EXPERTEYE
What Channels Are You
Tuned Into?
Zachary Wilson is principal and
founder of Gulo Solutions LLC,
www.gulosolutions.com, a content
management software and Internet
consulting services firm.
BY ZACHARY WILSON
Today, readers are more inundated than
ever with information. As such, readers
demand options so they are able to make
their own choices about how to access
this information. To distribute information
broadly, associations need to broadcast
through a variety of sources.
As an organization, what are you using
to stay in touch with your audience? A
cohesive strategy that spans multiple
mediums is imperative. Many tools are
now free and many have quickly become
ubiquitous for sharing information: Web
sites with RSS feeds, blogs, wikis, You-Tube, MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook,
Flickr and countless others. Many of
these tools can be effective in your distribution strategy.
One of the newest tools organizations are
adding to their communications portfolios
is Twitter, a micro-blogging social network
application. A micro-blog is a miniature
blog that restricts a post to a maximum of
140 characters. This micro-post also is
known as a “tweet.” Twitter’s success has
grown from individuals agreeing to “follow”
another individual’s Twitter account. Once
following another account, individuals can
then opt to receive updates. It is a noteworthy medium that lends itself to both one-to-one communications, as well as
one-to-many communications.
How is Twitter actually used? Here are
some ideas for applying Twitter to your
association’s business that are proving to
be successful:
1. Promotion
2. Event tracking
3. Marketing
4. Brand building
5. News
6. Conversation tracking through “
hashtags,” a way to add context to tweets by
prefixing a word or key words with a
hash (#) symbol, making it easier to follow a topic of interest. For example, in
2007, #sandiegofire set the standard for
the use of hashtags by a Twitter group
to track news of a major catastrophe
and mobilize resources to help those
affected.
MARKETING, PROMOTION AND BRAND
BUILDING
Fortune 500 companies are now creating
Twitter accounts to build a connection
with their communities. Starbucks uses
Twitter as a viral marketing tool and has
50,000 followers. The company posts links
and pictures about upcoming products not
found anywhere else. This prompts followers to engage in conversation. For example:
stuart36deg says: “@starbucks Is this new
stuff available in the UK?”
starbucks replies: “@stuart36deg It will be
available for purchase in select stores in
London #VIA”
Harley Davidson began employing Twitter at the end of January, and now has
more than 760 followers. Its tactic thus far
appears to be throwing out questions.
Here are a few examples:
harleydavidson says: “What was your best
riding memory of 2008?”
A_Scarpino replies: “@harleydavidson —
3 brothers, vrod, street glide & custom
deluxe — Vegas to Red Rock to Hoover
Dam to Vegas Motor Speedway —
sweet!”
bikergrady replies: “@harleydavidson
Riding up the Mississippi River Valley
from St. Louis to Savanna, Ill. and on to
Madison Wisc. during the 105th.”
harleyrev replies: “@harleydavidson Anytime I can ride, and anywhere I go on the
Sporty is a great memory!”
EVENT TRACKING
Recently, Gulo Solutions attended ASAE
& The Center’s Association Technology
Conference, where attendees using Twitter
created a hashtag (for example: #tech09).
By attaching this tag to posts, users could
receive updates regarding what other people were tweeting on the topic. This was
an excellent way to gauge what sessions
were valuable and what was covered in
sessions conference-goers were unable to
attend. N-Ten, a nonprofit technology network for organizations, also is using a tag
for its conference April 26-28 (#nten09).
NEWS
National Public Radio has different Twitter
accounts for news, politics, “Talk of the
Nation,” “Weekend Edition,” and “All Songs
Considered.” Its largest follower base is
with “nprpolitics,” with more than 100,000
followers. NPR’s approach is simple: Distribute political news.
DEFINING SUCCESS
What does this all mean to you? That
depends on your association’s goal. One
measure of success can be based on the
number of followers your association
accrues through these various mediums.
From there, your association can determine who is interested in the content you
are sharing through which medium.
As noted in this article, major brands
are finding Twitter useful in connecting
with new audiences. If the number of followers is any measure of value, NPR is
doing something right.
Look at what approach can be an asset
to your audience and begin tweeting
today on the Internet’s newest channel.
Zachary Wilson may be reached at zwilson@
gulosolutions.com.
Interested in being an
Expert Eye columnist?
Contact Jacqui Cook at
cook@associationforum.org for details.
