Twitter Me This … And Be Informed

Guest Post from Jason Falls of SocialMediaExplorer.com

Twitter had a breakout 2007. The microblogging software proved that showing up at SouthXSouthwest can put your startup squarely on the map. The premise – simply answering the question, “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less for all to see – sounded dumb. Then the thinkers got hold of the notion and found uses even the Twitter founders probably missed.

I use Twitter (user name JasonFalls … follow me, I’ll follow you back) to keep a finger on the pulse of what is happening with other social media thinkers and strategists around the world. Certainly, it takes thought leaders in your industry to adopt the practice before it becomes ultra-useful, but third-party complimentary applications that search Twitter (www.twittersearch.com or the even more powerful www.terraminds.com/twitter) can find someone who Tweets (yes, that’s what we call it) about, say, mortgage rates, in fast order.

When someone I follow posts a note about a new tool they’ve discovered or interesting blog post they read, I know about it too. And I know about it hours, sometimes days before people who don’t use Twitter.

But, other than keeping you informed on what’s happening among influentials in your industry, how can Twitter have practical applications for your business?

There are two applications of Twitter which quickly rise to the top when assessing its potential value to a business. Here are my thoughts on both, with a case study of one I’ve actually implemented:

Twitter As Information Source

Communication during the Baja 1000 off-road race is next to impossible. The desolate strip of peninsula that runs from Tiujuana to Cabo San Lucas is miles and miles of sand, rock and the occasional two-lane paved road. Power lines are rare. Cell phone towers? Forget it.

Jim Beam Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports wanted to develop a social media strategy to connect fans with Robby’s efforts in last fall’s Baja 1000. Fortunately, they didn’t do what most companies do and just throw together a web page with YouTube and Flickr and a blog and call it social media. We worked together to develop a salient strategy using social media tools to connect fans with Gordon’s efforts sponsored by Jim Beam.

The key here is using Twitter as a tool. Social media isn’t a verb. We weren’t social media-ing. We were using social media tools to accomplish something. In this case, send near-real-time reports from the middle of nowhere to thousands of fans desperately searching for updates and information from the Baja race.

It just so happens Twitter allows you to update your status from your mobile phone. No, there are no cell towers in Baja, but with a little investment, we could use satellite phones. So we set up a Robby Gordon Twitter account, imbedded the Twitter feed along with a GPS tracking map that followed his Trophy Truck and his YouTube channel’s video player on the RobbyGordon.com website and for gave race fans an unprecedented account of the 2007 Baja 1000.

Our best guess is that 12,000 to 15,000 die-hard Robby Gordon fans were locked in to our Twitter feed (It appeared on at least three different websites) during the race and it was all sponsored by and branded Jim Beam and Beam Racing. One off-road racing message board devoted about an hour’s worth of posts to talking about how cool and informative the feed was. The Jim Beam Baja Twitter Tracker was a success, but not because we “social media-ed.” We won out with this effort because we used Twitter as a reporting mechanism in a place where reporting was tough to accomplish.

Twitter As Consumer Intelligence

Monitoring what people are saying about your brand online is nothing new. There are lots of options out there, ranging from free (Google Alerts) to in-depth (and expensive) social media monitoring tools. But Twitter, and the aforementioned Terraminds Twitter Search, can give you on-the-ground intelligence, if not access to consumers, like you’ve never thought possible.

Let’s say you make web cams. You go to Terraminds, enter the search term “web cam.” Subscribe to the RSS feed of any post that contains that search term and you have instant access to two things: consumers who may be talking about their web cams and how they like or dislike them (intelligence) or even people talking about buying one (sales). You follow them, they perhaps start following you and you pop them a note saying, “Saw you were looking for a web cam. I happen to sell them if you need some info on a good one.”

To play devil’s advocate, there may be something a little invasive and creepy about a brand or sales person sneaking into my Twitter life for that reason, but frankly, I’ve had a sales person message me before saying they saw I was in the market for their product. I emailed them back and eventually spoke to them on the phone just because I was glad they were paying attention.

So, What Are You Doing?

Let’s face it – the concept behind Twitter is kind of nonsensical. Who cares what I’m doing? Why do I care what you’re doing?
But the more you think about it, knowing what other people are doing is pretty smart so long as you are paying attention. Whether it’s using outbound messages to report your happenings to friends or fans like Robby Gordon’s team did for the Baja 1000, or using inbound messages to monitor your industry or potential sales targets, Twitter doesn’t seem so dumb after all.

Jason Falls is a social media strategist for Doe Anderson, the fifth-oldest advertising agency in the U.S. He blogs regularly at www.socialmediaexplorer.comwww.twitter.com/JasonFalls. and Twitters frequently at