Twitter

I've recently starting using Twitter; having created an account over a year ago, recent client requests, media coverage and general intrigue has lead me to become an addict. Helped by Tweetdeck on my mac, Twitterfon on my iPhone, and an iGoogle Tweetdeck on my work laptop, I'm never far away from my small but steadily growing band of followers. Unlike Facebook, Twitter allows me to quickly connect to others working in digital marketing, and unlike LinkedIn, allows me to constantly learn from others, ask questions without the formality, and get a sense of personality from everyone i follow.

Now that I'm here, I've linked Twitter to every aspect of my life, and have a modest but growing network, how can i use this to help my clients? For those that don't know what i do, i work with big brands to build recruitment advertising campaigns - and as the self-appointed geek within the team, I'm the one who talks to them about social media. Whether that's advertising on Facebook, or building a toolkit that'll turn a whole team into employer brand evangelists, what i love about my job is the blank-canvas nature of it all. I'm sure the people in 'pure/mainstream/consumer' advertising work wear shinier shoes, and have lunch in more exotic locations, but everything they do has a precedent - everything we do hasn't. It's bloody great.

So, with a blank canvas, and a puppy like enthusiasm for this new Twitter shiz-nit (Snoop's words, not mine), I'm wondering how i use a constantly growing platform, driven by 140-character updates, to promote employer brands more normally communicated by ads in the Sunday Times and campus events. If employer brand is all about conveying the personality of a company, then it should be easy. right? Well perhaps not. From my experience of Twitter, and other social networks, the bottom line is that unless you're contributing as much as you're taking away, people will quickly lose interest. Like the over-zealous IT recruiter who leaps into LinkedIn sending inmails to every person with PHP on their profile, any brand lumbering onto Twitter with a cold corporate profile and robotic updates will quickly learn that group opinion can be swift and powerful.

Social media is driven by individuals, which is easy to forget this when the latest Facebook/Myspace figures are released, with their astronomical figures; no matter how many millions are contributing to a community platform, it's a still a single person, logging on to a single login, with a single voice. From an employer branding point of view, this is an exhilarating idea - no more spending tens of thousands on press space when a small team of ambassadors can convey the message for you. Well no, not quite. Whilst people like me will type into the small hours, without the fear that their words may not find an audience (double negative, shit!), the majority are using the internet far more specifically. Check emails, read news headline, buy latest best-seller, log-off. It's these people who form popular opinion, and it's not until people like me figure out how to utilise their online motivations, will employer branding truly take off.

Sorry if the above is a complete mess, this is my first proper blog post - see below - it's the most random collection of brain-dumping you've ever seen!