This was the comment I was faced with recently, made by the Marketing Manager of a fairly large company who wanted to ‘dip their toes’ into the ‘world of Social Media’.
Try as I did to explain to them that Twitter, and Social Media in general, is about relationships and give and take, they were adamant they only wanted people to follow them.
The other rules I was given:
- We don’t want to enter into conversations.
- We only want to Tweet links to our own website.
- We want to delete any negative comments about us on Twitter.
- We don’t want to get involved in Direct Messages.
- We only want links tweeting, no comments or updates on what we’re doing or planning.
So basically this company only wanted to broadcast. And to top it all, they wanted 100,000 followers by the end of the year, for which they were happy to use a service where you buy completely untargeted followers.
A lot of the customers that come to me for Social Media Copywriting & Management services do say that they don’t see the point in conversations, they don’t want to share links and thoughts on their company, but within a short amount of time I’ve managed to get them to see why that strategy won’t work on Twitter, or indeed in Social Media Marketing at all.
This company were adamant that they knew what they wanted; they’d commissioned a Social Media Marketing report that had told them this would work for them, and it was their way or the highway.
I chose the highway
I really hope that their strategy works well for them, and it’s entirely possible that it will; they’re a fairly well known name and it could be that I’ve passed up a great opportunity.
But it’s not how I think Social Media should be used, and it’s not how I work, so I turned them away.
If you want to run your Twitter or other Social Media account in the right way, and need some help with that, send me a message and let’s see if I can help.
More posts about Twitter that might be useful:
Here are the questions people ask after reading “We only want to have Twitter followers”:
❓ Why shouldn’t I use my Twitter account as a one way communication system?
? Because Social Media as a whole has moved on since the early 2000’s and people expect it to be an exchange of ideas, thoughts and information. By all means tell your Twitter followers what you are up to, but it’s important to have connections, develop community and provide some sort of use.
❓ Won’t sharing links to sites other than my own mean I’m promoting someone else, not my company?
? Yes and no. You may be sharing information that you haven’t written or don’t directly make money from, but by sharing relevant and useful links with your audience you’re showing them that you care about them and want to help. This in turn helps them to think of you when they need the services that you provide. When you share a link or some information from elsewhere, make sure you add your own take on it in your Tweet; how is it useful, why should your followers read it, what use can it be to them?
❓ I follow some big brands on Twitter and they just send out links to their own site. Why can’t I?
? If you’re a HUGE brand then maybe you can. People already know who you are and don’t come to your Twitter account to converse with you or to see if you’re the right company for them – the chances are people go to a big brand Twitter account to either complain or to find out some specific information. If you’re not a huge corporation then you should really think about putting some personality into your Twitter account and becoming someone your followers look forward to seeing Tweeting.
Do you have a different question about “We only want to have Twitter followers”?
Send it to me now using the form below!
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