Comments on: Does Twitter Bring You Cold Hard Business And Drive Sales?

By: Moon Hussain | Experiments In Passive Income

Moon Hussain | Experiments In Passive Income — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:18:35 +0000

Hi Niall,

I’m torn about this myself. I’ve mostly been using it for personal purposes and only recently have began to think about how it can help me with my blog. I think it’s much less involved than Facebook or Myspace, and for that reason alone, I love it. I can send a text from my phone, receive updates; it’s great in that sense.

Guess I’ll update you one day when I see any progress made with it in favour of my blog

By: Rob Carroll

Rob Carroll — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:30:53 +0000

I have found in pure traffic numbers Twitter only gets me about 5% of the traffic Facebook does. I think so many twitter accounts are simply set up as another place to push content and you have to wonder how many people are actually using twitter as a 2-way tool??? At least with Facebook more often than not there is a person there communicating.

By: @VintageIreland

@VintageIreland — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:34:02 +0000

It’s not just about promoting as a means to make money. For some types of business, it can also be about gaining suggestions from followers that can improve the business (in the case of @VintageIreland, improve the Vintage Fairs) so not only does your business earn more money, but everyone enjoys the experience more too.

By: John McLachlan

John McLachlan — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:06:14 +0000

Niall, thank you for this post. It’s refreshing to hear someone who is knowledgeable about twitter to speak about how it may not be for everyone. Your comments regarding small business are dead-on from my experience.

Your comment “It is easy for me to use Twitter because it is part of my job” is very good to hear. I think that’s important point to make when talking to small businesses that are considering using twitter. Though using twitter is somewhat part of my job, even for me, there is also project work that needs to be done and twitter can be a distraction and time-consuming. And, as you also said, many people never even look at blogs as well. It’s easy for us bloggers to think the whole world reads them.

Though I’m relatively new to blogging and twitter, I’m not new to using the tools available. I had an email account in the 1990s before I knew anyone who had an email account. I believe in the power of these tools, old and new, but I am having trouble now with twitter in that there is just so much noise and I feel like I’m just contributing to it and diverting myself from other, more valuable things when I take part using it. Hmmm. Lots to think about.

By: DJ NightLife

DJ NightLife — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:01:29 +0000

Also, I could add that there are too much spam accounts that follow mostly anybody to expect a follow back, and this is too myspace-like.

On a more positive note, people that really follow you on Twitter are extremely reliable unlike other platforms.

By: DJ NightLife

DJ NightLife — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:56:34 +0000

Oh man, I feel you on this post.

“Is the return on investment there, Iâ€™m not so sure it is.”
=> Cosign!

We all heard Dell made like about 6 million profit with Twitter. But how much does it represent on their total income? May be not even half a percent, which represents 100$ or so for the most of us.

The truth about Twitter for common people is that THEY DON’T GET IT. No doubt 50% of my followers are people who logged in only once. For the beginner, it’s not so evident that a Twitter client is required to fully enjoy the “experience”.

As I have mentionned it before several times, Facebook consists of over 80% of my total traffic. Thousands of people follow me on Facebook and guess what? There is no easy way to attract them on Twitter.

Finally, I strongly feel that businesses get on Twitter just to be like everyone else.

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:46:29 +0000

Paul very good example with Brown Thomas. One of the biggest problems and the challenges that large companies and brands face when using is twitter is the openness of it all. Anybody can come along and just say…Brown Thomas is shit on your first day using it, how do you deal with that? Do you have a crisis management plan in place, what if it all blows up in your face? Having said that if things are managed correctly and you use it to converse with your customers then you have something special but that is easier said than done. You just need to know how and why you are using the tools I guess and sometimes you are better off not using some of them at all

By: Paul O'Mahony (Cork)

Paul O'Mahony (Cork) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:40:13 +0000

Niall,
I had no idea that there were people out there selling a twitter social media package. I suppose I’ve have realised if I’d thought more about it. I’ve been trying to work out my own ideas on how the different social media could be used by Irish business people.

A few days ago I decided I’d advise people not to start with Twitter. If you open up a business Twitter identity and then let it lapse you look like you can’t do strategic thinking. I remember the reaction I had when I found Brown Thomas on twitter – but no tweets. I was furious, called them all sorts of names to myself. I imagined the CEO dithering, exposing the company and undermining its strong brand. @brownthomas has recently changed gear and seems to be starting to use Twitter. I offer this as a case study the typifies the risk of jumping to use a tool before you’ve got some coaching.
Better start on blogs. Best to start commenting on the blogs of others. And move on from there.

I must go back to your original post and consider that carefully

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:27:46 +0000

Good job on getting the sale! I guess the balance is doing something cool and offering value but I have seen people abuse it in a tacky way. You still seem to like the social element Loraine which is what I would imagine keeps you there and if a little bit of business comes in as a result then it is all good

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:25:17 +0000

Well the thing is Paul up to about 6 months ago people were getting away with going in to people and selling them a twitter style social media package as people had kind of heard of it and knew they needed to be on there but had no idea how. That stage has passed now and its far more important to actually ask yourself if it is worth being on those services at all. In most cases it probably is if done correctly but you need to look at the net benefits without just jumping in because it is cool

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:23:10 +0000

Glad to hear that you got some business out of all your efforts Paul Looking forward to hearing how it paid off for you!

By: italian foodie

italian foodie — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:18:09 +0000

Again I think it depends on the small business, e.g restaurant, hairdressers etc def work better on facebook as “everyone” in your local area is your target market. It’s more likely that the majority are on FB and not Twitter whereas if your target market is other companies or the country as a whole then Twitter is probably the better option? In saying that I stole a customer from Milanos through Twitter the other day:)

By: Eddie

Eddie — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:54:37 +0000

Couldn’t agree more on the last point. Twitter isn’t going to be useful for everyone, despite what the self professed social marketing gurus will have you believe. A lot of people still don’t seem to ‘get it’!

By: Paul O'Mahony (Cork)

Paul O'Mahony (Cork) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:07:39 +0000

A very good post especially for Ireland. Thanks. I hope you generate a lot of debate. I’m going to gather my thoughts and come back to you on this.
The amusing thing is that just as I put down the phone to a bit of new business which I got because of my total social media activities (including Twitter), your tweet popped into sight.