All A Twitter About ... Twitter

Twitter has gone from Seriously?  to Seriously!  What does this mean for our business? 

Okay, I’ll admit it – Twitter, I didn’t get it.  As someone who remembers long lines for Beanie Babies and owned a Pet Rock, I was pretty sure I recognized a fad when it came along.  Confession time, the first time I heard the word Twitter was at the RQUG conference in February.  And when it was first explained I thought “who cares?” and “who has that kind of time to waste?”  But have you noticed what’s happening with Twitter lately?

Twitter is on the cover of Time Magazine and featured in a recent ALTA Title News story.  And then this week brought Twitter’s coming out party.  Did you hear this?  With press coverage almost completely banned in Iran, citizens began Tweeting news of what was happening post-election.  Not only were major news outlets using these Tweets as sources, something that is nothing short of amazing also happened.  The folks at Twitter planned to take their servers down for scheduled maintenance.  And the U.S. State Department asked them to postpone the maintenance, so as not to lose this valuable finger on the pulse of the Iranian people. 

Progressive people in our industry are Tweeting, and their messages aren’t “I’m feeling blue today” or “I’m eating an apple”, rather they are broadcasting important information to a curious audience.  It’s a perfect blend of education, value-affirmation and marketing.

We’ve long struggled with how to get our value proposition direct to prospects and consumers.  We’ve historically paid homage to the power of transactional gate-keepers.  But the rules are changing, and if you don’t believe it, just think about how unlikely it would seem that an Iranian citizen protesting on the streets of Tehran can get their message direct to me, while I’m sitting at home in Frisco, TX.  Astonishing. 

It just proves that you don’t need an 8.5 by 11 high gloss collateral piece embedded in an expensive marketing campaign to get your word out anymore.  To borrower a phrase from a popular commercial on TV right now, don’t be the “NO” in technology.  Use what you’ve got, especially when it’s free.  Refine your skills, update your mind and your methods.  Say what you have to say.  People will listen.