Post By: on Monday, 10 May 2010
What did you have for Breakfast this morning and who REALLY cares?
I regularly hear people say that you shouldn't post mundane things on Twitter because nobody is going to be interested. In fact I say this to my clients all the time - because it is good advice.
However, recent events have given me cause to apply exceptions to this hard and fast rule.
#F1 On Twitter: Breakfast and Brand
The other weekend I was checking up on my #F1 stream on Hootsuite to see what exciting developments were due for the start of the European leg of the Formula One season.
I am a big fan of Formula One and I have found that the adoption of social media and Twitter, by teams and drivers adds a valuable extra dimension to my enjoyment of the sport.
Force India , Virgin Racing and in particular Lotus provide a great insight into what goes into planning for, travelling to and being at an F1 race and in the pits through the tweets of @mylotusracing and @MikeGascoyne .
On this occasion, to my great amusement, the first update I found on the #F1 stream was from the excellent F1 driver Timo Glock of Virgin Racing (@realTimoGlock ) simply entitled ‘My Breakfast' with a link to twitpic.com .
Tempted by this tasty morsel of information, I followed this link and what I found was indeed (to my amusement) a picture of Timo's breakfast For those of you who aren't interested in Timo's breakfast, I don't really blame you, because in all honesty neither was I. In fact I actually gave myself a smug little pat on the back (metaphorically speaking) for being above such petty social media activity.
I was in for a shock.
On looking at the statistics, Timo's breakfast tweet had generated nine responses or comments and had been viewed by over 1100 people.
By any measure this qualifies as a lot of interest in a breakfast. Indeed, I think most people agree that what people are having for their breakfast is inherently not interesting.
This demonstrates a great point about what is good and bad social media activity: That the value of a message or piece of content is dependant on the source.
In this case Timo's personal brand and association with Formula 1 makes this information more valuable than it might be from another source. Hence no-one would be interested in what I might have for breakfast... but a great many people care about what Timo has.
This is a peculiar benefit that marketers can leverage with social media - particularly using a personal brand as a vehicle. In this case, despite the content of the message, this post still adds value for the advertisers associated with Formula One, Virgin Racing and Timo Glock because as an audience member, it adds to my overall experience, understanding and knowledge of Formula One. Through Timo's breakfast post a reader can feel more connected to the sport - if only in a small way. That connectivity has got to be good for any Brand associated with Timo or the sport.
So should I start Tweeting everything I do or eat to promote my brand?
I think the answer is still a qualified no.
If you do a search at any time of the night or day on Twitter, thousands of people are talking about Breakfast. They cant all be talking to themselves, but I think that many of them are!
What you tweet about depends on your audience and context. I would argue that everything you have to say has a value - It might just not have the same value for other people as it does for you. Just because you are having cold Pizza for breakfast doesn't mean that is something you should share with everyone.
On the other hand, if you have an audience or Brand following you already, you can argue the value or quality of the content is less important. The fact it is a message about breakfast or cold pizza may be irrelevant compared to the value of the engagement people experience. Just being connected and engaging your audience - no matter how trivial it may seem - can help build brand advocacy.
Summary: What to tweet?
I think the trick is to listen before you speak. If you want to talk about breakfast, talk to the people who are interested in listening about your breakfast. Do this by listening to what they have to say. Search for people who are talking about breakfast and then read what they are saying, or follow #hashtags to join conversations that are already happening. When you do this, talk directly to people - engage with them, don't talk at them.
One further qualification to this is to keep in mind that Twitter is a public space. Don't say anything you wouldn't say in a room of strangers. Try to avoid offending or being rude about anyone or anything unless you are prepared to live with the consequences. This can do your personal and corporate brand great harm indeed.
The trick is to be genuine in your social media activity and to try and engage people in real conversations. I don't think it really matters what it is about, so long as it is something positive you can share with others.
By the way, this morning I had half a grapefruit and a Latte for breakfast. Fascinating stuff eh!:-)
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