Join the Conversation, the Potential is Great

As I have written earlier, Twitter is too powerful of a tool to be left to adolescents for sharing gossip and music. Used properly and strategically, it is an awesome medium for establishing your organization and chief executive as global leaders in your field of choice.

Used regularly, Twitter and other social media can dramatically help your NGO’s or company’s leadership to evolve into thought leaders – those who are trailblazers in humanitarian affairs or a marketplace.

However, I can’t believe how many people since March 21, 2006, when Twitter was launched, still admit they don't understand how tweeting works. And this covers many age groups but realistically mostly those that are edging closer to senior citizenship.

Twitter’s chief financial officer Anthony Noto recently observed: “Nonusers can continue to ask: ‘Why should I use Twitter?’” Noto then added that for those who don’t regularly use Twitter it remains “too difficult to use.”

In the life of an organization that is committed to thriving and flourishing, nothing should be difficult. Everything that contributes to your success must have a practical place in your action place, to do list and business plan. Twitter’s success requires a serious discussion just like research and development, marketing, sales and sustainability campaigns. You must learn how to use it.

Twitter is a fairly simple concept. Once you try it, you should be able to get the hang of it quite easily. I'm writing this in hopes of helping civil society and small businessmen understand how tweeting works and to get them to tweet more effectively for the benefit of their NGOs and businesses.

“I just don’t get Twitter!”

“Why do I need to be there?”

“Who really cares what you do?”

“I’m not ready for it.”

“Don’t push me into it.”

“I need to prepare other things before I use Twitter.”

In reality, the upshot is that Twitter is not just a passing fad. It and its subsequent iterations are here to stay and benefit skilled users. Those that use it effectively will leave you in the dust. Without a doubt it can help your non-profit organization boost global awareness of your issues. It can also help your small business become a leader in your market and industry.

Consequently, Twitter should be an integral part of your broad marketing and outreach plan. In order to survive, you must grow your brand awareness, build a following, generate leads, spread your information and ultimately attract more sales and sponsors. Your active presence on Twitter will contribute to this achievement. But the operative phrase here is “active presence.”

Many Twitter gurus have noted that Twitter made history with its social networking service. It was the first social network to spread news faster than any other medium, and it still stands as a record holder when it comes to that.

Twitter is great when it comes to speed because we can choose the speed ourselves. You never have to get your message approved on Twitter (unless the user you are trying to follow has a private profile of course).

That means you can instantly start picking up on what people are doing, saying and sharing, and also offer, say and share quickly what you are doing – or thinking – or proposing – or building – or organizing. It’s not all about celebrity power and their influence on our lives. Without offering anecdotes from ancient history, we’ve already seen some pretty historical tweets in the past decade, starting with Michael Jackson’s death and other events. News events, like this weekend’s midtown Manhattan bombing and Emmy awards, are tweeted immediately by everyone before broadcast media and newspapers report them. And followers are the first to learn about them.

Tweets can be about historical events such as those happening all around the world. People everywhere are using Twitter to share events in their countries, spark a new idea, request help, denounce a tyrant, announce a helpful discovery, or plant a new thought.

Those on Twitter also use the network heavily. About two-thirds of Twitter users, 71%, say they use the network several times a day, another 12% daily and 12% several times a week.

Once you get the hang of it, you can promote your issues, causes and solutions numerous times a day to catch the attention of as many people as possible in all global time zones. Intermittent and spontaneous usage will not satisfy your needs.

So join the conversation or start one. You may be surprised by the number of people you will quickly attract as followers.