This week, Conan O'Brien has been in Dallas filming his show. I had the lucky privilege to attend his first taping (March 31st). It was very cool to 1) see Conan in person (yes ... he's SUPER tall and SUPER skinny), 2) see the behind the scenes action of his show and 3) interact with strangers via Twitter.
The Twitter interaction blew my mind! It started early when I got a text from a Twitter friend (never met the guy in person even though we works a few blocks down the road from me and we have mutual friends) who was going to attend the April 1st show and he wanted to know how the logistics were going. So ... I did a play-by-play of the day.
I tweeted pictures of the line of people waiting to get inside, posted time tables of how long it took me to get from point A to point B, followed #ConanDallas to get the inside scoop from other Twitter users and shared fun tidbits of the day. And you know what happened?! Twitter created a digital community around a common purpose. I found out that I could get a free mobile charger from RadioShack by finding their team members in the crowd. I got free drinks from a local restaurant (it was a PTO day so day drinking was appropriate) and they definitely got some free publicity from me for their efforts. I shared places to go and see because several people traveled to Dallas for the taping but didn't know what to do until the show started.
Everything was retweeted and favorited. Knowledge was shared. Laughs were made. I didn't have to be at the front of the HUGE line of people to know what was happening. We all kept each other informed. It was a fun experience. And enlightening.
For me, communicating via Twitter requires my brain to shift gears. It is a different platform, a younger audience, and a different voice than what I use at work. Trying to compress my message into 140 characters requires me to be efficient and creative. Grammar and sometimes spelling are thrown out the window in order to get my message across. However, if done right the rewards are great. And the community acceptance of what I'm tweeting is worthwhile.
How do I translate this to the AEC industry? I gotta let go of a structured right and wrong code of messaging. Twitter works best when the efforts are grassroots. The more I browse Twitter the better I understand how to develop my digital voice. The better my digital voice is the better I can relay that voice to my company's digital platforms and, therefore, have a better acceptance among followers.
Conan's event hashtag #ConanDallas worked wonderfully for entertainment and information sharing. While I'm not at any more Conan tapings in Dallas I can still follow the events through the hashtag and interact with the people in the mix of it all. People who I never would have connected with on my own.
Imagine if we could all use digital media in this way and connect to clients across cities, states and countries. The messaging would be real and to the point (you can't fluff 140 characters very well). I imagine most of our clients would appreciate the candidness and brevity while forgiving us for our grammar mistakes.
Follow me on Twitter @juliehuvalcpsm. Or check out the
#ConanDallas feed.