The ENTiPping Point

Perspectives from an Extraverted, iNtuitive, Thinking and Perceiving guy.

  • Why I Probably Don't Follow You on Twitter

    • 21 Feb 2011
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    • 378 Follow Twitter
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    Three hundred and seventy eight.

    That's the number of people that I currently follow on Twitter -- 378.  I have over three times as many followers, but the likelihood of me currently following you is relatively small.  And this is intentional and I want to explain why sometimes "more" isn't always better when cultivating your relationships on Twitter specifically.

    Someone who follows thousands of people on Twitter recently mentioned to me in conversation how much easier my ability to follow and keep up with people was because I only had 300 or so people that I followed.

    Exactly.

    I probably don't currently follow you on Twitter, but that's not due to any pretention on my part.  It's not due to a need to withdraw or the desire to not know about you and what you're like.

    It's actually because I care about you and I probably don't even know you.

    When I choose to follow someone, I am really hoping that at some point in time I can take some piece of our relationship and connect you to someone or a source of information that can benefit you.  The only way that I, personally, am able to do this is if I have a chance to read your tweets, process what you've said or mentioned, get some insight into your personality and then store that away for later use.

    And then I wait for the day when I can spot a bit of information that you'd like or when I might be able to connect you with someone who has your interests.

    This week, I sent Leyla Arsan a link to an article that Stacey Hood had retweeted about Howard Stern.  Why?  Because from interacting with Leyla, I know she's a Howard Stern fan.

    I also introduced Bonnie Lynn to Jen Jarboe -- two women who share a love for American muscle cars.

    And yesterday, I thought about Shannon Whitley when I saw my teacher friend, Chad Brannon, post an article about the usefulness of cursive writing since I remembered Shannon questioning the need to teach cursive writing in a tweet a few weeks back.

    So, see, the only way that I'm going to help you benefit online is if I take the time to figure out each person I follow.  My criteria for who I follow varies, but the criteria of who I choose to follow isn't as relevant as how long I wait to fill my feed with more personalities.

    Using the weathered "cocktail party" analogy yet again, I'd rather stand in a small group in the corner where you're talking and listen to you for a while.  At some point, I'll mingle with another group, but I'll probably hang out there for a bit as well.  But I'm not one to grip-and-grin and move from person to person, only grabbing a name or a job location along the way.

    Give me some time and let me learn all about the people I'm currently following.  They have good things to say.  But your success in the social space just matters too much to me for me to follow you right now.

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  • Social Media Isn't That Awesome

    • 22 Feb 2010
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    • Twitter social media
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    Am I about to come across as a social media cynic?  Just maybe to some of you.  But after watching my Twitter stream over the weekend, I realize that some of you just need to stop.  And I mean literally 'stop'.

    You see, I followed you on Twitter in the hopes that I would meet a new and interesting person.  You may or may not have relevance to my career specialty.  You may be right here in Birmingham, Alabama or hundreds or thousands of miles away.  We may have met or may not have (yet).  But I've followed you because I think that you have something to say.  And I want you to say it.

    And then I want you to stop saying it and say something different.

    I see way too many people who tweet about social media, marketing, and PR strategies around the clock.  Early in the morning, late at night and on the weekend.  It's non-stop social media.

    I have a suggestion: social media doesn't have to be awesome all of the time.  Nor does the Internet.  Nor does your work day everyday.

    I'll be honest.  I really want to hear your thoughts about social media strategy.  But I also really want to hear about that thing you did on the weekend with your kids or that thing you cooked that didn't quite turn out the way you expected.  These are the events and elements that make you human and not a robot that searches the internet 24/7 for the latest social media information.  The recent Olympics have been a blessing as I watch people actually stop for a few hours and tweet about what is interesting to them about figure skating, hockey and yes, even curling.

    So feel free to let a few of the social media logs pass you by in the river.  There will be more chances to grab the logs on Monday.  In the mean time, show me that you know how to have fun in the water.

    Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/ / CC BY 2.0

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  • If We're All Connected, Do Social Media Networks Fail for Business?

    • 8 Feb 2010
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    • LinkedIn Twitter social media value
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    http://www.flickr.com/photos/zetotal/ / CC BY 2.0

    I posed a question a while back on Twitter about whether or not business-applicable social media networks like Twitter and LinkedIn rely on some of us not being on the network for it to have value. This brought me to a few bigger questions about what the true meaning of "value" is and how it might apply to the business world and interconnections on social media networks.

    If you look up the word "value", most dictionaries include a definition that describes "relative worth" of an item. This implies that value of something is dependent on its relationship to something else not having value. The value of money lies in the availability of one portion of it relative to the entire amount possible. As people get more wealthy, the value that $1 holds is nowhere near the value that that a person at the poverty level might have for that same $1.

    So I pose my question to you in blog form this time:

    If we all become connected and are able to leverage each other in an equally accessible manner, do we all lose the overall value of being connected?

    If my company can get things done just as quickly as yours because we all know the same people and we are all leveraging the same network, is it really possible to claim that the network has provided either one of us "value"?

    Now, this doesn't necessarily apply to social networks used in the personal space. I can find great value in being connected with my friends and family and the "relative" part of "relative value" is compared to that of missing out on family photos, friendships, etc. The value here is not dependent on me being more connected than some other entity (i.e. a business), but rather the opportunity cost of not being connected.

    What do you think? If we get to a saturation point and everyone is leveraging connections equally on social networks, would they still have business value?

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  • In Search of Vox Humana: Finding the Voice of Corporate Tweets

    • 19 Nov 2009
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    • Cotweet Twitter voice
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    After reading some great articles recently about finding the right brand voice on Twitter and issues surrounding having a personal face associated with Twitter accounts, I feel as though there is an opportunity to clarify some of the routes that corporations can take in establishing a Twitter presence that both defines their corporation's social media presence and provides a human element to the presence.

    In part 1 of this two-part series, we'll look at some of the factors that corporations should consider when selecting a voice for their Twitter accounts.

    In part 2,  I'll share my thoughts on 'tweeting strategy' in a corporate environment if you're not quite engaged in full-fledged customer service via Twitter yet, but still would like to begin to interact with your customers in this medium.

     

    Defining the Voice

    There are four predominant routes that we see corporations taking today when establishing Twitter presences for themselves:

    • Brand-Only Voice
    • Employee-As-Brand Voice
    • Employee Voice
    • The Employee-Piloted Brand Voice

    Let's take a look at each of these and examine the benefits and shortcomings of each, as well as highlight an example or two of existing brands on Twitter that are using that voice.

     

    Brand-Only Voice

    This tends to be what most businesses gravitate towards because the tendency is to grab the Twitter handle for protection from squatting if nothing else.  Often times, they have claimed this name some time ago, not having a social media strategy or the faintest idea of how they would use the handle.

    Examples: @Blackberry, @WholeFoods, @Starbucks, @JetBlue

    Pros:

    1. Strong brand awareness on Twitter:  Using your brand name as your business' Twitter handle provides a great opportunity to solidify brand recognition in the Twittersphere.  Each time you tweet, followers are exposed to the brand name.  Most companies will also use their logo as their Twitter avatar, so in a follower's feed, you get a double-bonus in that the brand identity and brand name are associated tightly.
    2. Insulation from employee turnover:  By using your brand name, your company does not have to fret if the principal operator of the Twitter presence leaves for another company.  People may recognize the change in 'voice' of the account, but there's no necessity to change the name on the account.
    3. Easy to search for your company brand: If your company brand is your Twitter handle, Twitter users will have a much greater chance of finding your brand by searching on the Twitter site.
    4. Much cleaner persona for autoposting: I'm not a big fan of autoposting using a brand-only voice because it takes away so much of of the personal element of human engagement on Twitter.  But, if you insist on having autoposting of press releases and other company information, having a brand-only voice sets a much lower expectation for human interaction from your brand.  Again, I wouldn't advise going this route, but if you have a yearning to do so, just know that this voice is probably the best suited for it.
    5. Suitable for tools like CoTweet: Tools like CoTweet have opened up opportunities in the Brand-Only Voice arena by allowing multiple people to manage a single brand-only account.  The amount of customer-facing transparency can be controlled by setting a policy in place that will either announce the "team tweet" approach to the customer or allow this to be managed behind the scenes so that no one is aware that the account is being staffed by multiple people.

    Cons:

    1. Perceived lack of persona: Who is this that's talking to me when I communicate with your brand-only Twitter voice?  Is there a human here?  Is this an autoposting process?  If I send a message to this account, will anyone respond?  I would almost give this 'con' a weight of two 'cons' because setting your brand up to have no persona seems to be one of the worst moves you could make when entering the social media realm.
    2. Customer reluctance to engage: if you're a large company, customers may feel as though having the entire brand follow them is somewhat 'big brother' in nature.  They may also worry about venting about the brand -- 'will my tweet about being dissatisfied be seen at some corporate board meeting?'.
    3. Limits the person behind the voice: If social media is about being more human and "real" with your customer, then creating a policy of "brand speak" limits the person/team running your company's brand to express themselves.  While it doesn't prohibit a brand from having a persona completely, it does take away some of the opportunity for the corporate tweeter from using 'I' and 'me' too much in responses.

     

    Employee-As-Brand Voice

    This seems to be one of the ways that many larger brands are choosing to a) keep their brand identity intact on Twitter and b) provide an element of human interaction.  Customers are able to associate a face with the tweets coming out of a corporate account, yet the face is attached to a brand within the Twitter handle.  Brands really have to consider the policies they will put in place about the content coming out of the Twitter streams of their brand since some of the employees may also use these handles to tweet about personal issues, friends, etc.

    Examples: @LionelatDell, @Alicia_at_Honda, @comcastbill @comcastgeorge

    Pros:

    1. Strong personal representation: Most likely this type of voice is going to have a face of an employee as its Twitter avatar.  People like associating with people and this humanizes the brand.
    2. Opportunity for personal engagement:  Since the account is a person, there is more comfort with seeing commentary that may reflect the corporate tweeter's personal opinion about topics not related to serving the customer directly, e.g. favorite music tunes, community events local to the tweeter, etc.  Opinions can be expressed with the understanding that they're representative of the human, rather than the brand.  Note: the trick is finding the balance of how much "opinion" a corporate tweeter should be expressing.
    3. Assigning and segmenting special skillsets: In a company like Charter, who handles cable TV, internet and phone service, it may make better customer service sense to delegate certain business specialties to different corporate tweeters, each with his own Twitter handle.  This is how team manager Eric Ketzer at Charter handles customer interactions;  each of Charter's corporate tweeters has a speciality of some type (billing, internet, cable TV, etc.) and the within the team they redirect customers to each other based on the specialty needed.
    Cons:
    1. Expression of opinions reflecting on the brand: If a corporate tweeter possesses (and expresses) an opinion of a topic that is unrelated to the brand's mission, the brand runs the risk of alienating a portion of the customer population.  How can a brand segment off the human element of a tweet when the tweet contains both the brand AND the employee's names?
    2. Creating customer affinity with a single person vs. brand: What happens when '@Bob_at_AcmeCorp' leaves Acme Corp. and goes somewhere else?  What does this do to the customer base (and relationships) that he has established?  Do they feel alienated?  What if 'Bob' goes to work at a competing company -- does he get to take his follower list with him who can subsequently get the same great customer service from him while he's employed at the new brand?

    Employee Voice

    On the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Brand-Only Voice is Employee Voice, where corporate tweeters are allowed to have a Twitter handle of their choice, convey their personalities and manage their employer's followers as their own in and amongst their childhood friend followers, family, etc.  In some cases, entrepreneurs ARE their brand, and therefore there is not as much disconnect between the brand identity and the person who created the brand.

    Examples** : @ScottMonty, @ComcastCares

    Pros:

    1. Breaks down brand stuffiness:  If your company is a brand that doesn't exactly exude a "cool kids" vibe, then maybe having a cool kid as your corporate tweeter will bring a new segment of customers to your brand.  Note: this could work against you as well and alienate a dedicated, affine customer base.
    2. Dissonance from the brand: While this may be more of a perceived legal safety net than an actual one, a brand does have the opportunity to allow the corporate tweeter to say what they will on their own Twitter stream without explicitly associating themselves with the tweeter.  In some cases, this voice is started by employees in a company where no organized social media presence and strategy exists;  they attempt to serve the customers on their own out of their own desire to help the brand.
    Cons:
    1. Dilution of brand relevance: Customers might not see this voice as the most reassuring in the social media environment.  Can this brand not put together some type of organized strategy for allowing me to contact it?  Twitter users are getting more and more accustomed to brands being on Twitter using some form of their brand name.  Therefore, if I want to contact Acme Corp. on Twitter, I probably am not going to think of looking up '@George1234' because he happens to be their community manager.
    2. As goes the tweeter, so do the followers: If I become a follower of '@George1234' as a community manager of a brand I deal with, and then George leaves the brand, I may still keep him in my list of people I follow because during my time I spent dealing with him as part of that brand, I also found out that he liked the Steve Miller Band and has the same kick-ass Keurig coffeemaker that I do.  So as a customer of his previous brand, I have to be acclimated to someone new at that brand all over again.  As mentioned earlier, I may also follow this corporate tweeter to another brand if the customer service they provided was good.
    ** These examples were more applicable when the users first started their accounts. Since that time, the corporations that they represent have grown to multiple support accounts.

    The Employee-Piloted Brand Voice

    The best way to describe this voice is "here's the brand that we're tweeting from, but it's really me/us playing 'Oz' behind the curtain of the brand and we want to be transparent about it".  It's a hybrid of the Brand-Only Voice and the Employee Voice and in many cases involves the use of CoTweet or another tool that allows multiple employees to manage and respond on a single Twitter stream.

    Examples: @SouthwestAir, @MarriottIntl, @HomeDepot, @Ford

    Pros:
    1. Best of all worlds:  Here you get both the benefits of the association of the brand, but with the added benefit of having real human names associated with the account.  In most cases, companies state the names of the employees staffing the accounts within the Twitter bio or on the Twitter account's background.  In the case of Christi Day with @SouthwestAir, she even goes so far as to provide her personal Twitter handle in case you want to follow her love of TCU football and her Maine coon cat's activities.
    2. Transparency of responses: In many cases, you're able to see who is responding from the corporate tweet team, as seen in this example from Home Depot.  This feature is offered in CoTweet-like tools and reinforces the the premise that the customer is interacting with an actual person versus a brand.
    3. Easy to search for your company brand: If your company brand is your Twitter handle, Twitter users will have a much greater chance of finding your brand by searching on the Twitter site.
    4. Insulation from employee turnover: As mentioned before, by sticking with the brand as the Twitter handle, you're able to sequester the corporate tweeters from the outside world and provide enough of a curtain between the brand and the customer to allow movement in and out of the corporate tweet team without the public feeling too much difference in the brand's voice.
    Cons:
    1. A 'Twall Center': Some customers may feel as though this is the Twitter version of a call center.  When you make a request of the brand, you get put into a queue and the next member of the team that's available picks up your request and handles it.  Some customers will inevitably find this similar to a call center, where you're put into a queue for the 'next available representative'.
    2. Lack of continuity in servicing the customer: On teams of made up of similar "food group" team members, the tendency may be to stagger the team members' online availability throughout the day to cover times from 8-to-5 or even around the clock.  If customers have to deal with multiple team members over the course of a couple of days to solve a problem, there is a possibility that details of the case don't get adequately transferred from one team member to the next.  Note: this situation can be mitigated by thorough back-office case management, but it is worth noting since I have personally been a victim of this frustration in the past.

    Each of these has its benefits and shortcomings and brands should consider which of these alignments best suits their customers' desires and needs for interacting with their brand.  What works for one industry may not work for another, so it is critical to understand the customer base and their perception of the brand before embarking down a path.

    In my next post, I'll examine some of the strategy of tweeting from a corporate brand and throw out a couple of issues that brands may want to consider before jumping in and engaging customers right away.

    In the mean time... what are your thoughts?
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  • About

    I've always claimed to be an anomaly of sorts. I have an undergrad in computer science, a masters of science in information systems and I've ended up in a marketing career. Why? Because it blends two things I am passionate about: technology and connecting with people. What you'll find here is the occasional structured brain dump that lets me share some things with you that are on my mind. Don't be shy about commenting and debating -- that's what makes us all grow in our perspectives.

    This married dad of two claims fall as his favorite season, Alabama football, cooking, mixology, is addicted to Amazon MP3s and makes a wicked bow from scratch with wired ribbon. Enough with the snickers because I'm mean with crown moulding as well.

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