Entering the Twittershpere for B2B Business Development

More than once I’ve been rightfully accused of being easily distracted by dangling strings of yarn and shiny new objects. When Twitter first came out, the opportunity was ripe to suck me into the ether. However, at first glance Twitter seemed like a shorter and less relevant form of instant messaging to and from the world. The noise was deafening. And for my business development efforts, it didn’t have an ounce of value. I took two aspirin and went back to work.

A few months later, I heard a talk from the 60 Second Marketer at a BMA Atlanta conference and was pleasantly surprised.
This guy with a gimmicky name actually had applicable new information and case studies about using social media for business marketing. Even more surprising to me, I still think about his talk and guess what? I will never forget his name – The 60 Second Marketer. Although I can’t remember his ‘real’ name, I know I can find his website with just a few keystrokes. Two points for him.

For the past week, I’ve been playing around with Twitter to figure out if I could use it for new business development. I’m not paid to get smarter; I’m paid to bring in new clients. I searched for prospective clients by company name and came up empty. I searched for key people at these companies and again, came up empty. Then I realized searching by name was going to be useless as they were probably using some CB handle-like name. (You’ve just dated yourself if you even know what I’m talking about good buddy!)

Okay, time to go down a different road. What were other people like me doing?
I searched for B2B and got enough hits to get me going. Next thing I know I’ve populated my following with industry associations, publishers, consultants, and other agencies. I thought eventually I would find some prospective clients here but until then, I would read and make mental notes on how others were utilizing Twitter for business.

A few things happened this week while immersing myself in the wondrous world of Twitter. I found links to articles that I believed were relevant for my prospective clients. Without thinking about business development, I sent these links along for the simple fact that I thought each person would be genuinely interested. Next thing I knew, I realized I had evolved from being a dog-and-pony show to someone with value. (PETA – no dogs or ponies were hurt during my presentations)

Twitter is now my headline news feed. I look ahead by following wisely. I prune as often as required to maintain the quality of my reading. I don’t look behind me. I really don’t care who follows me although I feel compelled to protect my tweets and just keep it to industry folks. I listen. I think. When appropriate I share through retweets (RT) or email my prospective client community not yet in the Twittersphere.