Talk Talk reminded us that life’s what you make it back in the 1980s.
Fast forward 35 years and the same maxim applies to Twitter today. Follow the wrong people and your timeline is filled with hate speech, half-baked theories and bizarre opinions from people who have too much time on their hands.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Follow the right people and Twitter can be a fantastic place to start relationships, develop friendships, and learn.
Over the past few months, I’ve changed how I use Twitter. I’ve consciously tried to avoid pointless debates (failing once a couple of weeks ago, but for good reason). I’ve also started following more people from the US. The time difference means that when I wake up, I have a stream of positivity and great insights to start my day with.
So, today I want to suggest eight people (deliberately chosen from outside the financial services community) to follow on Twitter that will improve your marketing, business and thinking.
Ross Simmonds
There are very few people on Twitter who gives away so many practical tips and insightful content as Ross.
His posts are accessible, engaging and always valuable. Crucially, his ideas, such as this thread on content distribution, are transferable to the financial services space.
Andy Crestodina
Like Ross, Andy is another who is happy to give away his ideas and research.
His survey of 1,067 bloggers, showing which content strategies are working in 2021, is a great piece of work that all content creators should read.
Adam Grant
Author of Think Again on Twitter, Adam combines thought leadership with practical hints and tips.
For example, this tweet will resonate with anyone who suffers from imposter syndrome, while this, showing how to avoid (and spot) passive-aggressive phrases in emails, is fantastic.
Chris Hladczuk
Chris’ hints, tips and stories are fantastic to wake up to in the morning.
This thread on how to use Google (thought you knew? Think again!) is pure genius, while this thread revealing what he’s learnt from interviewing the founders of billion-dollar start-ups is fascinating.
Chase Jarvis
I love Chase’s videos (the subtitles are perfect for early morning viewing) of his own thoughts and those of his fantastic guests.
You could easily lose yourself for hours in the back catalogue of videos Chase has created. Lifestyle financial planners will certainly be interested in this short clip while this video on self-doubt is incredibly powerful.
Scott Galloway
I’ve loved listening, watching, and reading Scott’s content for a few years now. It’s always challenging and insightful. For example, who knew Grey Goose Vodka could teach us about pricing?
He’s also one of the reasons I’ve started hitting the gym at stupid o’clock (“your body is not a rental”…great line!) and I can’t recommend following him highly enough.
Jay Acunzo
Jay tweets stories that inspire creativity and offers solutions to many of the issues we all face. For example, we featured this article on imposter syndrome in our digest last month.
Simon Sinek
A prodigious content producer, Simon Sinek’s Twitter account is a mixture of short, pithy tweets (this is great for all the prevaricators out there) and longer videos such as this on core values and why “honesty” and “innovation” shouldn’t be among them.
Go on, give us a follow too…
While you’re on Twitter checking out the accounts we’ve recommended, why not give us a follow too.
We’re @yardstickagency and my account is @philbray73. If you want marketing insights, hints, and tips, follow along.
In the meantime, if you have suggestions for cool Twitter accounts that we’ve not mentioned drop us a message at hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk, we’d love to hear from you.