Power of the Web: Tweeps emerge to share success stories

When many people think of a Twitter user (also known as a "Tweep") they envision a coke-bottle-glasses garnished, monitor-tanned geek, who speaks in nothing but acronyms and techno-jargon, and perpetually hides behind a monitor.
However, events like the Hawke's Bay Tweet-Up certainly help to expel such myths and give an indication of just how "normal" local business professionals are leveraging Twitter to promote themselves and their businesses.
Last Wednesday evening, members of the Hawke's Bay local Twitter community came together to meet "IRL" (for those of you who are not au fait with this digital acronym, it means "In Real Life") and share stories about how they use Twitter, in their professional and personal lives.
Far removed from the mysterious geeky figures that lurk in the imaginations of some, the Hawke's Bay Tweeps were a mixture of educators, marketers, TV marketing specialists, retailers, online socialites, HR personnel and, yes, the mandatory web and application developers (aka, the "traditional geeks").
Contrary to popular belief, all of the conversations were not held via Twitter (despite us all gripping our smartphones), although there were a few mandatory photos posted to Twitter over the evening. Instead, conversations were held in the "traditional" way, over a pint or a glass of wine, with much laughter and sharing of anecdotes.
The group exchanged their individual experiences with social media marketing, revealing the following ways that many of them use Twitter:
- Promote their products, specials and drive real world shoppers to their stores.
- Facilitate the transmission of knowledge and make themselves more approachable to students.
- Access a wider business community online, in order to provide and access professional advice.
- A "direct to their market" monitoring service - allowing them to gauge their target market's demands, opinions and feedback.
- A way to bolster business community awareness of their skill sets - making job hunting easier.
- An online support service for clients and staff.
- An immediate source of news and views.
Virtually everyone who attended the evening had some sort of success story that related to their active time investment into Twitter, and it was largely agreed that you get out of Twitter what you put in. For example, those who barely ever login to their Twitter accounts can rest assured that very few people will bother interacting with them, and those who do nothing but fill their Twitter feed with detailed updates on their dietary habits are sure to repel serious Twitter users.
The Hawke's Bay Tweet-Up is a fantastic opportunity to not only meet the local avatars and usernames that many can spend virtually every day sharing news, gossip, tips and pleasantries with, but also provides an event where local businesses can share real world experiences and advice about leveraging Twitter to promote themselves and their businesses.
I would recommend that any business which is using, or considering using, Twitter as a marketing tool come along to the next Hawke's Bay Tweet-Up and share their experiences and/or ask for ideas and advice - if nothing else, it's a great "real world" networking event with some very savvy marketers.
Wendy Schollum is a web strategist and Managing Director of Xplore.net Solutions Ltd (www.xplore.net). If you would like information on the next HB Tweet-Up, follow the Xplore.net team on Twitter (www.twitter.com/XploreNET), join Wendy on Facebook (www.facebook.com/xploreNET), connect with Wendy on LinkedIn (http://nz.linkedin.com/in/xplore) or call 0800 100 900.