The furore in the last week about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has prompted some further thought by me on the role it may play in the marketing makeup of any small business.
For a long time, I have seriously doubted that it can be a significant player in marketing my business, and I suspect it is the same situation for other businesses who simply don’t know how effective Twitter is in their marketing efforts. They are on the platform pumping out tweets in a welter of fear of missing out.
But would they be missing anything if they were not there?
It has seemed to me for a long time that Twitter is a favourite social media site of journalists and politicians. But ordinary people don’t have accounts and are not on the platform, or if they are they only have a tenuous connection with that goes on in the Twittersphere on a daily basis.
In the news reports recently concerning Musk’s takeover, commentators were explaining that Twitter was one of the smaller social media platforms, but its influence was most acutely effective amongst politicians and journalists.
That is certainly my view but for the ordinary small business owner or entrepreneur my firm belief is you are far better off concentrating your time and marketing efforts on other social media platforms which will show you a positive, long-lasting return.
The business owner and entrepreneur need to figure out whether the best site for their business is Instagram or Facebook or YouTube or Reddit, or some other platform including their own website or a podcast site.
But you should carry out your own research and don’t place much reliance on the disproportionate coverage that Twitter will receive in the news as the story you encounter is likely to be political and will enjoy favourable treatment from the journalist who will be hanging around Twitter looking for a story.
You will find far more effective platforms for your business in the most unlikely places. Twitter is almost certainly to be of little value for your small business development and brand building.
Yes, you can enjoy the platform and have a bit of fun. Yes, you can keep up with developments in society, sport, politics. Yes, you can get into disputes with and wind up conspiracy theorists and cellar dwellers who have beliefs that bear only a passing connection with reality.
But don’t expect to grow your business on Twitter.