Twitter Lessons from A. Weiner

In case you missed Weinergate, Congressman Anthony Weiner’s rise and fall via Twitter,  here’s the 20 second recap:

Friday, May 27: Weiner sends, via Twitter, a below the waist photo of a man in underwear to a 21-y/o female college student.  He quickly deletes it saying his account was hacked.

Saturday, May 28: First reports that Weiner “sent the photo” are released.

Sunday, May 29: Weiner’s spokespeople say the photo was the work of a hacker.

Tuesday, May 31: Weiner fends off reporters stating he wants to get his focus back on work.

Thursday, June 16:  Weiner resigns.

Anthony Weiner learned the hard way.

Here’s what we can learn about Twitter from Anthony Weiner:

1.       If you have a public timeline, Google caches all of your tweets, which is great for brands and businesses that care about SEO!  It’s not so great if you are a politician sharing NSFW photos.

2.      The people who you interact with on Twitter aren’t your closest friends; they are people who care about your brand or message.  Regardless of who on your team is responsible for sharing, keep in mind these people are looking for engagement, conversation and good information from a reliable source.  They don’t want to hear about your weekend, especially when you are representing a brand.

3.      Viral video, links, etc can be an AWESOME thing, as long as people are sharing content you want to have shared.  If you create riveting content, people WILL share it.

4.      This isn’t Vegas.  What happens on Twitter won’t stay on Twitter.  This is a good thing for your brand, not such a good thing for Anthony Weiner.  Create images and video and blog posts that encourage interaction and engagement.  Share content which encourages people to share it with their friends and followers.  Make your content easily accessible.

In short, don’t jump into the Twittersphere as part of your overall marketing plan if you don’t have a Twitter strategy. Get help, ask questions, and find an expert to help guide you.  Your social media plan really isn’t complete until you look at the Big 4:  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and location based services like FourSquare and Gowalla as a whole.  These services all play nicely together and they compliment every brand, IF you have an action plan in place and a way to measure your performance.