Mark Harmon, Elmer Wheeler & Twitter
December 31, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Those who read this blog regularly know that I tend to find my marketing inspiration in unusual (and often unorthodox) ways. Consider this fair warning…today shall be no exception.
The single best piece of marketing advice I can offer you as we close out 2008 is this — if you aren’t yet using the social media phenomenon that is Twitter — get off your keister and start.
Right now.
Over the holidays, my husband and I were watching a marathon of reruns of NCIS. We really haven’t been fans of the show for very long, so this provided us an opportunity to catch up on the episodes we’d missed. My favorite character is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon. Harmon’s character is a no-nonsense, “just the facts” kind of guy, and is well-known for cutting his coworkers off mid-sentence, and, on occasion, hanging up on them when they get too verbose. Ouch.
A light went off in my head when I realized that many 21st-century prospects are a lot like Gibbs — if we want to hold their attention, we need to cut to the chase.
Twitter is an excellent tool to help you hone this precious skill. Twitter provides you just 140 precious characters to convey your message — something that Gibbs could certainly appreciate.
Legendary salesman Elmer Wheeler was a big fan of this concept, saying “Sometimes your first 10 words—or your first 10 seconds—are as important as the next 10,000!”
Social media has developed its own shorthand to help us keep our messages short. Here are a few of the more popular abbreviations:
LOL : laugh out loud
ROFL : roll on floor laughing
BRB : be right back
AFK : away from keyboard
THX : thanks / thank you
TTYL : talk to you later
YW : you’re welcome
GTG : go to go
SRY: sorry
NP : no problem
FWIW: for what it’s worth
IMHO: in my humble opinion
LMK: let me know
Don’t misunderstand me – I am not advocating you begin spamming the social media sites with endless sales pitches. Social media is first and foremost to establish relationships. We all know that folks will buy from people that they know, like and trust — focus on those goals, and the sales will surely follow.
Speaking of following, if you’d like to follow me, you can do so by clicking here, or on the link at the top of the column to your right. I will endeavor to keep my messages short, sweet, and entertaining.
Until next year!
Traci
