To Tweet or Not to Tweet? That is the Question...

I vividly recall my initial curiosity about Twitter. A friend of mine, the publisher of a regional newspaper covering part of Maryland's Eastern Shore, had once opined to his readers that one of the things he liked was "planning to never use Twitter." Wanting to get a better understanding of just what this communications platform was all about, I ventured to the Twitter website to watch a short tutorial. I quickly dismissed Twitter as having little utility and being destined to have a short existence.

Boy, was I wrong. Twitter recently celebrated its seventh birthday, and is valued at roughly $10 billion. I suppose that rumors of its demise were greatly exaggerated. Somewhere, Mark Twain is smiling.

But my early observation about the utility of Twitter (or lack thereof) wasn't completely wrong, either. For many small businesses, Twitter is not a useful social media tool. For instance, during conversations regarding how various social media platforms might be used to promote our business and further drive sales, members of my family and I failed to see how we could employ Twitter in an effective manner. After all, our business sells products which do not expire and which do not change dramatically within short periods of time. If we were to "tweet" that we are now selling 24" x 36" inch oil paintings with white frames, is there really anything in this message that compels people to venture to one of our stores to go shopping?

Nonetheless, we have maintained what one might call a "whimsical" Twitter presence under the title @artsaleBABY since December, 2009. During this period, we have tweeted just over 400 messages. Sometimes, we tweet something meant to be funny or entertaining. Other times, we use the tweet to call the attention of our followers, directing them for instance to television or print media coverage of the business. But the returns are certainly intangible, and despite posting signs in our stores urging customers to "follow" Ocean Gallery on Twitter, we have attracted only nineteen followers in over three years.


While Twitter may not help some small businesses effectively reach out to their existing and potential customers, that's not to say that the platform doesn't help small businesses in other ways. For instance, the New York Times has created a small business Twitter page, @NYTSmallBiz, that allows small business owners to share ideas and news stories, as well as to pose questions to one another regarding small business issues. Subscribers "follow" the New York Times feed, which may prove to be a valuable source of information and guidance for some business owners.While we at Ocean Gallery do not follow the New York Times small business twitter account because we feel that much of the content is not applicable to a well-established business such as ours, we do recognize its usefulness for small business owners in general.

Of course, by no means is this an argument that Twitter can't help develop business. Consider this podcast interview with Mark Schaefer, author of The Tao of Twitter. In the interview, he explains that the key to effective usage of Twitter is found in creating an audience and expanding the network of the user. But how is this accomplished? Schaefer asserts that the true power of Twitter lies in the ability to "re-tweet" the tweets of others. Doing this has two benefits. First, you are effectively paying homage to the source of the original tweet, which puts you on the radar of the person or entity who first tweeted the material. Second, it demonstrates to your followers that you are "tied in" to a worthwhile network of valuable contributors, thereby creating more credibility for you. These two benefits simultaneously help you to build a worthwhile network.

However, Schaefer also offers caution about the use of Twitter by businesses, specifically about the expectations of a business's followers. For instance, customers who decide to tweet a concern or complaint about your business might expect to receive a reaction almost immediately. Moreover, the question of how to respond to an all-out rant by a customer via Twitter is one that is not easily answered. Much is left to the discretion of the business. Of course, a systematic failure to respond to complaints (and even rants) could prove disastrous to maintaining the loyalty of a business's followers.

There are plenty of reasons for a small business to use Twitter, and of course, there are reasons why Twitter might not be ideal for all small businesses. While I feel that the Ocean Gallery products are not especially conducive to the use of Twitter, one could mount a fair argument that our failure to further engage our customers through our tweets is to blame for our lack of success with the platform. Nevertheless, a Twitter presence can be a "winner" for a business if it understands the basics of communicating via Twitter and if it develops a proper strategy for employing the media platform.