Is Twitter worth it?



KitchenAid got a lot of flack for this tweet an employee mistakenly sent from the wrong account.

 It seems like there’s always someone getting in trouble on Twitter. And it’s not just celebrities that put their feet in their mouths with the popular social media vehicle. You can find scores of examples of brands blundering tweets this year alone. Here are just a few:

The Top 5 Corporate Twitter Disasters of 2012

Lessons Learned: The Top 10 Twitter Mistakes of 2012

Sure, these kinds of things can, and do, happen with other brand channels, but it just seems to happen more with Twitter. Which brings us to this post’s headline: Is Twitter worth it? Do the rewards outweigh the risks demonstrated by these examples?

I think the answer really depends on the company and the commitment it’s willing to invest in it. Engaging customers requires a lot of time and effort. You need to develop a sound strategy with clear objectives. You need to devote the time and resources to consistently create or curate relevant content. And that’s only half of the equation.

You also need to create and enforce specific processes and policies to help minimize the risk of making the same mistakes as those in the articles above. In addition to establishing who will send tweets and when, we’ll want to incorporate procedures for editing and approving all content before it’s out there for everyone to see.

All of this might be more hassle than it’s worth for many companies. And that’s all right. You don’t have to have a presence on every social media network just because it exists. In fact, you really shouldn’t, especially if the value you receive in return is minimal.

What are your thoughts on the subject?