I read my Twitter feed several times every day.
I read it for humorous tweets, tweets about what my friends are doing and tweets from business, political or social leaders that interest me.
I don’t read the newspaper everyday.
I don’t read a magazine everyday.
I don’t even watch television everyday.
But I read Twitter several times a day. It’s content I can access 24/7, customized completely to my interests. And I frequently look for new Twitter accounts to follow.
So when I noticed @_workingmother_, the Twitter handle of a magazine and website that I enjoy, had several typos in the recent tweets, I sent a quick reply.
@epagelhogan @_workingmother_ seeing typos in your tweets! Careful!
The typos weren’t huge. “Your” instead of “you’re” and “Kid’s” instead of “kids.” The typos didn’t bother me as much as this response to my tweet:
@_workingmother_ @epagelhogan We all type so quickly & take this kind of social media less seriously, esp. when trying to fit into 140 characters!
So the communications team at Working Mother take this kind of social media less seriously? I’m hurt! I’m a customer who basically only interacts with them via Twitter and they don’t care if they are sending me quality content?
In 2009, over two years ago, Twitter was already the 3rd highest ranking social media site according to Compete.com. It has a top ten Alexa rating. Remember how the raid on the Bin Laden compound broke on Twitter first?
My personal usage of Twitter should indicate to media outlets like the folks at Working Mother that Twitter is their main way of reaching at least one reader and since I’m a very busy working mother and I bet I’m not the only one.
I love the content and editorial perspective of Working Mother magazine and Working Mother online. I’m a big fan. But I don’t always have time to read their emails let alone follow one of the links. I really appreciate the info and links they send out via Twitter a lot more, because I see them more frequently and can quickly read one article. Clicking on a link in Twitter on my smartphone, which I always have with me, is easier than enlarging an email and trying to tap through to an article.
I think reaching customers via Twitter should be taken pretty seriously.
Social media is a great way to build customer relationships. Don’t take chances with your social media feed. Make it as precise and effective as every other communication strategy and use it to build better relationships with your readers, your subscribers, your followers, your buyers.