To Tweet Or Not To Tweet That Is The Question?

Can't say for certain (without looking it up) what day Twitter started, but I do know that for 18 months I ignored it on purpose. I really could not see the point in being able to send 140chr messages, this I suppose more than likely as I'm not a great fan of texting in the first place (rather talk than text).

The younger generation are however addicted to texting (and Social Networks) and it seems, if my partner is anything to go by, so are many of the older generation too. So with both old and young alike using Social Media, it is not surprising that business is interested in it for advertising etc.

This interest is most plainly evident in the way that "Understanding Twitter Courses" are sold out in my local area at least, in a matter of days. However when it comes to doing the deed, or paying someone else to Tweet for them, the number of businesses really interested seems to be quite low.

Sure many are playing with Twitter, but some (and this includes some businesses that are selling Twitter services) are hardly tweeting at all, and most, according to the pundits are not Tweeting in the right way either.

For many businesses then the question really is 'To Tweet or Not To Tweet' and from my experience todate, most are totally unsure of what to do.

We plunged into Twitter a few months ago, not for the reason of trying to make an impact on people, but to make sure that our customer's domain and company names were seen to have been mentioned in the 'TwitterStream' just in case, as rumour had it, that Google were taking this into account when deciding rankings (still not sure on that one). This is still one of the main reasons that we Tweet, as it is a basic concept of our SEO practices that we try to cover all the bases, this so that whatever factors Google decides to use to rate sites, our client's sites are covered.

As for actually gaining business directly from Tweeting, that I think is not happening as much as people might hope (this being born out by polls), but like any form of advertising, it does raise the profile of a business, and, if targeted at the right people, MUST to some degree at least be beneficial.

With this in mind, my advice to businesses is that Social Media and Twitter are an opportunity that should not be missed especially considering that an impact can be made for a very small investment in time / money.

Time will tell as to just how powerful this medium becomes, but from what I have seen so far, all interested in B to C marketing, will have to get 'involved' with Social Media in the very near future.

More soon