I know, I know. I said the call was the final impression. Guess what? There is more. When you are trying to build a relationship, you need to meet the other party on their terms. For my teenager, that meant having conversations in the car, where direct eye contact could not happen. These conversations flowed easily when they felt more at ease. With elected officials, I find they really like to Tweet. This is not something I am comfortable with, but I am learning, and it keeps me in contact with them between emails and calls.
Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form a Twitter expert. I am a step above a novice. My normal Twitter use is to check game scores for my son’s high school team, the Iowa State Cyclones (football) and the Green Bay Packers. OH – and my favorite robotics team – Team Neutrino.
Following my elected officials began when one staffer emailed me and asked if I had seen this tweet:
Umm, it isn’t football/wrestling/robotics season. So, no, I hadn’t seen it. Well, that changed in a hurry. I made sure to follow Congressman Loebsack and all of the rest of my elected officials. I did this through my personal account and our business account. That led to this tweet:
And then, this tweet about our service men and women headed for deployment popped up. The video shows MY FLEET.
So, of course I retweeted and commented with my own photo.
And when I found an article from our local news station, I retweeted it tagging my elected officials.
It is also important to remember everything I have shared with you thus far. You are selling “you”. So, when your Congressman tells your husband he needs to take you on a date, you follow through and document it on Twitter.
Keep in touch, keep them informed, especially with breaking news.
Know your customer. Know where they are. Know how they communicate. Meet them where they are. This is how you sell “you”. This is how you keep in touch on many platforms. Stay in the forefront of their mind. Be memorable and close the sale!
Kim Grzywacz, CTIS