People who join online networking groups like Linkedin often search for groups to join where they can network with industry peers.  If you are on Linkedin and searched to join a group that had to do with fasteners, more than likely you found and joined "Fasteners Industry".  Janice Ceresa is the creator/owner/administrator of the Fasteners Industry Group on Linkedin.  She developed this group a couple years ago which might have been a long time before a lot of us even knew what Linkedin was.  What is Linkedin?  I'm not a good person to describe it but  Linkedin is kind of a place where people create their own business resume and share it with other members.  The platform is more business oriented than a site like Facebook.  The point is, Janice seems to me to be someone with vision and someone who embraces the new social media that seems to surround us more and more.  I asked Janice if she would be willing to share a few thoughts on other social media and below are some of her thoughts on Twitter.


To Tweet or Not To Tweet?

My view of Twitter (www.Twitter.com ) is very simplistic; it’s just another tool to convey your message.  No matter what your message happens to be recruiting, sales, specific products, websites, etc. utilizing a new tool then measuring its effectiveness is critical to any business.  Business communication via social networking outlets can be overwhelming at first. Which one you chose is a personal preference.  In order to find out what works you have to sometimes explore uncharted territory.    

The number one question I get asked is (drum roll) what results do you get from Twitter?  It's a great question but it has a complicated answer.  There are four questions you need to ask when deciding to use Twitter.

   #1   What’s your business goal?

You need to determine what you want to accomplish by using Twitter or any social media then measure results and see if you accomplish your goals.  There is no cost to setting up a Twitter account, the only real cost is your time.  If you have a small or limited budget free is always good but again you need to determine if it fits your goals and if it is worth your investment of time. 

#2  How much time are you willing to invest?

If you are going to invest in Twitter see it through. Set specific goals (increase requests for product information XYZ) with a specific time frame (over the next 6 months).  There is work involved and I am still measuring my use of Twitter based on the goals I have set. Typically the next question is “what are your goals”?  Keep in mind Social Media is not meant to be cookie cutter so my goals are relevant to my job - after all I am a recruiter and my focus is candidates. 

An example of something you may want to measure. 

• Increase in traffic to your company website or specific documents?  If you have a website you should be able to include “hits” (metrics) from Twitter or social media sites in the analytics you are already collecting. If you are not collecting website data that is a whole other conversation.

#3  What social media site is right for you and your business?

If you don’t want to use Twitter you don’t have to but I would encourage you to try other forms of social media.  Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning or blogging just to name a few.  There is a LOT of information on social media and there are all sorts of exports willing to offer you advice but at the end of the day you need to decide what and how you would like to invest your time.  It’s also important to have a team that supports your initiatives.  I am fortunate to work with an outstanding and supportive team at Anixter Aerospace Hardware.  Without that support I would not have ventured down the uncharted territory of Twitter.

#4  Why try Twitter?

Why not!?  Not trying something new will pretty much always yield the same results.  So I would encourage you to try something new like Twitter, measure it and what you may just find is another tool to support your business goals. 
   

Janice Ceresa

Anixter Aerospace Hardware

http://www.linkedin.com/in/anixter

http://twitter.com/AnixterAero

http://twitter.com/Anixter