No One Likes Social Media Gurus, Especially on Twitter
Social media gurus may soon outnumber porn professionals on Twitter. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you understand my point. There are far too many social media gurus on Twitter. There are arguably far too many porn professionals on Twitter as well, but that’s a different discussion for a different day. The point here is really that social media is turning on itself, granting an opportunity to do its job too well.
Social media gurus have been saying for some time now that business professionals need to have a Twitter presence. Twitter is huge for marketing, and anyone that wants to get serious about their online presence needs to have a Twitter account. For those that are going into the consulting field for the new wild west of the business world, that means creating a Twitter account for themselves.
Implosion may be a better word to describe what’s happening here: social media “gurus” are eating their own dog food by creating Twitter accounts to promote their brand. It has proven effective for the likes of Dell computers and Guy Kawasaki. Corporations and individuals alike have benefited from the marketing potential of Twitter, as it acts as a broadcasting channel for quickly disseminating information to a wide array of users.
The only problem is, generating an audience organically from Twitter is a difficult and often unrewarding task. The most successful brands that have been able to use Twitter for marketing purposes are likely to have an audience base that has already been established outside of Twitter. As such, Twitter becomes another method for sending out information, instead of another method for growing one’s audience.
That’s not to say that Twitter can’t be used for generating new audience members, but it shouldn’t be your primary target for that sole purpose. Millions of people have attempted this before you, and Twitter has already caught on. As more and more individuals look to use Twitter to grow their audience and client base, Twitter has had to launch reactionary features and regulations in order to curb what could appear to be spam-like behavior.
It’s a double-edged sword for Twitter, but a necessary one. This is a task that Twitter will need to stay on top of, as Twitter continues to rise in popularity for business and personal use. Towards this end, there have been several apps that provide account management tools for Twitter users, making it easier to avoid the spam-like behavior of others on the microblogging site. Twitter has also addressed these issues by releasing new features for its own site, such as Lists, to help manage what could be an overwhelming experience on Twitter.
But something I’ve always stressed is the importance of genuine behavior on social networking sites–Twitter in particular. It’s quite difficult to automate or fake genuine acts, and people will respect your marketing efforts more if they don’t appear to be marketing efforts. That being said, I recommend that you start off with the removal of “guru” from your professional title. Next, focus on genuine interaction with other social media users if you want an effective marketing message
