How Long Should You Spend on Twitter Each Day?

Every speech I give to marketing professionals, I get asked one of two possible questions:

1. How long do you spend on Twitter each day?, or
2. How long should I spend using Twitter each day?

Bar none, this is the best response to using Twitter that I have heard - from Guy Kawasaki:

Question: How long do you spend on Twitter every day?

Answer: Asking me this is like asking Tiger Woods how much he plays golf. “It’s what I do.” If I’m on the computer, I’m on Twitter, and I’m on a computer eight hours per day.

After reading this from Guy, I realized he's exactly right.  When I'm on the computer (which is most of the day), or using my iPhone (when I'm not using the computer), I'm on Twitter.

Twitter, as well as other social media, just becomes part of what you do as a marketing professional.  We have no choice anymore.  It just is.

And you know what...that's okay by me.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Comments

[Andee Sellman, One Sherpa]

Great answer from Guy.
I'm guessing that twitter is replacing SMS but with an informational context

[Mark McCulloch]

As someone who does alot of marketing on a daily basis and spends a great deal of time on twitter I really appreciate the quality of information and training you are providing.

Many Thanks

Mark McCulloch

[Jonathan Kranz]

Two points:

One, I'm not sure I'd use Tiger Woods as a credible model for any behavior...

Two, I'm not sure I like equating computer use with being on Twitter. For me, the computer is a tool for creative work and Twitter can be a major distraction. Is Guy really suggesting that we take a Pavlovian approach to Twitter -- when we hear that sound, should we drop everything and read the latest Tweet?

The older I get, the more I appreciate the sweet sound of silence...

[Joe Pulizzi]

Jonathan...I definitely see your point, but it's obvious that Guy has gotten to the point that he doesn't hear a sound and drop what he is doing...Twitter is a part of what he's doing.

Now, I don't know if he's 100% right, but I relate it to how most companies view social media. Those that don't get it complain about having to spend time on Twitter and Facebook and not seeing the pay off. Those that do get it just integrate it into what they already do, who they are. It just is.

[The Baum Group/Dr. Rae and Associates]

We are delighted to be using Twitter as a marketing tool on a daily basis, except on the weekends :)

[Bugsy]

It's also interesting when you can quantify Twitter, which isn't terrible hard. With Google Analytics you can track your landing pages and conversion rates and all that jazz and eventually get yourself a nice figure of revenue/tweet.

I like to quantify. If you can do that you can get some basic estimates of what the value is for the time you put into it.

But that's silly, just keep Tweeting, it's changing the world :)

[Brody Dorland]

From an outbound marketing/sales perspective, I have a fishing analogy (simplified) that works well to explain this...If the twitter pond may be a ripe fishing hole for your business, then by all means develop your bait (content strategy) and dedicated some time to fishing each day (posting, engaging, etc.). If you start catching fish (good traffic, inquiries, phone calls), then why not fish more often?

If your fish aren't using twitter, be careful not to spend too much time when you should be fishing in other ponds.

Now, the inbound side of things (inspiration, ideas, monitoring, etc.) is a completely different story...

[ben lovie]

I truly hope marketers will realize that Twitter is well executed spam. I don,t think marketers have a problem with the choice of communication tools, our problem is we talk to much and don,t get our real world hands dirty. Let the bird out of the cage.

[Joe Pulizzi]

@Brody...great analogy

Ben...I disagree. For those marketers that use twitter to promote services, yes you are right, it is spam. For those who want to build relationships with real customers and contribute valuable content, then Twitter should be considered an option.

[forexqs.blogspot.com]

I would love to read more about this topic.

[@udeme]

I think Twitter as a marketing tool is a VERY BAD idea, and will yield negative marketing results.

Marketing on Twitter is spammy behaviour. Everyone hates spam bots and spammy personas and they promptly unfollow/block/flag such users.

Twitter's better as an info stream

[Joe Pulizzi]

@udeme

You are correct. That is why if you use Twitter as a marketing tool, it must be in the form of valuable, relevant and compelling information. Now that's a good use of Twitter.

[Julio Ricardo Varela]

A-freakin-men. There is no "real time rule" for Twitter. If it it part of your job, then you work it like anything else. This is so dead on perfect.

[Sushant Sahay]

Yes..
twitter is replacing SMS. Statistics say that Most of the tweets are fired from Mobile Phones. This is new generation Texting.

Question is not how much time do you spend on Tweeter, as it is not like you are dedicating some time for it, it is like whenever some one tweets(send you a message) you read that or re tweet that if you like it and keep working again...

[Rachel]

Sometimes it takes a great deal of dedication to start and foster a community... and to do whatever it takes to get the conversation rolling cannot be measured.

[Mark McClure]

I wonder if Guy outsourced his tweeting would anyone notice?

The earlier comment about fishing in ponds is how I feel about Twitter too.

So much writing to do, so little time.
Tweeting tweekly tis fine for me :-)

[Joe Pulizzi]

Mark...Guy does outsource his Tweeting...although I didn't know it until I read the article.