What polo clubs need to know about Twitter
The hottest social networking tool
By Lynn Bremner
Last week I was at the local Tavern with polo friends and someone came up to me and asked me about Twitter and Facebook and what the difference between the two social networks. It is not surprising that Twitter has many people baffled. New technology and social networking tools are cropping up so fast that even the tech gurus are having trouble keeping up with it all.
When my Dad first mentioned Twitter to me, my response was “great, another ‘what are you doing right now’ tool. What do we need another one of those for?”
Facebook already had a similar status tool, why use Twitter? It didn’t take me long to figure out how Twitter was different than Facebook. While Facebook is a great social networking tool that offers e-mail, photos and in depth ways to stay connected with friends, Twitter is different. It is a simple tool that provides a quick way to send out short 140 character messages, links or queries to your followers (people who subscribe to your feed) for immediate replies and responses to issues or questions. It is also called a “micro blogging” tool. Twitter is probably one of the favorite social media tools used by journalists. Information and news breaks faster on Twitter than any other news media channel.
Twitter is free and you don’t have to be approved first to follow someone’s Twitter feed, unlike Facebook profiles where an individual has to approve you first. Business Pages on Facebook have fans, and fans don’t have to be approved, but individual profiles do require pre-approval. Any registered Twitter user can become a “follower” instantly by clicking on the “follow” button of any Twitter profile they want to subscribe to. If that particular person, who you are following, wants to block you they can, but for the most part people who tweet are trying to market or promote their business, their writing, their opinions or simply share “what they are doing right now.”
Since I feed my tweets to my Website PoloZONE.com and to my Facebook page, there is no real need for followers to sign up for Twitter just to get the news I am tweeting. By tweeting to my Website, visitor’s are encouraged to log onto PoloZONE.com more frequently to see what’s new. Or if individuals who are interested in my tweets are linked to PoloZONE’s Facebook page as a “fan”, they can read my tweets there. If I post a link to a PoloZONE article in my tweet readers will click on it and be taken to the PoloZONE Website to read the full blog post or article.
How to use Twitter in the polo industry?
Just recently I tweeted the score of the Skins game at Eldorado PC as it was happening and when it ended. I wasn’t at the game, but people were texting me the scores and I tweeted the information to my Twitter account from my cell phone. My tweets are set up to feed automatically into PoloZONE.com and Facebook. The tweets were instant and the news was published immediately.
Just a week or so after that I saw a post on the PoloZONE message board that a player was twittering the scores of the intercollegiate finals as the games were happening. I burned a feed of his Tweets right onto the home page of PoloZONE. For a couple days you could log onto PoloZONE.com and keep up-to-date with the intercollegiate games as they were happening.
Game scores and results are one use of Twitter. Your club can also use Twitter to get out quick messages or news to club members and followers. I recently tweeted the links to articles related to the recent tragedy of the 21 horses that died. The tweets were a very fast way for me to post links or brief news clips. When I had more time I would go back to PoloZONE’s Web page and create a blog post with more detailed information. Twitter can be used to remind people of up coming events, tournaments, or to blast quick updates.
My belief is that Facebook, Twitter, blogs and Websites are four tools that should be used together. Interconnecting the technology takes a little time and knowledge to set up, but once working, you will have access to a central control panel to market and promote your polo club in a very inexpensive way.
If you are interested in getting your polo club set up with Facebook, Twitter, and a blog, please contact lynn@polozone.com or call 760-863-1873. We can get your club dialed in to the most popular social networking channels so you can promote your club to other polo players and to the general public.
I agree wholeheartedly that using Facebook, Twitter, and other utilities that are very Web 2.0 can be very helpful in keeping people updated and informed. I’m currently trying to convince the club that I’m part of to post the status of weekend chukkers (i.e. location, time, whether or not it has been rained out, etc.) on Twitter in addition to maintaining the current phone line.