The Twitter phenomenon is contagious and has caught on to the corporation at Federal Express. I recently found their link on Twitter and began following them so that I could keep abreast with their updates and developments. What I wanted to see was the type of information that FedEx would provide on Twitter and how they would interact with their followers.
Many companies similar to FedEx establish a Twitter account, but very often don’t know what to do with it. Should they follow everyone who follows them? Should they simply provide links to their online material only? What about any negative news that many develop…should they Twit it?
Twitter is really turning out to be an impactful social networking site for businesses and entrepreneurs. But what can often be misleading and elusive for many companies is the “why” when they do decide to create a Twitter presence.
Do they want to share information with their followers or just be there when something (possibly) develops?
Are they at all interested in following others to see what they have to say or are they just being polite?
Is the service or product they provide amenable to the benefits of the Twitter program? In other words, does the business’ personality fit Twitter?
Twitter is for sharing and dispensing information, period. But, it is also designed for readers to receive information, learning and educating themselves on their peers and competitors in business. When you start following someone on Twitter, you get a feed that dispenses their updates, links and 140-character “what are you doing” bites. It is a very cool tool to help you network extensively and share your business. But, I am finding that there is a slight tip on the scale with businesses that are followed and those that are following in terms of the information that is dispensed on Twitter and the value in it.
For instance, this press release provided by FedEx talks about their generous contribution of $1 million to the Teach for America organization and fundraiser talks extensively about their goal of contributing to this cause and making education a top priority. The release article is very detailed and thorough and the cause will affect many people and shed a positive light on FedEx’s image, no doubt. But what could have perhaps brought even more attention to their cause and goal from an online perspective was to perhaps interview the people that this action would have or could affect. There is lots of potential there for them to showcase the benefactors.
Teach For America is the national corps of top college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity for all children.
Where are those prior top college graduates and how has this program benefitted them? Would it be valuable at all to hear anything from them? Perhaps so, perhaps not. But large corporations like FedEx can do extremely well by focusing on the nuances of their good deeds and maximizing them towards their advantage. Sure, Twitter can help them with this action, but it has to be utilized in order to be effective.
I would suggest that FedEx beef up their Twitter links a little more to give it more of a social feel. Perhaps hire a social manager who would work to brand the FedEx label in online circles and connect with the people who help shape their business. Because when it absolutely, positively has to be done, Twitter is the way to do it.
I am a freelance writer, blogger and professional motivational speaker. I primarily focus on business content, offering my clients strategic marketing strategies for their businesses. I have been an entrepreneur for over 13 years, after having worked extensively in corporate America.
Corporations still need to learn how to use their Twitter accounts, just like politicians did before them and branded themselves. Actually their teams and culture have branded politicians and if they didn’t do this carefully could they be under attack by culture jammers. I wonder if this could happen on Twitter also. I just read an article this morning about suggestions that twitter gives to its users and I wonder what this has to do with companies who pay them for this. Your article is another part of the puzzle Twitter is to me, thanx.