When I was studying for my MBA as a mature student, I was often drawn to Peter Drucker’s words, particularly on marketing and communication.
I was reminded of Drucker recently at The Social Media Summit organised and hosted by Nicky Kriel*.
The memory was triggered by the asssertion that:
“Twitter is just a sophisticated pub.” Thomas Power**
Whether it’s beer or cocktails, the same point has been made by Peter and Thomas.
Success in communication comes in a relaxed social environment.
Twitter is all about getting to know people, being yourself so people can get to know you, and engaging in chatter. What you chat about isn’t important, as long as you are connecting and getting to know each other.
The pub analogy goes further in conveying the relaxed nature of the interaction. You don’t need to dress up in your finest outfit, you can just pop into your local pub, say hi to a few people, chat about what’s been going on, how your day went, and share news and views on the topics of the day.
Such conversations are never done. They continue on the next meeting.
Over time you get to know your fellow pub-goers and you can start talking about what you do, in response to the interest they express in you.
What you don’t do is march in, hand out your business cards, and start telling the assembled drinkers how successful and talented you are. If you did, you would be supping alone in no time.
Twitter is just the same.
There are, of course, techniques you can use to share your knowledge, but the starting point is conversation.
Be yourself. Be interested. Be interesting.
“You turn strangers into friends, and friends into customers.”
In my next blog, I will explain why this approach is so important in social media marketing success.
*Nicky Kriel provides coaching and training for small business owners.
** Thomas Power is a non-executive board member & digital coach to board directors.
