (@simasays) in Personal Branding In A Corporate World. Sima talks about power of "the collective 'digital footprint' that your employees make..." and how this "collective online behavior generates hundreds-maybe even thousands-of inbound links back to your company website."
"Use It To Connect"
If we follow our interests, we can grow our personal brand and we can help our companies along the way. Sounds great. But maybe there's more to it?
When I wake up, I have the nagging feeling that I have missed something. I check Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin, as soon as I triage my email and conquer the highest priority tasks of my day. The reason I feel compelled to share and participate in social media is bigger than B2B Marketing, bigger than personal or corporate branding, it's bigger than my interests. This is demonstrated by Aaron Lee (@AskAaronLee) in his tribute to Twitter's birthday. Aaron recaps everything he learned from Twitter's video and then adds his own reason for using Twitter when he says "For me, I use it to connect."
So if you're a marketer or involved in any aspect of marketing yourself, your company or your cause (PS - that's everyone), you have only good reasons to get involved in social media. Personal branding is the most important campaign you will ever work on! The good news is that it's good for you, it's good for your company and it nourishes (I almost wrote "the soul") that basic human instinct to connect with other people. And as we're seeing in the biggest events of our day, it can help people across the world in ways we could have never imagined.
Now if you're struggling with Finding The Time To Tweet or Blog here are a few simple tips:
- Persistence is key: just do a little every day
- Build it in: think of how you incorporate email into your day
- Scan, Monitor, Prioritize: start each day with a quick glance at each social channel
- Read, Share and Connect: begin with your interests and connect with others who share the same
- Write: Once you start feeling comfortable, start to chime in on topics that speak to you
- Rinse and Repeat!
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