ICM - Leeds Design Agency

I said to a friend of mine the other day ‘you’d really like Twitter’, he’s always on Facebook updating his status and interacting with others via status comments, effectively like a mini Twitter stream…

‘I’m no good at Twitter’ was his reply, ‘I’ve tried’.

No-one is good ‘at’ Twitter, but you can be good ‘on’ Twitter.

One of the big catchphrases of recent times when marketing anything is Return on Investment. When it comes to social media methods I much prefer the term Return on Engagement – what you get back from the time and effort you put in.

For me, Twitter really works when you interact, be it with a brand or an individual. Talking to a complete stranger is alien at first, but over time becomes quite natural within the medium of Twitter. Often its the time element that people, including my friend, struggle with. You wouldn’t walk into a room full of people and expect them to turn around and start having a meaningful conversation with you straight away.

Over the past year of Twitter use I have given feedback (positive and negative) to brands that I use, have found new friends within my industry, kept in touch with old friends and colleagues, won competitions, and have met new friends I wouldn’t have networked with in a more ‘normal’ situation.

All this shows (for me) a good Return on Engagement – taking time to interact; replying to questions, thanking people for retweets, asking questions, forwarding important news, and so on…

It’s not about how many followers you have, it’s not about what Stephen Fry says, its how you use it.

Have some fun, use it your way – there are no hard and fast rules. Oh, and as is usual at the end of these blog posts; you can follow (and interact with) me at twitter.com/richardpeacock or twitter.com/icmrichard