Woodrow Wilson once said, “If I am to speak for ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if for fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour two days; if an hour, I am ready now.”

In many ways, the same is true for business writing. It simply takes longer to write short. Brevity, however, is one of the keys to reaching and connecting with your audience. Unfortunately, most writers just don’t know when to quit writing or how to cut unneeded copy.

Where do you start cutting copy?
The best place to start is in accepting that you usually have too much copy. Often twice as much as you need. This makes it easier to cut, not so much entire sentences or paragraphs, but words and phrases. You’ll find that you can say the same thing in fewer words and sharpen your meaning.

Cutting up to half of what you write bit by bit teaches you economy of language. It also helps you triumph over your ego. Kill those treasured but useless words or phrases. And don’t belabour points. Make them and move on.

When is the best time to start cutting copy?
A good rule of thumb is to start cutting when you’re happy with what the copy says. Then use this process:

• Read the copy onscreen, deleting as many words as possible.
• Look at each sentence and paragraph and even section and ask  whether it’s needed.
• Print your revised copy and read it on paper or aloud, crossing out every unnecessary word.
• Make and review the revisions onscreen and cut more words.
• Print the copy again and delete yet more words.
• Make the changes onscreen and then look at every remaining word  and ask whether it’s essential.

At this point, you’ve probably lost perspective and focus from reading your work. So take a well-deserved break and put your writing away for at least 24 hours. You’ll be amazed by how much you see when you come back to it with a fresh eye. Or, give your work to a colleague to review or hire an editor.

Twitter’s biggest weakness is also its biggest strength, however.

Think of the tweets from the Hudson River plane crash, or the earthquakes in China. These examples weren’t just noise, they were real time news providing valuable insight into the calamities.

The information on the Swine Flu might be “motivated by desires to fit in and to do what one’s friends do” right now, when hard facts about the crisis is limited, however when pertinent, urgent information becomes available, Twitter will become the first channel of information for a large audience.

Peter’s words had me doing some thinking. Are people using Twitter as a source for news? In some ways, I think the difference between the examples (the plane crash in the Hudson River and the Chinese earthquake) falls into the urgency of the news — the fact that they were breaking news. This meant that most of the Twitter noise was, in fact, coming from ground zero and involved individuals speaking of their own experience. Now, with the Swine Flu there is very limited information — and a whole lot of speculation.

And of course, people must always consider the credibility of the source of their information.

But I”m curious — do people use Twitter as a news source? What kind of information do people accept as being credible when it comes through Twitter?

Facebook Etiquette

PS I do think that etiquette is one of those words — no matter how much I stare at it, it still looks like its spelled wrong!

While I do think having a social media person (whether its their main position or not, really depends on the scope of the company) is a good idea for many companies, I wonder how these companies will cope with staff turnover. If one person becomes the draw to the blog or Twitter account, what happens when that person leaves? Will the effectiveness of the strategy be maintained when someone else steps into that position? Does the Twitter account remain with the company, or with the individual? (This will be clear if the account is CompanyABC vs. Bob_Smith).

I think this is something that companies may run into over the next few years unless they’ve approached the account carefully from the beginning. If all parties understand from the onset, some of these hurdles can be side stepped.

At the risk of being a broken record — plan for it!

I recommend having a look at the original question and just what some people had to say — some of the answers are truly great.

For anyone not familiar with TED talks, here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an annual conference that defines its mission as “ideas worth spreading”. The lectures, also called TED Talks, cover a broad set of topics including science, arts and design, politics, culture, business, global issues, technology and development, and entertainment.

I strongly recommend them, they’re absolutely fabulous and are often wonderful speakers presenting on topics that they are passionate about.

First, its important to acknowledge that Twitter may not be right for you. Just like in any other communications or marketing medium, it doesn’t suit every company. Below are a few considerations to help determine whether you should be on Twitter or not.

1) Research and get to know the medium.

If you really want to succeed, then create your own personal account — use a handle if you don’t want to use your real name. Using Twitter yourself will allow you to realize what it is you like, and don’t like, in how other people and organizations use their accounts. Who do you choose to follow? Who do you unfollow? Why? This insight can help you avoid common pitfalls and improve the quality of your own account.

2) Consider your audience.

This is a standard refrain in all things that we do and yet many people haven’t applied it to their Twitter accounts. So ask yourself: Why would someone follow your corporate account? What do you have to offer them? Is it a valuable offering? For example, offering nothing but announcements of upcoming sales may not be useful to a broad audience, but offering advice, tips and tricks along with those notifications of sales may be. Do you anticipate your audience to be tech savvy and young? Do you want to target a professional and more experienced audience? Once you know this you’ll be more prepared for your business account.

3) Strategy — Type of posts

Consider the tone and type of posts you think is most appropriate for your account. Are you going to go for a personal approach? Do you want the voice to be a single employee, or a multiple employees? Should the Tweets be under Company ABC? Or Bob Smith, CEO? Should the tone be playful? Relaxed? Businesslike? Are there rules to what is appropriate to post?

4) Strategy — Topic

Carefully think about what value you have to offer through Twitter. Why would someone opt-in? Can you consistently offer value? What value does your company wish to get from having a Twitter account? Is it a customer service thread? Is it a public relations move?

5) Strategy — Resources & Frequency

How often will you post? If posts are infrequent there is no incentive to follow. How much resources are you going to invest? Posting often on Twitter doesn’t have to be a large draw on time. In fact, it can be fairly painless. I’d recommend doing a little research into different apps (cell, desktop) which may make it easier to manage your account.

6) Strategy — The Bad

Twitter is about dialogue and once you open that door you need to be prepared for the good and the bad. Companies who censor messages will be noticed, and called out. This kind of behavior can backfire and ruin the goodwill you are building through your Twitter account. Instead, come up with a strategy. How will you handle criticism? Will you have a set response? Responding well, including following up with the dissatisfied client, is often reported back and discussed in the blogosphere — this is ideal.  (Click here to hear of an example).

Just because Twitter is a free service, don’t do yourself the disservice of not researching it as carefully as you would any other marketing campaign. And remember, like everything else, Twitter isn’t suitable for all companies. A strong communications or marketing professional will be willing to recognize this and not simply jump on the bandwagon.

The past few posts have covered a great deal of information, but there’s always something to learn. If you’ve had any questions, suggestions, feedback or advice, please let us all know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

As an added bonus, who is my favorite person to follow? Stephen Fry!

IABC/BC is the BC chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. I first learned about the organization when I was between jobs and trying to decide upon a career. Everything I was interested in and enjoyed seemed to fall into the communications category, but I had no real sense of what experience I had that was relevant. I made a cold call to a random person at a company I was interested in. She said she wouldn’t answer my questions on the phone, but that there was a networking function that night. If I went, she assured me, there would be plenty of people able to offer guidance.

I went.

Stepping into that room was certainly stepping out of my comfort zone. But I marched in, placed a smile on my face, and made a mental game of seeing how many hands I could shake. What really struck home that night was two things — the diverse job opportunities in the field and how just how friendly and open everyone was. For the next few years I became an active volunteer, connected with a number of women who provided really great advice and I pushed myself to learn as much as I could.

Being a member of IABC impressed my future employer and the experiences combined with the advice of my mentors opened doors for me.

If I had one piece of advice to give, regardless of the stage of your career, it would be to find an association such as IABC that fits your interests. As cheesy as it sounds, there really is a world of possibilities that it could open.

Wow. I’m very pleased to be able to offer my client that, of course, but at the same time it has me thinking. Clearly the newspapers are hurting, and that doesn’t surprise me, but what does is how badly they may be hurting for advertising dollars. This begs a few questions: is it in bad taste for a company to spend money now when they’ve had to make cut backs in other ways? Or is now the time to put out your flag, wave your arms and shout “hey! Over here! We’re still here!” As always, I don’t think the answer is super straightforward. Any money that is spent now has to be considered against the backdrop of your current situation, and how it will be perceived by shareholders, clients, staff and potential customers. But, having said that, I think there is certainly a case to be made for keeping your name out there and in the public eye.

By continuing to market your company, you’re not only reminding people that you’re still in business, but you’re also not disappearing off their radar. You want to remain on their shopping list and in their thoughts. You can’t do that if you disappear from the public record. But now may also be a time to strengthen your relationship with your audience. Can you cater your marketing to ways that show solidarity during troubling times? Can you encourage businesses with a thought-provoking sale?

I think the best advice I can give here, and this is certainly what I tell my clients, choose your marketing carefully and get the best deal out there that you can. I think right now there are incredible discounts and sales you can achieve that will allow you to remain very budget conscious while at the same time allow you to continue growing your audience. The publishers and suppliers are hurting, and they understand that you are too. So, work with them to find ways to work together.