Far from a “techie” book, and definitely not a Twitter-for-Dummies-type book, Israel provides a book of stories about individuals and organizations that are using Twitter — each in their own way — to get results.

Now, certainly Shel provides stories of big corporations that are using Twitter — but I was more intrigued by the small businesses who are using it to get real results.

Take, for instance, United Linen and Uniform Services of Bartlesvile, OK, which uses Twitter (and a variety of other social media tools) to communicate with its customers. Rather than just using these tools as a broadcast device for company news, they have an ongoing conversation with their customers and provide them with unique information using online video, their blog, twitter, etc. (Incidentally, United Linen’s efforts also have been highlighted by the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.)

It’s stories like these that make Twitterville such a good read.

Observing the online successes of a company like United Linen also drives home an important point that many still seem not to understand:  it’s not the number of your Twitter followers (or Facebook fans) that drives success — it’s the quality and engagement of your community.

For example, United Linen only has 44 Facebook fans and 665 Twitter followers — somewhat “smallish” numbers compared to many others on these networks.  But these numbers of followers are exactly the right size for them.  What good is a million followers if only a few hundred of them engage and provide any type of return-on-investment to your company?

So, please read Twitterville.  It’s a great read — especially for those small businesses who are considering engaging with Twitter, or are struggling to get their Twitter efforts off the ground.

–
Curt Mercadante | Principal
Merc Strategy Group, LLC
(o) 202.470.2473 | (c) 312.301.9055
email: curt@mercstrategy.com
skype: curtmerc
twitter: @curtmercadante
web: www.mercstrategy.com

When I ask this of many of my colleagues, they quickly identify my Skype or Twitter accounts.

They would be correct — but they missed the other social media tools:  email, cell phone, my office phone (which is actually linked to my Skype) and, yes, this Web site (which, as you can see, functions as a blog).

Heck, I might actually consider something as simple as a business card a form of social media.

Social media denotes communications tools that allow us to have conversations.  Twenty years ago, that main tool was our land line phones.  Then came the cell phones.  Then email.  Then instant messaging.  Then blogs.  Now we have Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc.

All of these have one simple thing in common:  they are all tools.  They facilitate conversation — we do the rest.

Online communications strategist Jeremiah Owyang has a great post about how email was the first — and is the largest — social network. While I would argue that email was predated by other social networks (like phones), I agree with his overall theme.  He writes:

Well if you agree that Facebook, a private community of your friends is a social network, then so is email. They both have the same requirements 1) profiles (emails have signatures), 2) Ability to connect to each other (the act of emailing, and often responding, 3) Do something useful (email users share information, and sometimes collaborate).  Next email still an important mode of communication, while we often complain about email overload, trust research indicates people still trust emails from friends –this will only continue.

I still recall the first time I logged in to my email account assigned to me at the University of Iowa back in the early 90′s.  I was able to email (text only on my black-and-white Windows PC) with friends around the country.  Limited – yes.  Revolutionary – absolutely.

Up until then, I’d spend time (and money) calling friends at other schools from New York to Ohio. Email helped change all that.

It’s funny to realize that I became a social media user way back then.

My point is this:  many people still resist using new social media tools because they fear learning a “new skill” or they are scared away from what they think are complicated technical aspects of these tools.

What they don’t realize is that they’ve been using social media tools all along.

What other social media tools do you already use?  By reading this post, you have the ability to share your comments here on this site — a form of social media.  Twitter and Facebook are no different — they are tools that allow you to communicate with your friends and business associates (and to make new friends.)

As with any toolset, you have to figure out the ones that are right for you.  Would I recommend Twitter and Facebook for every organization? Probably not (although I will say, as Shel Israel writes about in his new book Twitterville, businesses large and small are constantly finding new, unique uses for these tools.)

But, as I wrote about in this post, your first step should not be choosing your weapon — but deciding upon a communications and content strategy first … then choosing your tactical tools to meet that strategy.

But don’t be scared away from new online tools.  Odds are, you’ve been a social media maven for years — and you didn’t even know it.