Since late last year I decided to find out what Twitter was all about. It's been quite a learning experience in that time. Since developing a degree of understanding on what it is & how to use it I have become increasingly enthusiastic about it's benefits. Futhermore, I think it is going to be one of those technologies that will come to effect us all in the future. There have been a few technologies in the last 10 or so years that have changed the way we work. You could site the emergence of Email and quality search results with Google as two examples. I think Twitter (or micro-blogging as it is technically termed) will be one of those technologies.
There are a lot of criticisms about Twitter. Such as it wastes a lot of time or it is a poor substitute for developing real relationships face to face. There is merit to both these points but like most technologies, it's how you use it. My personal experience has been that it has been a fantastic way to meet new contacts with similar interests, get news and promote yourself and your business.
I could write a dozen blog posts on what I have learned about Twitter, what makes it so useful and how I think it can best be utilised by small and medium sized businesses, but first you need to understand 'What the heck is it'. The video below is probably the best way to have it explained.
Once you've watched it why not sign up for a free account at www.twitter.com
Next you can follow Ben and I at www.twitter.com/benhamilton and www.twitter.com/dflood
I'd also recommend downloading a free desktop program to use Twitter with. I recommend trying Twhirl or Tweetdeck.
I plan to keep writing about Twitter and other Social Media platforms such as Youtube, LinkedIN, Facebook etc. as there is a real convergance between these places where web based conversations take place and your Customer and Contact database where you manage your business relationships.
In the past we have mail merged letters and stuffed envelopes, in the future I think we all may be using Twitter as part of a communications suite.
Enjoy the video and feel free to post a comment.
2 comments:
Hi Darren.
Check out http://www.cloudcontacts.com/
I haven't used it myself, but it looks like a useful tool for people who have a stack of business cards and want these contacts imported not only into a contact management system, but also into CRM and social media services like the ones you've mentioned above.
For what it is worth, I use TweetDeck and it works well for me.
- Stephen Hamilton
Hi Stephen,
I did check out www.cloudcontacts.com Looks like a great service. My card scanner is a dust collector. It's just easier to get someone (other than me) to enter them manually. I find the accuracy of card scanners to be dependant on the typography on the card. If they are simple it works fine, if the card owners graphic design had an inspired moment when designing their cards the results are variable.
I'm sure heaps of clients have piles of cards. If we can get them into their CRM system and then include them on the marketing campaigns I'm sure the cost of using www.cloudcontacts.com service would be more than recovered.
I'll look for an opportunity to suggest this to a client and report back on their experience. The key will be the accuracy of the data provided.
Thanks for commenting.
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