New Year’s Resolution #2: Communicate in ‘08

December 12th, 2007 by Kelly Rusk

To carry on Carolyn’s resolution theme, I challenge you to ‘communicate in ‘08′ and what I really mean is embrace new communication techniques, which are forming and solidify online as we speak…

In fact, A big ‘thing’ happened yesterday… Web Strategist & Forrester Analyst Jeremiah Owyang posted about the increasing popularity of Twitter, which seems to have accelerated exactly what he was talking about — Within hours, over 200 comments from Jeremiah’s readers sharing their twitter IDs & now, 24 hours later, the hype has exploded across the blogosphere.

The point is, microblogging front runner, Twitter, is really starting to take off. As exciting as it is, as a marketer I would advise to ‘proceed with caution.’ For a few reasons:

Like many things ’social media’ Twitter is community oriented, personal, and interactive. You can’t expect to be successful if you aren’t able to embrace these features. It’s not about pushing your message out; it’s about interacting and communicating with people who are interested in your brand.
Phoniness/Insincerity is easily caught online. And if you’re caught, it can have a strong negative impact on your brand.
And most importantly - you need to know what you’re getting into, before you find yourself knee deep. Mitch Joel provides a fantastic list of 10 tips to get started…

Ok, now I admit, though I’ve been following Twitter talk for some time, I didn’t REALLY get into it until yesterday (though thanks to Jeremiah, I already have a healthy list of followers!). I’m definitely no expert, just sharing my impressions/perspectives from a marketing/PR point of view. If you’re really keen about starting a Twitter strategy, you should read Web Strategy: What the Web Strategist should know about Twitter.

So here’s to a New Year full of new and exciting communications strategies! Now, where’s my champagne?

PS- Love it if you’d follow me on Twitter, I’ll follow you back!

Posted in Kelly Rusk, Social Media |

2 Responses

DJ Waldow Says:

December 12th, 2007 at 10:42 pm

Kelly -

Help me! I don’t “get” Twitter. Why do I want to follow every action that people make? Why do others care how (the heck) I spend my time? I understand the concept, but am not sold on the value. Someone tried to explain it to me, but…

dj at bronto

Kelly Rusk Says:

December 13th, 2007 at 9:56 am

Oh dj, I was once like you!

In all seriousness though, my first impression of twitter was it was just like the facebook status updates (i.e. “kelly is eating cheerios for breakfast… YAY!”).

but ACTUALLY it’s much more of that. In the whole two days I’ve been using twitter, I’ve ‘networked’ with like-minded professionals (and not like LinkedIn, where you add the connection and never speak again, Twitter also works like a chat room, you can direct your tweets at specific people (e.g “@djatbronto don’t you ‘get’ twitter yet?”)

Also, if you’re one who loves to be ‘the first to know’, Twitter is the place for you, so long as you find the right people to follow. A lot of breaking news gets posted up fast.

From a business perspective, it’s great for sharing blog posts (though as I mentioned, you can’t *just* use it as a promo tool) and other resources.

It’s probably not for everyone and it’s definitely important to ‘follow’ the right people. If you can get into it, it’s tons of fun!