The general consensious of the people writing the Twitter manuals on “how to” and “what is” appropriate in TwitterLand, might need to reconsider their follower/following number guidelines.  Those guidelines currently recommend that you should have about an equal portion of follower to following or else you are considered a spammer (following more than are following you) or a celebrity (have more followers than following).

Well, I think we can all be celebrities!

Corporations & brands that want to really be a part of the social media uprise, need to LISTEN & ENGAGE!  But, not in a spammy way.  Be there for us when we cry out & have a need.  Be there for us when we are talking about certain subjects.  Be there when we have a request or question about YOUR PRODUCT (or a competitors!-but be nice).

Because I have been on both the consumer side of Twitter & the represenative of a company listening for those cries, I give you my following examples: 

Me as the Consumer: Tuesday of this week @digitalvision tweeted out the following:

digitalvision: Webex, you and your non-sharable proprietary formats give me headaches

I responded that it was valuable info since I am in the hunt for an efficient webinar service.  We pinged back & forth a few times, and then-it happened.  @ooVooMarty chimed in and @’d me the following.

@JenHarris09 saw comment on webex, give oovoo a look, www.oovoo.co….

He was either searching for key words and or competitors and found our conversation.  He was not spammy, but very kind & gentle on suggesting that I check out oovoo.  

My Results: THAT my friends,is how you engage.  I pinged him back, said thank you for the OOVOO suggestion (which I have since checked out) and that I appreciated his engagement & am considering using!  (cost to Co? 2 min of his time to find & tweet me…ROI? Much better than a click through rate!)

When/If the ball is in the COMPANIES court (or is it, when the Twal is in the companies Twort?)

Me as the Company: For three months I was the Social Media Sales & Marketing Specialist for @TSheets.  I was all over Twitter searching for mentions, recommendations & critiques of @Tsheets.  I also searched keywords such as “time tracking”, “time tracker”, “time card” etc.  Since 60% of the current customer base was tech, it was a good place to look.

My results? Conversations with potential customers and engagement with those looking for help…in a NON-Spammy way of course.  Our Twitter follower numbers never dropped because I was human & respected peoples time.  I would read our customers blogs when they Tweeted them out and respond if I had something relevant to add (this is a WHOLE other blog on how a Social Media Marketer should engage in all platforms – stay tuned).

My Tip of The Day?  Use Search & Learn how to use “operators” well.  Don’t be spammy, be human, be helpful.  And Consumers, it is ok to have a skewed number of followers, if the man a caring company is listening in TwitterLand, it is better for all of us as consumers in the end.