On Thursday I attended an interesting gathering of people: the Austin Company Tweetup. This was a meeting made up of entrepreneurial folks in the Austin area who were using Twitter – largely for marketing purposes. Given that I contribute to @BaygullStudios along with my personal account, @Arrakiv, it made sense to attend a meeting like this. I also have to say, it was most certainly worth it as well. I was able to meet a number of interesting people, some of who focus their businesses around Twitter quite tightly, such as the fellow from Appozite and the guy from Stwittergy – both of whom were quite knowledgeable and had plenty of wisdom to share around. Still, others were there from a variety of businesses, such as Sweet Leaf Tea, who were also quite interesting.
Yet, the important question here, is what does a company need to do to be successful on something like Twitter? It seems like you can sum it up quite simply as this: don’t just talk about yourself, pick an area to focus in, have a real conversation, and make sure you come across as a real person behind the keyboard. The real important thing though, is to be sure that you’re simply interesting. Apparently well over 60% of Twitter users (according to a poll over at Stwittergy) don’t care if the person they’re following is a business or whatever, so long as they have something interesting to say.
Basically, if you’re running a company and you want to advertise yourself with Twitter, don’t’ just talk about yourself. Post links to what people are saying in related fields, talk as an expert on the field in general and not just on your own products, and basically take part in the conversation. The best example I heard on Thursday is that Twitter is like a cocktail party. You don’t just walk in and start shouting out “I MAKE GAMES” or whatever. Instead, you listen in on what people are saying, and you pipe up when it makes sense to, and otherwise just add to whatever the conversation happens to be.
Oh, and apparently you should also Retweet a lot.
On a totally unrelated note, I appologize for the silence lately. I picked up a new contract and I’ve been adjusting to the new schedule. Hopefully things should be evening out again.
