What Is the Purpose of Twitter?

For my Twitter account (@ZimblerMiller) I do NOT use software that automatically follows back anyone who follows me.

Instead, I look at each person's Twitter account – the photo (or lack therefore), the bio, the recent tweets, and often I click on the hot link – before deciding whether to follow back.

And what I very often see is someone who does not understand the power (or purpose) of Twitter.

Speaking to a prospective client who is already on Twitter, I tried to politely explain that the company was not using Twitter for the site's most important purpose.

Somewhat annoyed at what I said, the prospective client retorted: "What is the purpose of Twitter?"

"To establish relationships – and you're selling on Twitter," I said.

Let me say this here as clearly as possible: Twitter is NOT about tweeting every single product in your catalog, one tweet at a time. Nor is Twitter about every tweet announcing what you are selling.

Because it is so easy to start using Twitter and it is so easy to follow people who only tweet sales messages, it is understandable that people new to Twitter often do not know how to effectively participate on this social media site (or actually on any social media site).

There is a very simple participation role on social media: You participate on social media to share information in your field (or fields) of interest – either free information from you or others – in order to connect with people interested in the info you share.

After interacting with these prospective clients or customers, you can occasionally tweet information on your products or services. But your first goal should be to develop personable relationships with people in a way that wasn't easily possible until social media sites came along.

As I've been predicting for the last few weeks, if your company is not effectively active on major social media sites by the start of 2013, your company may be so far behind its competition that your company may never catch up.

But before you jump into participating on Twitter and other social media sites, do spend some time learning about the best use of each site for connecting with your target markets.

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her business partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) are committed to taking the mystery out of social media so that individuals and companies can utilize the power of social media to attract more business.

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