In Love with the little bird (by W. Fessenden)

I must confess, I absolutely love Twitter (www.twitter.com). In the world of marketing and public relations, Twitter is one of the strongest platforms for disseminating information to a targeted audience. We use Twitter often, check out our page at http://twitter.com/EncompassMD

Here is the basic premise on Twitter: you “follow” and others “follow” you back. You are in complete control of who you follow and who follows you. At Encompass Marketing we assist several non-profits with their social media presence. Twitter gives us another avenue to reach out to potential supporters, partner agencies and the media. For those of us who engage the media and try to form relationships with them, their presence on Twitter is important.

PR Week recently released a study where journalists from across the county were asked about social networking websites. Nearly one-third (32%) reported quoting a Twitter post in a story, and 25% say they “always” or “sometimes” use Twitter as part of their research. I believe that one of the most important pieces of info that came from the study is that 58% of the journalists say they have a Twitter profile.

The journalists who choose Twitter likely engage in it because they are looking for another avenue to conduct research, get story leads, or to share their own stories. I love the world in which journalists want to engage, share and look for information. All too often, many sit back and wait for information to come to them, few seek it out.

For the organizations with which Encompass works, we make sure to follow as many members of the media as possible. Twitter etiquette says that when you follow someone, they return the favor and follow you back. Just like that, we have made a connection to someone who wants to see press releases and see more about you.

There is no need to be skeptical or scared off because of Twitter’s 140 character limit. When you talk about your business or organization, most likely you can do it in a couple of sentences. That’s all Twitter is asking.

Quite often Twitter is used as a tease or to provide a web link to the “bigger story” (services such as www.tinyurl.com allow you to shorten URLs making them much more twitter friendly). If you have something to say and can’t sum it up or tease it in 140 characters, I would suggest it’s time to revisit what have you have to say. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is too complicated where you can’t formulate a tease - a tasty nugget of information that would catch the eye of your target audience.

Twitter is simple. Unlike Facebook you don’t have to worry about “walls”, “news feeds”, “likes” or “connections”. You just tell your story to people that have chosen to engage you and people that want to hear from you. From a marketing and PR perspective, this is an audience that we strive to find. Twitter makes finding it all the easier.