To Tweet or Not Tweet?

I’ll never forget that time. It was a few years ago. I was sitting in the College Coffeehouse writing a paper when I overheard a conversation. “Do you...twitter?” I almost laughed out loud. This was right about when Twitter started becoming popular and at the time the only thing I knew “twitter” to mean was a funny laugh.

With the explosion of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, new questions for small organization arise: should my small organization be on Twitter and Facebook? What are advantages? What are disadvantages? How should it be done? Is it right for my organization?

There are several things to consider when deciding whether or not to launch out on the networking site.

 First, ask yourself “Who is my audience?” Do not just think about those who you already reach, but those who you want to reach. If that group is under the age of 30 and if it includes women, the answer is “yes, you should be on Twitter and Facebook.” According to Insidefacebook.com there are nearly 12 million young women on Facebook, almost twice the amount of men. http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/08/04/women-flocking-to-facebook-femalemale-ratio-hits-new-high/

Rebrand.com did an interesting article on reasons why organizations should be on Twitter. Though they are talking about why luxury businesses should be on these sites, their reasons are very pertinent to all organizations. Here is the link: http://www.rebrand.com/15-reasons-luxury-brands-must-be-on-twitter

Take a look at these reasons to see if they affect your organization.

Second, ask yourself “Do I have the resources to maintain a Twitter and/or Facebook?” Thankfully, the most popular networking sites are free. They are, however, time consuming. In order for a Twitter to be affective, it must be updated…constantly. This is how people see your organization and pay attention amidst all the “noise.” Facebook is similar. For your followers to continue getting notified there must be new information on the page daily. Unlike a website, networking resources depend on constant updating.

The advantage of this is your customers/clients/followers are being constantly reminded you’re there. They see you often and this created brand awareness. The disadvantage is you have to constantly keep it up. One way to do this is to assign one person to the social networking sites for your organization. Fortunately, Facebook and Twitter are so common, it shouldn’t be hard to find someone to maintain this and to do it well.

Last, ask yourself “Is this right for my organization?” This answer is based on your above answers. One thing we understand in PR: go where your customers are. Are your customers on Twitter? Go there. Are they reading newspapers? Go there. Are they reading signs on the subway? Go there. But before you do, make sure you can do it well. Twitter and Facebook are created to be easy to use. But to be effective, your organization must be focused on doing it well. Be short, be to the point, be there often.

So now let me ask you: Do you…Twitter?