Archive for August, 2009

What If Twitter Went Down & Never Came Back Up?

You must know by now what a fan of Twitter I am, don’t you?  If you’d like to connect with me there, just follow me and @ me to say “hi” (btw, if you have no idea what I just wrote, you might want to check out this post first).
One thing I’m really aware of [...]

You must know by now what a fan of Twitter I am, don’t you?  If you’d like to connect with me there, just follow me and @ me to say “hi” (btw, if you have no idea what I just wrote, you might want to check out this post first).

One thing I’m really aware of however – and have become even more so recently – is just how reliant I (and many others) seem to have become on Twitter as a primary communication channel and promotional tool for our projects.

Side note: Almost anyone who says they’re on Twitter purely for the social aspect and not for promotional purposes is lying…I can think of only a handful of people I’m connected with, who truly & genuinely don’t seem to have anything to promote and are there purely for the conversation – and even then you could say, it is still all about personal branding.

As those of you who are on Twitter know, when there are down times you might find yourself feeling a bit lost, disconnected and perhaps even at a loss for what to do with yourself online. If you’re lucky, you’re one of those people who actually finds they’re way more productive. Or you may be so obsessed about checking whether Twitter is back up yet or not, you get nothing else done at all.

But like many social media and social networking platforms, the return on investment, when it comes to the value it brings to your business, is difficult to measure. That new client you recently signed may not have found you directly on Twitter but being able to follow you on Twitter sure helped convince them you know what you’re doing. And sales of that new ebook you released 6 months ago may not have increased directly because you tweeted about it but it sure helped spread the word and drove more eyeballs to your site and possibly therefore your sales page.

Twitter has become such a crucial connection and communication tool for many micro-businesses and solopreneurs that I suspect many would notice a significant (and very likely negative) impact on their business, if Twitter went down and never came back up. Yup…never came back up, as unlikely as that may sound.

So the question is this: What are you doing to ensure your business has a contingency plan, if Twitter ever goes down and never comes back up?

You can’t and shouldn’t ever rely on just one form of advertising, promotion and communication to market your business – and the same is true for Twitter. If you’ve noticed you are relying mostly on Twitter and your promotional activities have slackened off in other areas, then here’s what we’re doing and what I suggest you might want to do too:

• Be very clear about what Twitter does for you/your business and the way you use it – this is an important first step so you know how to replace/replicate it with tools which perform the same/similar function.
• Create other channels to give contacts, customers, clients & prospects multiple ways to connect and communicate with you.
• Build a presence on the other (relevant) platforms for branding purposes and again, to give people another way to connect with you.
• Connect with your Twitter friends in other ways – on the phone, in person etc. – and solidify and strengthen your relationships.

People keep trying to predict the longevity and death of Twitter; I have no idea when it will die a death and no longer be the channel of choice for so many of us – but when it does, I don’t intend to be caught short and stuck for ways to connect with people. Do you?