I have a twitter account. It has a great tagline with a picture of myself. It is bordered beautifully with ILLUME’s teal coloring and every once in awhile a tweet will show up under my account. It almost looks like I know what I’m doing in the social media world. Which I don’t, as evidenced by the relatively small number of organizations I am following, and even smaller number of followers I have.
I have to admit, I don’t get it. Seriously. I am not an actress, musician, comedian, or athlete. Why on earth would anyone want to “follow” my random comments on life or articles that intrigue me? I guarantee few people (other than my parents) have any real interest in following my activities. And why should they?
But I continue to hear social media referred to as the way we will communicate in the future. It is used to reach out to customers, friends and colleagues, and it is a way raises the profile of the important issues. It’s becoming keystone in how we share and discuss key issues of the day (important or not).
So it was with great trepidation that last Wednesday at the E Source Forum on state of DSM, that I began to desperately try to tweet out nuggets of insight.
And guess what, I came, I tried and I failed!
I don’t know how to tag Alliant Energy, PG&E, or Com Edison, there were no fewer than 7 @BillLeBlanc handles (which do I tag and extol his moderating skills?) and, in the end, I was so intrigued by the discussion on prepaid billing models related to DSM, that I let go of my attempts to tweet and paid attention to the session. After all the need to maintain confidence that DSM savings are real is a current and pressing threat to our industry, a tweet can wait!
I had better luck in the “Dispelling Common Residential DR Myths session,” a great session, analyzing research and data from across the country, to identify whether some of the barriers to residential DRs are myths or reality. While I still couldn’t figure out how to tag specific people I did publish a short tweet, minor success!
Despite my shortcomings in the twitter-sphere, I know I have to figure this out. The E Source Utility Ad Awards highlight the importance of twitter. The best social media ads all include twitter messaging, and frankly if utilities get it, I gotta’ get into the game too! Never mind the fact that I have three boys, creeping ever farther into the teenage years, if I can’t do this I may have no means for communicating with them.
So with a little practice and some coaching from @SaraIllume and @AnneIllume (who are both exceptionally active), I will get there. I have no doubt!
Thank you #ESForum15 for the #amazing conference & giving me the opportunity to expand my #socialnetworking horizons! (Note under 160 characters and in full twitter lingo – progress!)
If anyone wants to join my parents in follow me I am told my handle is @lauraillume. Please join the cause and help #ExpandLaurasTwitterHorizons
