Every semester I start my Digital Marketing Class at George Mason University by polling my students on what are their top social media platforms.
“What social media platform do you use the most?”
Eight years ago 50% of my students used Twitter, and the other 50% used Facebook.
Unfortunately for Twitter, this number has been decreasing every single year. Last year Twitter’s share of my student’s using the platform hit zero. Not a single one of my students use twitter on a daily basis (see the poll results here).
Not a single one.
Why?
No interest. No friends. No privacy. Nothing useful.
So, should YOU stop investing in Twitter for your organization?
Like I teach my students, it is critical to ask yourself the following questions:
What are your organizational goals and objectives?
What do you know about your customers, prospects, or members? Specifically, what is their digital profile?
What social media platforms do they spend time (if any)?
How can social media (in general) help you meet your goals?
Could Twitter help your organization?
The reality is that Twitter is the water cooler for journalists and other infuencials. If you want to influence the influencers, having a Twitter presence is critical.
For example, do you want to influence state-level legislation? You probably have a list of state journalists that cover the issues that you are working on. You know how to call them and email them (how to pitch them).
You probably also know what their Twitter handle is and if they use Twitter in their job. If they have a twitter account, having a Twitter account is critical to influencing them via YOUR content as well as your Twitter account interacting with them in real-time to events as they occur.
Bottom line, the leader of the free world uses Twitter almost every day. You should be paying attention.
If you watch This Is Us, you know what this is about. If you work for Crock-Pot, you had to respond in near real time to this PR disaster unfolding in real time on social media.