I was asked by a collegue of mine today (who is a digital strategist at a media company) “Would you say the majority of twitterers are business owners or consultants?”
I had to have a little think about it – but here is my interpretation of who uses twitter and why it matters.
The majority of twitter users today are either innovators or change agents. The kinds of early adopters that influence decisions – both socially and within their business communities.
They are the people that other people go to with questions about how things work or who to choose as a service provider. They most likely tell their friends about new products or services before the mainstream knows about it. They probably have a blog. They also probably influence directly at least one CXO level decision maker.
This makes them especially influential and powerful as a group of consumer influencers but they are more savvy and elusive than most and generally dislike advertising/marketing.
Connecting with these influencers is not something that your PR agency is well suited to – and there are no shortcuts in becoming a trusted influencer within these influencers. And it is very difficult to engage Twitter communities as an immediate marketing/sales tool for your company.
To earn the right and privilege to engage this community to your benefits you have to become an innovator or change agent yourself. And you must add value to the network before the network starts adding value to you. You must be authentic, interesting, transparent and most of all – be prepared to tell the world what you had for breakfast every day of the week
What are your thoughts? Who do you think uses twitter?
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A toasted sandwich with cheese, avocado, tomato, ham and PeriPeri. And a Hernandez French Blend from my Brikka Kaliffa.
Oh….wait: was I supposed to tweet that?
In all seriousness, I think you’re right with the “influencer, could be a startup founder or early hire”, especially in Australia. Not only males, as well.
As the aforementioned digital strategist, your thoughts were valuable and much appreciated. Thanks Nick!
“..there are no shortcuts in becoming a trusted influencer within these influencers..”
That is precisely why I like Twitter so much. Yes to some degree it is reputation based, but it also comes down to the fact that I’ve developed relationships with these people and trust their opinions about things more than a general PR spiel.
Interesting post, considering myself as an innovator and influencer is a very new thing and has taken some time to become accustomed to. On the positive side, I find it a lot of fun being able to introduce people to this brave new web2.0 world.
Muesli with a banana – my usual breakfast since I decided to reduce my weigh from 85 to 76kg (achieved) and add more ‘healthy’ into my healthy lifestyle.
I like your thoughts on Twitter. What will be truly interesting will be whether it moves into mass market adoption.
I’m a serial entrepreneur, who has started up about 8 companies over the last 15 years, (most internet-related) interspaced with short periods of working for other people (most often smaller companies).
So I probably fit your description, although I am only now getting into Twitter, I’ve really been focusing on energy over the last three years rather than web, but are in the process of switching back now that my two oil start-ups have moved into more established positions.
“The majority of twitter users today are either innovators or change agents.”
…spoken like a true Twitter user