Why Twitter Sucks For Small Business

Twitter. The only way Twitter could become more prevalent these days is if it were taken hostage by Somali Pirates, received a bailout or taken performance enhancing drugs. Everywhere you go, there's some sort of reference to Twitter. Businesses are scrambling to figure out how to take advantage of this phenomenon, at even greater rates than the last several great waves of social media - blogging, Myspace and Facebook before it. Once again, there is little understanding of just how to actually get a return from Twitter, but with the buzz surrounding it, many companies large and small have started throwing money at it because they don't want to miss the boat.

For some businesses, those with savvy in house staff or deep enough pockets to afford a respected social media agency, this can be a great tool for communication and brand building. For others, though, it will be a waste of time and resources, collecting dust in your cyber basement - a digital cousin of the Inside the Electric Food Dehydrator, Pocket Fisherman, and Thighmaster. Similarly, the dollars spent on each of those classics of the infomercial age will have as much thought put into them as most companies will put into their strategy for utilizing Twitter. This is particularly true of small businesses. Here are the main reasons Twitter sucks for a lot of small businesses:

It's time intensive just to become a "somebody". Just because you start to Tweet doesn't mean anyone will listen or care.

Not every market or business will have an audience. Established brands and niche products can easily gain followers, who REALLY wants to hear about Bob's Landscaping?

You need to find your niche, the right communities, contribute to those communities and then figure out the best way to communicate, how often, and what content will gain you followers. Then all you have to do is figure out the best way to turn that into ROI to appease your boss.

Just like blogging, you need to consistently develop good content ("Happy hour at 3pm!" isn't going to sell widgets). Unless you have something differentiating or unique to put out on a regular basis, you will be just another face in the crowd - not something that will inspire loyalty. Once you think of it and develop it you just need to figure out how to communicate it in 140 characters or less.

At a small company this will likely be added to an overworked marketing person's already long list of responsibilities. Good luck with that.

Can Twitter be a valuable business tool? Of course. We have used it for a while with some success, and have recently added a staff member to take the reigns because of all the reasons outlined above. As Twitter evolves, you really need more of a dedicated resource to take advantage of the available tools and innovations like Tweetdeck and hashtags. Otherwise, there's no shame in saying "Twitter is not right for us, at least not now."

Adam Henige is Managing Partner of Netvantage Marketing, a Michigan SEO, paid search management and web analytics consulting company based in East Lansing.