Getting Intimate On Twitter?

Written by Jeff Bullas - View Comments
Categories: twitter


I have enjoyed and toyed with Twitter since I first signed up in December 2008, not expecting the journey to be so transformational.

For the first few months I sent the occasional tweet and connected with a few friends and watched the stream pass by. In March 2009 I started my blog inspired by the content, search engine optimisation, social media inspiration and evangelism provided by Hubspot. I then waded in a bit deeper and started to use tools and apps like TweetDeck and Bit.ly, Social Oomph, Hootsuite and Ping.fm to integrate with Twitter.

I discovered Guy Kawasaki and Alltop. I played with Klout and Mentionmap and started to think that Twitter was the best marketing tool for a global domination since the Beatles.

Twitter has connected and communicated my content to people from places as diverse as New York, Memphis, Miami and Lithuania. In fact, using my Bit.ly app,  I can see that in the last 30 days my blog tweets have been clicked on in 98 countries by 34,264 people.

I have had face to face meetings initiated by a Tweet. Next week  I am meeting a Social Media contact on his trip downunder from the United Kingdom arrangde via Twitter and have been invited to speak on panels and boardrooms because I tweet (and blog).

If I want to get intimate, close and personal then I change channels and communicate via DM followed by an exchange of phone numbers or email adresses.

Next a meeting  could be set up by telephone or email, followed by a face to face meeting.

If I want to write something that really engages with my audience, then it’s my blog. 140 characters is cheap and cheerful (and efficient) and points people in the right direction  but at the end of the day if I want to get intimate and provide in depth communication I change channels.

When H&R Block launched an ambitious social-media outreach campaign in 2008, it followed some textbook advice: fish where the fish are. So it went on Twitter looking for frustrated taxpayers, offering them help. Instead, the company found reticence among potential customers who didn’t want to air their problems on Twitter.

The next step was that they realized that they had to change, abandoning one-on-one Twitter contact in favor of building a Q&A community site, Get It Right (an enhanced blog), which replaced a more standard blog the company did last year. The Get It Right site required H&R Block’s social-media team to recruit and train 1,000 tax pros to answer questions. It looked to local managers to nominate tax preparers to participate. Early results are promising: Get It Right has signed up 65,000 members and answered 50,000 questions.

Zena Weist ..the Social Media Director  for the Company said that they are using Twitter and Facebook mostly as broadcast vehicles, hoping customers who have come to Get It Right, then tell their networks they were helped.

So if you want to be intimate, Twitter is good for the first date but you need to have a bit more substance, like a blog to go the distance.

So are you all a Twitter or is a blog in your asset portfolio planning?



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  • http://www.greggmorris.com/curated-stories-feb-16-2010 Curated Stories Feb. 16, 2010

    [...] Getting Intimate On Twitter? Published: February 16, 2010 Source: Jeffbullas's Blog I have enjoyed and toyed with Twitter since I first signed up in December 2008, not expecting the journey to be so transformational. For the first few months I sent the occasional tweet and connected with a few… [...]

  • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly andrew

    You make a great point, well done. I think you could add that at 140 characters, Twitter is sort of like your pick-up line, and the blog is the equivalent of taking them back to your place, platonically, of course.

  • micvadam

    Great article as always. I love the fact that you use your blog as the core of what you use as tools and use the other media to drive traffic to it. I have been using this approach since I started my social media policy writing business.

    Mic

  • http://twitter.com/liesbetvh/status/17112585020 liesbet

    Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC rt @jeffbullas

  • http://twitter.com/blogger_tips/status/17150661275 B.A

    RT @jeffbullas2010Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC

  • http://twitter.com/fleshnchrome/status/17209833094 Sean Harrison

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  • http://twitter.com/tamelacoval/status/17514621647 Tamela Coval

    Get it Right. RT @jeffbullas: Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC

  • http://twitter.com/glutenfreedee/status/17516379733 Dee Valdez

    Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC via @jeffbullas

  • http://www.GlutenFreeDee.com GlutenFreeDee

    Love Andrews comment! And of course your shared wisdom is always appreciated Jeff. I know that when I head to Australia I’ll look you up. You failed to mention that you have gotten date requests from some of my students – simply thru Twitter and your pic, of course!

  • http://twitter.com/yamdelacruz/status/17555245647 yam dela cruz

    RT @jeffbullas: Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC

  • http://twitter.com/anglemona/status/17740076641 Gurudatt Patil

    RT @jeffbullas: Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC

  • http://twitter.com/bizhustler/status/17790843338 Tony Montana

    RT @jeffbullas: Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC

  • http://twitter.com/nancyrosaline/status/17889100915 Nancy Rosaline

    RT @jeffbullas: Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC

  • http://twitter.com/beth_warren/status/17995691752 Beth Warren

    RT @jeffbullas: Getting Intimate On Twitter? http://bit.ly/bcSRTC

  • http://coreybigg.wordpress.com corey j. tronchin

    Great article will check out mentionmap and klout thanks

  • http://pandyapushpendrakumar.blogspot.com/ pushpendra

    Sounds Good ! Thank you for the post

  • http://flysumd34@tweeter.com Myra

    I enjoyed reading all your blog. I don’t know if you remember last year that I recommend that you put the retweet on your website. I lot of them I like to share them to my tweeter friends. I am glad you put that on your site. I can retweet most of your blog. Keep up blogging and thank you for sharing your blog with us.

    sincerely,
    Flysumd34

  • http://www.robertagerrick.com Roberta Gerrick

    I have spent a lot of time doing Twitter all wrong.I thank friends like you who share your knowledge so people in all businesses can benefit. I am a verbal leader in my industry and am working hard to learn the ins and outs of sharing that through social media

  • http://www.life-procoaching.com/blog @SerendipityJane

    As usual, sound information and very impressive numbers. You’re an influencer, Jeff!

  • Recagno

    I love you! From Rosario Argentina. Visuaaal artist. Politics & Arts are my lovers! on twitter…

  • http://twitter.com/SandraBundy Sandra Bundy

    Jeff you know your stuff….from your attention grabbing headline….to ending with a the call to action…how disappointing that you stopped short of providing me with direction in what to do next.  ‘Click Here’ to learn more is missing and is likely your intent and now I can’t wait to hear from you again!

  • Anonymous

    Hey there, just letting you know that your link to mentionmapp is broken and sends to a spam competition :)

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Thanks Luke I will fix that up

  • http://twitter.com/Al_Ojeda_Photo Ida Ochoteco Ojeda

    I’m your twitter follower but it has lead me to your blog… Love the interesting and helpful things you have to say… It’s helping my small business go to the right path… Thanks, Jeff !!!
    Ida
    from Al Ojeda Photography

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