Why Twitter?

I did it because I don’t get it. When I don’t get it, I try to challenge my stereotypes and make an effort to get it. The popularity of Twitter is too big to be ignored, so I had to test.

Part of a Social Media Marketing Strategy?

I have written about the Pros and Cons of Twittering before, and have to confess that the pros were a challenge, but I tried balancing the sides before casting a final verdict.

Here it is.

I’m throwing in the Twitter towel. No more Tweets from my side. They simply don’t return the value of my invested time. Unless you’re a Social Media specialist, I would recommend staying away from Twitter for professional use (and actually even personal use, if you have a day job).

Pros

1. Ease of use – Twitter is very easy to update with posts and status messages.
2. Manage your personal image – you can get personal with your contacts by keeping them up to date on what you are doing.
3. Keeping it short -you have to limit your posts in Twitter to very short messages, which means you have to think about what you want to say and boil your point down to a sentence or two.
4. Pluggability - Twitter lets you export your twits to RSS and other social media tools. For instance, showing your latest twit on your blog may be an integration to let you manage your mood or activity status. Also, promoting your blog or Squidoo lens has additional marketing benefits.
5. Networking - you can import your contacts from your e-mail address book and you can integrate with other social contact lists.

Cons

1. WIIFM - busy professionals usually don’t have time to try hundreds of new social media. The ever-returning question “What’s In It For Me?” is dominant for busy people. In short, Twitter does not add as much value to Social Media Marketing as a lot of other channels, like Linkedin or Facebook.
2. Feature poor - if you’re considering microblogging, have a look at Jaiku or Pownce before deciding which to use. Twitter is missing some of the features of these competitors.
3. Less efficient than social bookmarking – if you want to link to your blog or website, Social Bookmarking tools like StumbleUpon and del.irio.us are a lot more efficient and time saving in posting links.
4. Clutter risk – unless Twitter is a complement to your other Social Media engagements, there is a risk that Twitter becomes just another social tool in the list of tools you don’t really use.
5. Requires time – if you don’t keep your Twitter account updated with new posts daily, the usefulness of the tool diminishes.
6. SEO isn’t everything – even though there may be benefits in linking to your money-making pages, there are better ways of marketing yourself in social media.

Bottom line

Engaging in Social Media requires time, commitment and sincerity. I would recommend using Twitter (and similar tools) only if you are committed to Social Marketing, and have a clearly defined Personal Social Media Strategy. For most professionals, the time and resources at hand are scarce. Twitter is mostly for personal use, and for fun more than business.

Social Marketing is suited for marketing people, not products or companies. Focus on yourself, your credibility and reputation by writing about things you are passionate about. Without mentioning any of your skills, how wonderful your company is or what Fortune 100 companies you have worked for. If people are interested in you, they will find that information on your Linkedin or Xing profile.