Part of my role at MSL Boston is to help brands develop social media strategies. I take a very simple, no non-sense approach to the process and do it in a way where clients can understand it. I don't use buzz words. I stay away from all the cliches and try to put things in terms that the client will understand as well as make the conversation relevant to their business. Basically, I always have a 101-style.
That got me thinking about posting some of the 101 thoughts I have floating around in my head for those that are still unsure about how they can use these tools for business.
In the first installment, I'd like to tackle a simple question I receive all the time: "How do I know who to follow on Twitter?"
For me, there's a simple thought process that one should go through when determining if they should follow someone on Twitter:
- Do I know this person?
- Are they a friend of a friend or a referral from a business associate?
- If you don't know them, are they writing or sharing content that is relevant to your business interests?
- Are they someone you'd like to do business with?
- Are they someone that you'd like to recruit for your business?
If you answered yes to at least two of these questions, then follow the person and add them to a "core-follow" list as opposed to keeping them in a list of 2,000 people you're already following. You see, Twitter is like a fast moving river and if you're not standing on the banks, you'll miss whatever floats by.