By Alyssa Mayer, Account Coordinator
For the past few days I have been reading about Twitter here and a tweet there, and how this massive growth of Twitter has reached its peak. Internet Evolution weighs in with, “Talking TV heads will tire of Twitter talk, the growth will slow down, and activity will drop off further. What's left will probably be a niche network of self-promoters touting themselves in 140 characters or less. And we'll be onto the new site to take the world by storm.”
To that I say “HA!” Just last fall Facebook offered $500 million in a buyout; if you think that now Twitter is going to lie down and give up users without a fight, you are unfortunately mistaken. I think this massive growth doesn’t mean Twitter has peaked but has rather crossed over into the mainstream and we will see more Twitter in the news...
Since late 2008 the blogosphere has been spreading rumors of buyouts from multiple companies including Google and, most recently, Apple (offering a whopping $700 million). So I pose my question to all of you readers: why would Apple/Google/Facebook ever consider spending hundreds of millions on a tool that did not work or was losing the attention spam of their users? Simple answer…they wouldn’t.
So yes, Twitter is the new thing, it’s super popular and has seen massive growth in the last year (according to Nielsen, 1382% growth from Feb 08-09). But does that growth mean it has peaked? In the past few months we’ve seen countless celebrities, athletes and individuals begin tweeting (from Ashton Kutcher to Oprah). Twitter seems to have followed a similar pattern to blogs, first there were a few and for personal use, then more and an evolution of uses. Lastly businesses jumped on the bandwagon since there is “something” happening there and well worth the investment. What is that “something” for business? Is the investment worth it? I say yes and these are the 5 reasons businesses should be on Twitter:
5. Everyone’s is doing it. Okay so no peer pressure or anything but it is becoming a tool for the masses. With a fairly easy learning curve and small startup time investment it’s understandable why Bill Gates, Heidi Montag, Dell and Whole Foods all tweet.
4. The Reach. Using Twitter is a solid way to increase your appearance online. The more links, the more visibility; it’s just not enough anymore to only have a website.
3. Fast way to spread your message. It isn’t about pushing your message out, but spreading relevant information to your followers to help build a relationship.
2. Listen. Sending a message is important, but the most significant thing for a business to do is listen to their customers. Twitter allows you to listen and respond to what your followers are saying, in real time.
1. Which leads me to the more important reason businesses should be on Twitter: to engage. Engagement allows you to build a relationship with your followers, and strengthen your brand in a way not possible before social media. Avoid those spamming messages and jump into two-way communication to truly engage your followers.
So if you think twitter is just a fad and will eventually fade, think again. With 40% growth on Twitter each week I recommend you jump on the Twitter train and tweet tweet all the way to the station because this social media tool is not slowing down anytime soon.
