Corporations Need a Strategy for Twitter
I read an interesting perspective on how much executive time can be drained through the avid use of Twitter – ‘ What is the Value of Twitter?’ In this article there was no mention of the benefits the com
pany in question derived and so it’s difficult to determine the ROI of the estimated $72,000 in executive time. I do agree that ‘Free’ is a misnomer when it comes to social media and companies should look at the soft costs associated to their involvement, as with any other communications initiative.
Corporations need a purposeful approach to social media to govern what their people are doing on company time. This begins with understanding how social media intersects with corporate objectives. Having policies in place on the types of conversations most in-line with company objectives as well as who should and shouldn’t be blogging on company time is a good starting point. (The intent here is not to muzzle employees as much as it is to provide focus. One of the key benefits of social media is to bring together like-minded individuals/those with common interests. So if I’m seeking others who have perspectives on issues of interest to me, I can substantially increase relevancy by contributing content on these same topics.)
That said, as in life personality goes a long way and so the more I get a sense of a person – the more engaged I am.
Social media has been around for a number of years but to most it’s still very new. Before diving in, why not determine why you’re swimming in the first place?
After more than a year of active involvement in social media, we have decided to invest even more time in Twitter. (You can see that our CEO is a big fan of Twitter and other social media through some of his earlier blog posts e.g. ‘Twitter is Changing the Face of Communications’ – which provides an overview on Twitter and how some companies are using it.)
As we increase our involvement in Twitter, I’m sure there will be internal discussions around objectives, strategy, best practices, leanings, results – I’ll keep you posted as these evolve. As a starter, here is a good article on developing strategies for Twitter: ‘What the Web Strategist Should Know About Twitter’ from Jeremiah Owyang, a senior analyst at Forrester Research. Although aimed at technology companies, much of what he says has broader application. He provides a very helpful overview on Twitter as well and he received over 100 comments on it! (One comment that I disagree with is Jeremy’s perspective that corporate web sites are losing relevance – in the capital markets with the recent SEC guidance on Reg. FD, IR web sites are becoming even more important.)
From an ROI perspective, I’ve found a number of great resources through social media, especially Twitter. As I explored these further I saw common ground for information sharing or even potential business opportunities – some of which I’m currently exploring. I’ve introduced people through Twitter and connected others to valuable resources /information. And I’ve been the recipient of this as well.
Twitter has helped us increase traffic to our blog and has also helped us build our profile but I don’t have the time to park on it and comment every time I try a new scent. And I’m not interested in the popularity contest of how many people I’m following or the numbers following me – like jewellery, it’s the quality, not the quantity. So the growth here will be incremental over time. (If you’re looking to build a following, here’s an interesting article I’ve recently read from Mashable’s Atherton Bartleby “Why I don’t follow you on Twitter?” – some ‘do’s and don’ts’ for you to consider.
I earnestly try to make time to contribute valuable content because I get something back. Over time I’m sure that the relevancy of my content will continue to improve as I gain further perspective on key issues (some of these insights will be gained through Twitter and other social media).
And I will be watching closely to measure the return is on my investment. Some of it will be quantifiable (like opportunities, partnerships) and some less tangible (such as increasing my knowledge, learning about interesting events and other awareness opportunities). Obviously a certain amount of time needs to be invested to see a return – just as a company would not evaluate an advertising channel based on the return from one ad.
I’d be very interested in hearing from companies who have put policies/guidelines in place, have determined specific measurements and have seen Twitter or other social media impact their objectives. Do you have a story that you’d like to share?
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I used to work for a large IT multinational. Instant messaging was one of the most useful tools for getting the job done (challenging IT solutions that needed the expertise of various people – out of thousands of different people located around the world). However, didn’t have much of a strategy in how to use that. Sure that if there were more guideliness in place (and more general support) would have got even more out of it.
Hi Eamon,
Thanks for your feedback. I agree with the need for guidelines around IM, which is a tool widely used here at Q4. IM can enable greater productivity if you keep conversations brief and, as you’d mentioned, it allows you to connect with others in geographically disperse locations in real-time. One pet peeve I have with IM is when I receive a link for information that I will likely need to reference again and may want to share – it would be much better to receive it via email using an appropriate subject line. (I can’t bookmark everything!) I’m sure there are all kinds of other useful tips/guidelines. Reducing waste and inefficiency is an important objective for our company and so I think we’ll be looking at email, IM and many other tools to see how we can optimize our use of them. Stay tuned!