Twitter… Bla Bla Bla TWEET… Bla TWEET… Bla – Are you sick of Twitter yet?
Terrance Barkan, CAE, is chief strategist and business architect with GlobalStrat, providing professional advisory services for the not-for-profit community. Connect with him on LinkedIn or on Twitter at @TBarkan.
The more I speak with association managers, marketing and communications professionals, senior executives and CEOs, one message is absolutely clear: They feel bombarded by the hype around social media and frankly are getting sick and tired of hearing about it!
At a recent meeting of about 100 communications and marketing specialists (the kinds of people that are embracing social media), more than 95% of them said they have used Twitter and 100% of those users determined that it held little to no value, or worse, was a time suck.
An executive director of an important trade association summed it up best when she said she felt social media hype was exerting a tremendous amount of “peer pressure to embrace social media,” but that it was difficult at best to see where the value was. Her view was echoed by her colleagues who also wanted to know where the measureable ROIwas in social media.
These frustrations are both normal and unfortunate. Social media has a great deal to offer organizations of every size and type, but the heavy focus on social media technology features, rather than the business strategy of how and why to use social media, is a problem.
What good is it to know that Beyonce has half a million followers on Twitter? What lessons are learned for a professional membership organization that Susan Boyle’s combined YouTube hits now number more than 100 million? Or that Facebook has 330 million users?
It’s like saying that China has 1.4 billion people … so it makes sense to do business in China. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, but you don’t decide just because of the impressive numbers.
Some organizations are starting to wade through the hype and make real, measureable use of social media. These organizations have several things in common:
- They have identified a specific use or objective for their social media activities.
- They have determine how they are going to measure success and they start that measurement right from the beginning.
- They have developed a strategy and a business plan that includes designating sufficient human resources to implement and manage their plans.
In other words, they are treating social media as they would any other important business project, not like it is a hobby.
Go here to learn more about how to make a professional social media strategy, including access to free resource documents.
Tags: planning, social media, Terrance Barkan, Twitter
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Posted by bethludwick on February 16th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
SmartBlog Insights: Twitter… Bla Bla Bla TWEET… Bla TWEET… Bla – Are you sick of Twitter yet?: Terranc… http://bit.ly/ajLDGU #association
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Posted by SmartBriefScoop on February 18th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
SmartBlog Insights contributor @TBarkan talks about Twitter — Are you sick of it yet? http://ow.ly/17XCr
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Posted by Cathi Eifert, CAE on February 19th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
100% said it was a time suck?? I’m surprised they are so close minded about it. I get real value from Twitter every day – have increased my knowledge about not only social media, but association management and membership as well. #assnchat has lots of good information every week. I think in order to see the use of it in your association, you need to start using it – Twitter is all about who you follow – if you follow Beyonce and others in her vein, yes, it is a time suck and rather boring. But if you are an association person, follow @MaddieGrant, @JamieNotter, @MissLynn13, @pinnovation or any of the other hundreds of association people on Twitter – not only do they get it, but they are wonderful resources. Yes, there are others that I follow that are just for fun too. And it was wonderful to follow Fairfax County and the Washington Post during the snow ordeal earlier this month!
If these people are tired and sick of the hype, they are going to possibly miss a real opportunity to engage their members and be part of the conversation that may very well already be going on in their membership, with or without them.
-Cathi
Posted by CathiEifert on February 19th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
MUST READ: Twitter… Bla Bla Bla TWEET… Bla TWEET… Bla – Are you sick of Twitter yet? http://bit.ly/9ODxAY
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Posted by Cynthia Rosso on February 19th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Twitter, like any other communications vehicle, has to fit into a strategy to be useful. Used right it can enhance other marketing and informational efforts, but it surely is not THE answer to anything. And, before we know it, a new technological advancement will likely make Twitter outdated, along with Facebook and all the other social media we have today. Twitter should be used, however, if it makes sense for your demographic and purposes, and if you have the human resources to do it right. There’s no one size fits all answer to the Twitter question.
Posted by Maggie McGary on February 19th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Before I starting using Twitter I thought it was 100% stupid. I used to blog about how stupid it was and how I was sick of hearing people talk about it. Then I started using it and now if I had to pick one thing to give up: email or Twitter, I’d rather give up email. I use Twitter for personal stuff, business, to get news, to stay connected to my kids’ school, county government, etc. When my power was out during the blizzard I used Twitter to track where Pepco was, which sections of the county had power back on and when. I used Twitter to find out when the government was open or closed. I didn’t have a radio and didn’t care–I could find out anything I needed to know about local stuff on Twitter.
I agree, the hype talk is annoying, and Twitter may well not be for everyone. For me, personally, though, I find it very useful and it has without a doubt helped me advance professionally.
I say before totally ruling it out people should at least try it…
Posted by SarahAACC on February 22nd, 2010 at 6:45 am
Planning is the key. RT @CathiEifert: MUST READ: Twitter… Bla Bla Bla TWEET… Are you sick of Twitter yet? http://bit.ly/9ODxAY
This comment was originally posted on Twitter