Only a little more than 30 days ago my team at Bridge Worldwide and I entered the “Twittersphere” by creating an account in this fast-growing social networking tool. As I wrote previously, the main rationale for Twittering was to provide additional, meaningful content related to our Marketing with Meaning concept.  Instead of just two to three blog posts a week, I figured that believers in our mission would appreciate more, shorter examples. Little did I know that it would provide us with a great deal of benefits as well.

Frankly, I have to admit that I had purposely avoided Twitter for a while. In this business there are so many new technologies out there that you could waste a lot of time following failed ideas. In my brief look-sees at the technology, I also saw too many examples of posts like “just ate pancakes.” But the chance to provide meaningful marketing for our readers was too tempting to ignore.

Overall, I can definitely say that I’m loving Twitter and I think some version of it is here to stay. Over the past week especially, I feel like I felt back in the days when I first started reading blogs, or when I first found RSS feeds, or even when I first got on email. In the early days of such technologies, there is a common feeling that you have discovered something amazingly useful and interesting – something that will improve the quality of your life.

In terms of an assessment of Twitter, I really like Forrester’s take in the book Groundswell, where the company uses a tool to evaluate new digital marketing tools, and gives this service a thumbs-up.  Here’s my take:

What Works

• Accelerates the spread of knowledge (both ways) – There is a very rich stream of news and links that members share with each other. I’ve discovered some great data and case studies that I would not have found otherwise. It is also a powerful way for me to share Marketing with Meaning examples, which is helping to drive record traffic to this blog.
• Reaches the most advanced digital thinkers – In marketing this concept and the book, our general target is anyone who is responsible for marketing or agencies who work for marketers. But there is a more core group of digital influencers who will do the most to spread the word. They are the ones who the mass of marketers (and media) look to for suggestions on what’s new and important.  And they are all over Twitter. I really like the Twitter social etiquette that people should always give credit, and almost always follow whomever follows you.
• Creates new opportunities for partnership – I have just dipped my toe into the water of actually using Twitter to ask for specific help, but the community is often sending notes asking for examples, facts, or people connections. Just the other day someone in my network saw an exchange between a friend of mine and me about a specific marketing program, and out of the blue a person related to the company offered to arrange an interview for our book!
• Add-ons keep the service improving – There are countless tools that you can use to make Twitter more effective, which will keep advancing the usefulness of the service. I really like TweetDeck (better interface), SocialOne (allows auto-messaging for new followers), Twitter Search (find people easily), and Mr. Tweet (helps you find people with similar interests).  Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for great guidance on these.

Improvement Needed

• It’s marketing to the choir – The biggest downside for me is that everyone I tend to see is a fellow social/digital maven of some kind. So this is not where I’m going to be able to reach the general  marketer we need to connect with. I know of only two of my agency clients on Twitter, Kevin and Dave.
• Still lots of junk out there – Some Twits are interesting, and a lot are not. I think the community is still feeling out what is appropriate to share and what isn’t. But I’d like the signal-to-noise factor to be a lot better. And with all the noise coming through I know that I’m missing lots of really good links and comments.
• Huge time suck if you let it be - In the week since getting TweetDeck, a tool that makes your feeds much easier to follow, I have felt myself spending far too much time on this thing. It is addictive to “surf the community” with Twitter, similar to how some people find Facebook.

I am very, very excited about how Twitter will help us bring our Marketing with Meaning concept and upcoming book into the market successfully. We have more than 200 followers now and people keep finding us every hour or two. I can tell that this audience believes in the concept, and that they will use their network to share it with others. I am even more excited by the chance to recruit true believers who will take on the challenge of making the marketing they work on more meaningful.

Whether you’re new to Twitter or a seasoned veteran, check us out at: https://twitter.com/mktgwithmeaning.