Why following Britney Spears on Twitter makes you a better social media marketer
As a social media marketer and digital PR specialist, I find it all too easy to get lost amidst the infinite conversations between my industry peers about the subject of social media etc.
It sometimes feels as though I've lost sight of the forest for the trees - a bit like working for a newspaper dedicated to writing articles about working at a newspaper. Geditt? Anyway, time for a little experiment to get me back on track.
Like a lot of people who work in the social media sphere...I love nothing better than to rant and rave about the subject of social media, the developments, the people, the gossip and of course the disasters. I've tried to keep my (relatively new) twitter account www.twitter.com/seanobyrne strictly about social media and Digital PR but recently I've decided that I'm doing myself a slight disservice by not engaging with the populace across a much broader spectrum of subjects i.e. following Britney Spears on Twitter.
My decision to expand my horizons occurred recently while on holidays with a friend in Thailand. She also works in the field of social media but had an interesting take on the uses of Twitter and how to get the best out of it. Where I kept my twitter account purely as a channel to discuss social media with peers, she also used it the way 90% of the user base would use it....for fun!
By subscribing to Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake or any other pop culture icon who twitters, she was able to get a better feel for how it is utilised by the average punter and not simply as a tool to interact with industry peers. Her knowledge of Twitter was deepened as a result which made her a better marketer and a better Twitterer.
What I thought was maintaining the value and quality of my Tweets was actually closing me off to the real potential of Twitter i.e. to have conversations with hundreds of people at a time about whatever was topical at that moment in time. Taking part in the larger conversation outside my field of expertise helped me discover the true value of Twitter as a social media tool.
So whether you're a CEO of a large corporation, a brand manager or an IT blogging guru, take my advice and open the window to the true potential of Twitter. Subscribe to feeds that have nothing to do with your brand or industry and see what comes up.
Sean O'Byrne is a Social Media Information Strategist at Mark Communications.
Email him to find out more - sean@markcomms.com.au
Source: digital ministry.com