Fish Where The Twits Are

Sorry to have not posted in a few weeks, I’ve been bit by the Twitter bug. Let me tell you how amazing a rabbit hole this new micro blogging sensation is. It won’t make sense right away but give it time and you’ll soon realize the amazing power of Twitter. Here are a few best Twitter practices to get you started:

1) It’s a community, you have to follow people and give relevant information to the community in order to earn followers. It will start slow but if you stay with it you’ll begin to see accelerated follower growth.

2) Have a plan, be known for a few focused topics that make you but be careful, constant self promotion will not keep followers. A 1 to 5 ratio of self promo versus topical focus is a nice balance.

3) Check out some of the services that are out there:

a. Highly recommend Tweet Deck, will change Twitter forever for you!

b. Use an auto responder to be more instant for new followers, make the message interesting. I use Tweet Later but only for the auto respond option.

c. Use a tiny URL service that allows you to track link clicks, I personally love bit.ly.

d. Put it on your phone, awesome if you take public transit. I have a BB and use TwitterBerry. My buddy @clybecker (that’s Charlie’s Twitter handle or address in non-Tweet terms) has an iPhone and really enjoys TwitterPhone.

4) Finally check this article and the video I posted before. This will help covers some of the basic.

You’re saying great but what does this have to do with the radio industry; did you see Lily Allen’s Twitter fun on her West Coast US swing?

Now imagine this in radio land then think about tastefully tying in a sponsor with a clickable link?!? What is the value to a brand of being pushed in front of a passionate audience in an interactive manner today? Personal devices are becoming more important than any other possession. Radio needs to learn to stay on, interactive, and engaging on these new personal devices, it’s critical in my opinion.

If you make the leap to Twitter please search me out, my handle is @joshdirks.