Twit or treat
As a child many of us will have heard or been told that ‘if you have nothing to say keep quiet’ and it was Denis Thatcher who famously said that it is ‘better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt’. The phenomenal rise of social media in all its forms appears to have thrown this advice out of the window – and no more so than the seemingly unstoppable Twitter.
But should Twitter and other social media be embraced, how can it be used, can we afford to ignore it?
Many organisations, particularly those that sell products or have direct contact with the general public, have followed their customers lead and jumped headlong into web2.0 in all its facets. Professional services firms, whilst slower to react, are beginning to follow.
Law, accounting and property firms can be found on Facebook, YouTube (the PwC song anyone), LinkedIn, and Twitter to name but a few. Participation may be driven by the firm itself, but more frequently by individuals or groups of employees.
It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to dismiss social media as irrelevant, but it is also hard to see how communications channels such as Facebook, blogs, Youtube, Twitter and the like can play any serious role in client and business development. Talking without listening is rarely a good thing.
For firms considering starting a blog or micro-blogging via Twitter, the question that should first be asked is ‘do I have something interesting, entertaining and important to say on a regular basis?’ If the answer is yes (and remember, for most people the answer is no!) then the next question is ‘is a blog the best way for me to win work with these insights’. Again the answer is almost certainly no.
That isn’t to say blogs and other social media outlets should be ignored. Graduate recruitment, PR and internal communications are areas where social media have proven to be comfortable bed fellows for even the most conservative of firms. Firms looking to differentiate themselves in a crowded market will look to increasingly innovative ways to accomplish this, and these channels often fit this description.
Yet most audiences, even the so-called ‘generation Y’ who are much more at home with social media, still respond well to good old fashioned print and email communications, which does then question the value of extending the brand into this space.
But perhaps such introversion is missing the point of social media and communication channels such as Twitter.
Professional services firms have many audiences and will want to speak with clients, the media, new recruits and staff using different communications channels to do so. It would be wrong to think of Twitter replacing some of the more traditional communications channels; it is just another channel in the mix.
The very nature of Twitter – short bursts of text – is eminently suited to sign-posting clients and other parties to useful or important information.
Research has shown that firms who use Twitter to direct clients to information held on their website – such as legal and technical updates – find that clients spend more than twice as long on the website when compared to those who arrive at a site via a search engine like Google.
Visitors are embedded much further into a clients’ website and directed very quickly to relevant information. And it is important to remember that these are people who have signed-up to receive information – they are not just random visitors.
Social media sites represent the 21st century water cooler where individuals gather to chat, gossip and to exchange ideas.
It is impossible to stop these conversations and firms would be foolish to try, even if such conversations do not best portray the firm in its best light. They would be much better to join in and shape the direction of these conservations. It also has the advantage of giving a ‘human face’ to what sometimes can be pretty faceless organisations.
The dramatic downturn is also likely to further the argument for social media as most, like Twitter, are completely free to use. At a time when budgets are under intense scrutiny the intelligent use of social media begins to sound much more attractive.
Matt Baldwin is the managing director of Coast Communications and he has just joined Twitter and is not entirely sure what he is doing. He can be reached via email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or followed on Twitter - twitter.com/coastmatt
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