November 23, 2010

The Allure of Twitter

Patience is a virtue not a business plan but often people get onto the social web and expect instant results. For some reason, the online world can be a tempting mistress for hard work. She can give clues that one more tweet or blog and all those nice things others are saying will turn into revenue.

What is often forgotten is that the online world is the real world in one person increments. Those connections, followers and friends are actually real people hoping they can make a connection too.

Twitter is an interesting and rapidly growing channel that is an exciting place to find similar people along specific thought silos void of geographic constraints. But it is not a bottle of diet pills. There are no short cuts.

Business is conducted constantly on this and many other social networking channels with people who have taken the time to get to know each other.

Nice to meet them.

If someone invites you to a backyard barbecue and they are the only one you know at the party, it’s clear you wouldn't show up with a box of business cards. So it is essential to let others get to know you.

Be genuinely curious about them.

We read words such as authentic and trust all the time with reference to channels such as Twitter but the only way you can truly define those for your own experience is to put in the time. If I don’t know you, how can I trust you and why would I buy from you?

We reside on both sides of the counter. 

We are all providers and customers. Give thought to how you want others to approach you before you approach them. If you don’t want spam, then don’t spam. If you don’t want someone to go directly to the sale or talk about themselves, reciprocate.

If you do the work and remain yourself, you can build relationships that you would never have elsewhere. Twitter is the conduit. It is the people that make it a living entity. Respect and decorum go a long way.

If your goal is to simply get to know people, then be patient and let them get to know you. If you want Twitter to help build your business, it requires just as much work and time as building any other relationship.

What are your thoughts?

knealemann | email



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