Early Bird
We’ve all heard that old cliché about the early bird catching the worm. Meaning that if you jump on board an idea early… it can benefit you. One of the ‘birds’ you might want to pay attention to (both literally and figuratively) is Twitter (long time fans of the Bartender are probably already on Twitter so feel free to move to the next post).
Time Magazine recently told us that Twitter would change the way we live. Change my life?! Wow. That’s a pretty powerful statement. Then, USA Today reported businesses were using Twitter to communicate with customers. Twitter can help increase revenue…hmmm…that’s more than a little important right now (ya think?)
So it wasn’t any surprise to me when Dan Schawbel recently tweeted that 47% of Chief Marketing officers were building Twitter into their budgets for next year. Basically, that’s half.
Now you might be saying, good grief…another post about Twitter. But hear me out. For the 1 in 2 whose Chief Marketing Officer might be considering this, here’s what the statistic means for you:
You have to know enough about Twitter to –
- Write a job description for the person who will handle Twitter for your organization
- Develop interview questions to recruit that person
- Determine if someone is qualified to handle your company’s Twitter account (How many followers makes a person qualified?)
- Draft a company policy regarding Twitter (or know how to hire someone who can)
- Create a training program on how to use Twitter (or know how to hire someone who can)
- Understand when something done on Twitter should be rewarded or recognized
- Understand when something on Twitter went horribly wrong
I’m not here to convince you to open a Twitter account or use Twitter. But I’m saying you do need to understand how it works. I equate it to when I first started working at an airline, one of my first responsibilities was to hire a director of in-flight services. I said, “Great! Just one question – what does a director of in-flight services do?” It ends up that they manage the flight attendant work group. But the point is…if social media will become part of your workplace, you have to start understanding social media in order to support the operation.
As they say in the Pirates of Caribbean movies, “if you fall behind, you get left behind.” So, here are some resources to get you started:
Laura Fitton (aka @Pistachio on Twitter) has just written a new book called Twitter For Dummies. The Dummies books are excellent references and Laura has over 30,000 people following her on Twitter…so I think it’s pretty safe to say she knows what she’s talking about.
Also, SHRM and Michael Long (aka @theredrecruiter) partnered on a video series to get you started.
So whether you like to learn by reading or listening, here are two great resources to help you get your arms around Twitter. I invite you to check them out when you have the chance.
P.S. Don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter at @hrbartender
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