In Jodie's Brain

So, I got to try out Google Buzz this morning, like thousands of other people today. I can see how it can become useful, perhaps. Not 100% sold on it yet, but I’ll play for a little while longer.

I like how it kinda takes the good things about commenting, Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging and puts it all together. We shall see… we shall see…

At any rate, within only a few hours of creating my first “buzz” I saw that it was “liked” – it was my brother. How sweet ;). But then, it was “liked” again… and I thought Hmmmm… was it really *that* interesting? It really was kind of mundane. I looked at who it was that was liking what I said and it was a gaming company, as in video games etc. I don’t do video games… I mean, sure, we have a Wii and I (*cough* used to *cough*) do a fair amount of DDR, and, well, I might play Mahjong a little too much on my computer, but I don’t recall any of my contacts being gaming companies. So, out of curiosity, I clicked to look at their profile. Sure enough, they were following people left, right and centre – they had followed well over 1000 people already and only had maybe 50 following back. (As of this writing, they were following over 6000 people and 115 following back).

They then “liked” another random, mundane buzz of mine. This is when I clued in; they found a way to get eyes onto their profile – put your business URL as your profile name and go around and “like” as many people’s buzzes (buzz’s? buzzi? er… whatever the plural is…) as you can. It’s not actual SPAM spam, but in this Web 2.0, relationship-driven, contact-enhancing roll we are on, it seems counter-productive.

Randomly liking people’s statuses/updates/whatevers doesn’t make me want to do business with you, my friend. I’m sorry. If you want to engage me, well, then engage me: add to the conversation, ask me questions, ask my opinion… be *authentic* (sorry… over-used current social-media buzzword there… but it fits).

Essentially: don’t walk in to the club double-gunning everyone you see in the hopes people will see you as cool and want to come sit at your table. Because they won’t.

Let’s not even TALK about your popped collar…

What is Twitter?

Think of what we did at this meeting; we shared, we asked questions… we INTERACTED and ENGAGED. We ASKED QUESTIONS and OFFERED ANSWERS. It’s real-time, it’s schmoozing; like a meeting or dinner party. It’s not archival like blogs, newsletters or email.

Why would you want to use Twitter?

• Find out what – or if – people are talking about you/your brand/your service/your business.
• Increase customer loyalty
• Get real-time help/answers
• Opportunities to connect F2F
• Connect with markets you never knew you had
• Position yourself as an expert
• Help other businesses promote
• Create communities
• Offer real-time specials
• etc, etc, etc.

How do you use Twitter?

React first, promote later and seldom. If you were at a networking meeting, would you like it if someone were to go to each person in the room, only say “Hi, my name is George. Come down to my store and buy my stuff!”, handed you a card, then went on to the next person? Probably not, and George probably didn’t leave a good impression on you either, so the likelihood of you buying from him is close to nil. Nor would you feel like sending anyone his way.

People like it when you are curious about them. If George had shown a genuine interest in what you were saying and asked questions about you, chances are you’d want to know more about him too. You’d have the opportunity – and probably even the desire – to continue with this new “acquaintance relationship” and eventually you might want to buy some of George’s stuff – and he might want to buy yours. Or you’d both know people who could use each other’s things.

It’s all about the schmooze and engagement – THAT is “Web 2.0″

The logistics… sign up for an account, fill out your bio line, enter a URL and start looking for interesting people to “follow.” How do you find them? Start with people you know, like me, or the ever-growing list of people in Victoria who tweet. Then look at who THEY follow, talk about and “re-tweet”.

Have you heard yet “but twitter doesn’t work – I tweeted something and no one bought anything.” What if you had a store tucked away at the edge of town, went to one networking meeting then sat back and waited for people to come. They wouldn’t, would they? Potential customers would have had to have been at that meeting, at that exact moment to have seen it. Trust wasn’t built. Social currency wasn’t amassed. Twitter is a great add-on to your Top-Of-Mind Marketing strategy.

Patience is key: sometimes a lot of interaction doesn’t start until you reach around 50 people – both you following and them following you. Twitter is built for the long-term.

Many thanks to Cathy Stucker (site, twitter) for passing on this article about why you need to have your own (as in, own it) site/blog if you plan on being around for a while:

How Confident are you With Your Blogging Service Provider?

(Update, Jun 24, 2009: if you are in Victoria, BC, you may be interested in the list of Victoria, BC Twitterers.)

OK. So we have heard the words “Twitter” and “tweeting” and “tweets” etc bantered about. What is this Twitter thing anyway? Some call it micro-blogging. A really smart friend of mine has called it “one to many Instant Messaging”.

I see Twitter as more of an office water cooler.

It sits over in the corner down the row from your cubicle (which, of course, is outfitted with cool gadgets from ThinkGeek.com and troll dolls). People gather there as they need a drink of water and start up random conversations, or join in existing ones. You see that Sally is there; you don’t necessarily agree with or see value in what Sally has to say, so you mentally filter her out. However, Brad is over there, and he has some good insights, so you perk up your ears and take note of what he is saying. Mary strides on over and starts talking; you like her too, she always finds cool stuff to do. You get to eavesdrop in on their thoughts and conversations, but they know this; this is the rule of the Watercooler. They want you to hear it.

Sometimes Scott gets too loud and starts bragging about his weekend exploits. Sometimes Sally does nothing but whine. But, sometimes you overhear a great nugget of information that sparks an A-HA! moment, then wander over there yourself to join in and get feedback.

Some people hang around all day, but somehow things still get done. You can’t see how Theresa does it because… wow…. 10 tweets an hour AND 3 blog posts??? Others just breeze by on their way to the copy machine, take stock of what’s being said, then toodle on off again. Curtis really is in tune with the project you’re working on, so you invite him back to your cubicle to brainstorm.

This is twitter for me. Nothing formal, one central place to go get a refreshing drink and it’s never the same group so the dynamics are fascinating to watch.

As long as they don’t start putting booze in what we’re drinking, it’s all gonna be just fine ;)