7 Ways to Use Twitter Without Tweeting
I was an early adopter of twitter–Not necessarily because I wanted to be, but because I had to be. My then teenage daughter and her younger brother were early twitter users. Initially, I joined the twitter community to interact with them. To my surprise, Twitter opened up a whole new world to me. The application to my business became immediately apparent to me.
Twitter is like a flowing river of information, broken into 140-240 character chunks. You can customize twitter so you see what’s most relevant to you each time you step into this info river.
Here Are 7 Ways I Use Twitter Without Tweeting:
1. To keep up with customers.
2. To customize the news I see each day.
3. To fuel my personal development.
4. To connect with news makers and thought leaders.
5. To share useful articles and books.
6. For entertainment.
7. To follow and support kid’s activities.
Here’s HOW I do it:
1. To Keep Up With Customers
I work in a highly regulated industry, so I can not put promotional messages out into the twittersphere. I can however follow my customers, competitors, local politicians and advocacy groups on Twitter. People and businesses post topics and messages on Twitter because they believe they have something important to share. For example, a local hospital system may post a notice to advertise a free community health screening or tweet about a change in their leadership. When I meet with my customers, I can work what I’ve learned from their postings into my discussions–signaling to them that I am very interested in their overall business and understand their goals.
A competitor may tweet about a new customer program they are launching. This let’s me quickly survey the competitive landscape in just a few minutes.
Politicians and PACs often tweet about the work they’re doing. This gives me insight into whether there is something brewing that may affect my industry.
Advocacy groups tweet about advances in research, fund-raisers, and other factoids that further their causes. In short, by following the types of organizations and people I’ve mentioned, I can stay on top of initiatives that are important to my customers and industry and I can pick up trends in my business quickly.
2. To Customize the News I See Each Day
Local and national media outlets offer a variety of twitter feeds. I choose to follow topics and outlets that interest me. By using twitter, I am usually pointed to a specific article. This saves me from sifting through an entire website or newspaper to find the information that I want to see. Additionally, follow specific columnists that are of interest to me. Again, I see the posts that are relevant to me–without having to sort through a mountain of extraneous stuff.
3. To Fuel My Personal Development
My personal development is my responsibility. I use twitter to connect with authors, magazines and sites who post content that’s interesting to me and challenges my thinking. For example, I follow Bob Burg (@BobBurg), co-author of the Go-Giver. I found this book transformative in the way I look at the value transfer that has to happen before a sale is made. I learn from Bob Burg not only because he tweets about his thoughts, research and philosophies, but he also shares articles and ideas from authors who extend his work or further the understanding of topics like leadership and leadership development.
I follow several magazines like Inc (@inc) and the Harvard Business Review (@harvardbiz) as well. Again, I can make a quick decision to read or save an article that may be of interest to me. Twitter helps me customize my development and allows me to quickly create a highly targeted reading list.
4. To Connect With News Makers and Thought Leaders
Twitter changed the balance of power in relationships the relationship that I have, or could have with thought leaders, celebrities, politicians or other power players. While some of these folks have assistants or services that manage their twitter presence for them not all do. With twitter’s direct messaging capabilities, all I need is a person’s twitter handle to contact them directly. Most of the people mentioned put time and resources into managing their social media presence, so I typically receive a response quickly when I pose a question or share an idea.
5. To Share Articles and Ideas That Others Will Find Useful
I’ve been a sales coach for many years. One of the reasons chose this profession is that I can help people achieve their dreams. I always look for fascinating articles that can help people be more effective, more influential, and better leaders. When I find an article or video that meets this purpose, I share it with my colleagues and my followers.
6. For Entertainment
OK, I admit it. I do use Twitter for entertainment, too. I follow a few celebrities and political candidates who are entertaining and interesting. I also follow a few musicians and bloggers. The point is that you and I can customize exactly what we see each day.
7. To Follow and Support My Kids Activities
Today, it seems that all of the organizations that my kids belong to are on twitter. From their schools to their math tutor and from the Boy Scouts of America to the track team, Twitter is a primary way to share important updates. These organization share everything from updates on school closings to announcements of events. It’s a great way to stay in touch.
I’ve briefly outlined my case for using twitter each day to RECEIVE information. I typically invest no more that 10 minutes per day to reviewing my twitter feed. How are you using twitter?
