S.N. 2.0

I am giving my blog another go.  I failed miserably when it came to updating and posting regularly on my first attempt.  I broke one of the cardinal rules of blogging, "blog".

I am going to publicly commit myself to updating my blog once a week.  I know that may seem like nothing for the average person.  For me, it may prove to be a challenge.  Well, here it goes, let blog 2.0 begin!

My latest obsession is Twitter!

I was introduced to Twitter through a coworker.  It is a simple concept.  Let me break it down for those of you who do not have a Twitter account or those of you who do not know how it works.  Twitter is micro-blogging.  You update what your are doing with up to 140 characters.  These updates are known as tweets.  Twitter limits how many times you can update per hour, however I have not run into any problems and I tweet fairly often.

Once you tweet, all of those who have signed up to 'follow' you will be able to see your tweet.  You can keep all your 'followers' up to date on your latest quest, your latest news, links to anything on the web you want to bring others' attention to or anything else you can fit into 140 characters. Following can be compared to subscribing.  You are essentially subscribing to other people on Twitter, thus learning what they are doing/buzzing about, what promotions are being offered and the latest news from Google News, BBC News and even The Onion to name a few.

Twitter is a fantastic way to network, receive the latest news and get some fantastic deals from tons of places like Whole Foods and even Starbucks.  For example, a couple of weeks ago I found a link to a coupon for $5 of a grocer purchase of $25!  Starbucks also has a trivia competition to all of their followers to win a Gold Card.  This networking is all accomplished through following others and being followed.

The best part of it is that it is a branding tool.  You can brand yourself, your organization, your clients and just about anything else.  The best thing about Twitter, is that you do not have to know anyone on Twitter to jump in.  It is encouraged that you follow people that you do not know and build a network.  How great is that?!

For those of you using Twitter, maybe you can help me.  I am attempting to take an active roll in bringing the agency I work at into the 21st century.  We have been unable to convince our clients to blog.  Most of their audience has made a transition to online information seeking.  The general rule of thumb is that if the audience is not online, do not waste your efforts.  Well, how do you convince them to move online when their audience is online?  How do you delicately say, "e-Newsletters are just not enough."

I think Twitter will help our clients play a  more active roll with their audiences, allow for more interactive promotions and create a strong online community.  Twitter can make much more of an impact than a traditional, often overlooked and easily deleted e-mail blast. 

From an agency point of view, Twitter can be more work that we can bill the client.  I am struggling with why it is not an easier sell.  If you have any tips on angles I can use to persuade the decision makers at my agency, send me a note.

Jump on in!  I encourage you to start using Twitter!  You can gladly follow me, I encourage it!