How do you share?

How do you share on Twitter? Are all of your messages just little sales pitches? Like your specials, what’s on tap, and when happy hour begins? Indeed those are relevant tweets for your followers who depend on them regularly. But what about the folks who are not yet your customers, your little community of raving fans and regulars. How do you reach out to them and make them feel special? Can’t do it by shoving ads in their face all the time, in fact that’s a good way to kiss them goodbye.

You want to use social media to be exactly that – social. Twitter, for instance, is not a one-way megaphone. Its a conversation platform. Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan), our favorite expert on all things social media (although he’d probably prefer ‘enthusiast’ to expert), describes Twitter as a listening tool rather than a sales machine.

Indeed you should be listening to your community far more than talking at them or worrying about what to say. In fact, Chris’ rule is that we should be spending twelve times as much time talking about others than we do about ourselves. 12 times as much time finding other people’s good stuff and pointing it out to others. The more you talk about other people, in a positive way, the more you build trust and respect for your brand within your community.

Below is a clip from Chris’ keynote speech at the Web 2.0 Expo. Toward the end he asks some poignant questions to consider regarding your Twitter effort:

1. How do you share your products or services?
2. How do you extend the experiences and relationships that happen in your restaurant?
3. How do you collaborate and extend your network?
4. How do you develop relationships that yield – meaning how do you take your community (audience, followers) and turn their attention to YOU. After all, you’re in this to make money and run a business.

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