In the past 6 months Twitter has become a major function of my job. We’ve had some incredible successes, all of which I’m very proud of and none of which I will repeat here. However, for the non-digital-native crew, this world is completely unknown, and in some cases scary. I’ve tried multiple approaches when someone asks me, “what is Twitter”. Recently, I’ve resorted to just chuckling, because I don’t know what else to say to make it ‘click’. Sometimes I want to reference the Supreme Court case with Larry Flynt that ends with, “you know it when you see it.” That’s kind of how Twitter is.
Case in point: two days ago I brought a pack of instant miso soup that I had purchased from PCC grocery. They are a co-op that I grew up on when i was a kid. I love shopping there, the food is delicious, the people are always great, and it reminds me of being a kid. Anyways, I brought the miso soup to work, and made it as an afternoon snack. It turned out to be completely horrible, undrinkable bad. I’m not a complainer, generally. I usually respond to bad food by not returning to a restaurant, rather than sending food back. On my twitter account I said that my miso soup was really bad, and was disappointed. I was only hoping to get some sympathy from my wife and friends on Twitter. It turns out PCC has a twitter account, they saw my tweet and responded to me directly. It made me feel really good. They should never be afraid of losing my business, but the connection they made is important.
The Twitter account that I run for my company has grown to over 18k, and I’m disappointed that I can’t respond in kind to everyone this same way. I try, but there aren’t enough hours in the day.
I guess the point of this is post is a question … what is the best way that you’ve explained it, in 2 sentences to non-digital-natives. I get blank stares with the standard answers. I have some ideas in my head, and I think about it often … but I’m still missing that golden bullet.
2 Comments
First off, congratulations on growing your company’s twitter account to over 18k! That being said, I would attempt to determine the roots of your company. Go back to how it all started, what your brand stands for. Sounds like you not being able to respond to everyone is a problem – and a good one at that!
Pitch that up the chain saying that there is a new medium of conversating with your customer base and its something that should be seriously looked at. 18k. Are you a one-man Twitter team? There is no way that a customer should not get a response from your company when they are trying to reach out to you. With that many followers you are obviously selling product to the mass consumer. I assume you would like to keep ALL of them happy and grow that base. Not responding would dilute what seems to be a strong brand (after all, you have 18k followers).
Sorry, had to throw the above in and now to get to your question. I don’t spend a lot of time explaining to people WHAT Twitter is. You either get it or you don’t. I have found that sitting with someone in a consulting session proves to be invaluable. It’s one of those tools that people have to be involved in to understand. That’s what Social Media is. You can’t sit on the sidelines and understand?
It’s like your PCC place. How could I possibly understand what it was like for you to get food from there as a kid? I have my own experiences. You would have to take me to PCC, explain to me what you feel so that I could even begin to grasp your nostalgia.
Fortunately explaining Twitter is a bit easier than my understanding your PCC experience.
For what it’s worth – Twitter is the form of communication that will become prevalent in future (think 5 years). It’s how we communicate now.
Note: One thing that always works for me is to ask people what it was like when email came on to the scene. Which side were they on? The side pushing for it or the side against it? Same story…don’t fall behind. The clock is ticking.
Tick Tock.
Yes, however. Email was easy to understand, it directly replaced another, well known form of communication. Twitter does not replace anything, it is new. I’m not convinced that Twitter will be the defacto form of communication for everyone in 5 years. In my opinion, it will be a form for some, but not all.