“Tweets can alter a negotiation’s path. If alterations are to occur, make sure you’re the tailor controlling them.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)
“This Is How To Negotiate Better Against Social Media Tweets”
People don’t realize; they’re always negotiating.
Warning: Don’t discount the following information about tweets in social media and the profound impact they can have when you negotiate. Not taking heed of the following insights could be deadly to your negotiation efforts. And as you know, you’re always negotiating.
A tweet can have the impact of hundreds, if not thousands, of unseen allies working for you or your negotiation opposition. That reason alone is why you should consider their potency, how a negotiator might use tweets against you, and how you might utilize them when you negotiate. To quickly dismiss the power a tweet can have during a negotiation can be foolhardy at best and a tool that decapitates your negotiation efforts at worst. You’ve been warned. Now, take heed of the information that follows to protect and increase your negotiation efforts.
Unknowing/Unsuspecting
Have you ever been surprised by a social media tweet that seemed to upend your negotiation? Are you even aware that such can occur? It may have happened when you thought the talks were going well or before you began to negotiate. It may have seemed like one tweet appeared, and then another, followed by an onslaught of them.
When you negotiate, any number of things can occur at a moment’s notice. Those things can cause the negotiation to dissolve from one negotiator’s advantage to the other. And tweets are one way that some negotiators use to make that happen, which is why you must be aware of how to use and safeguard your negotiation from tweets. Therefore, I suggest enhancing your perspective of this valuable tool and how negotiators weaponized it in a negotiation.
The Danger Of Tweets In Negotiations
The real danger of tweets in a negotiation is, a tweet can impact the negotiation, swaying opinions before a negotiator knows what caused the negotiation to shift. A tweet doesn’t have to be valid; as a matter of fact, some false tweets are devious intentionally. They’re used to alter a negotiation by infusing disinformation in the talks to create chaos.
Accordingly, tweets can impact the thought process of those on social media. And it can also be used to influence those in other mediums. Thus, one strategically placed tweet can live on multiple platforms and impact how a negotiator and his position is perceived, along with the way others respond to him and how people perceive his character in future negotiations.
Controlling Tweets
One of the best ways to use tweets when you negotiate is to have a team of followers prepared to assist you. They’d support your efforts by tweeting or retweeting comments that support your negotiation position. And they’d tweet or retweet posts to refute the other negotiator’s point of view.
It would help if you were also mindful of how you might respond to tweets used to derail your efforts. If you’re too forceful, or your response is perceived to be too harsh, you may damage your efforts. Therefore, before responding to tweets, determine if you should respond with full-force or whether it would be more beneficial to use a lighter touch. The latter can convey a sense of lightheartedness and the sense that your opponent’s tweets had little effect on you. That response might also cause him to increase his efforts, so be aware of that too in your response.
Using Tweets To Your Advantage
Like a swarm of anything that’s small, bees, nats, birds, etc., tweets can become more potent if clumped together and marshaled towards a common purpose. To make your tweets more advantageous, use them in a combination of efforts.
1. You can use them before a negotiation to favorably place your perspective in a more receptive light. That can give you a hidden advantage in the negotiation before it begins.
2. You can use tweets to create questions in the minds of those aligned with your negotiation counterpart – thus, having him defend himself with his supporters. While he’s doing that, he’ll have less time to attack you.
3. You can use multiple tweets from different sources (i.e., your followers) to make your position appear more acceptable universally and, thus, have it appear more popular per its favorability.
The combination of these usages will make you more formidable and your efforts more effective in the negotiation.
Combating Tweets
To a degree, the more you use tweets offensively, the more they can serve for defense. That doesn’t mean you should turn a blind eye to a tweet’s usage against you. It merely states that a vigorous tweet offense can assist in fostering a strong defense. Also, be aware that there can be little distinction between an offense and offense when tweeting. Therefore, be aware of how your actions are perceived when using tweets to support your efforts.
To decrease the potency of tweets used to thwart your negotiation efforts, and make the other negotiator’s efforts less impenetrable, assess the level of likelihood that the other negotiator may use them against you. Once you’ve done that, consider who else he might solicit to join his efforts. From there, assess how and when he might weaponize tweets against you during the negotiation. In this case, the cliché’, “to be forewarned is to be forearmed,” is very appropriate. To forbade such advice could lead to foreboding situations that open the door of challenges leading to defeat, less you make a Faustian bargain in which you forgo your soul.
Reflection
A single tweet usage in a negotiation can be akin to a pinprick. It may warrant momentary attention, but alone, that attention won’t last for long. And yet, a single tweet may seek ‘wood to burn,’ to fuel its efforts and give life to unfathomable situations, if a negotiator doesn’t address the right one with haste.
Thus, to make your tweets more advantageous when you negotiate, use tweets in combinations, segment them into little fighting units to accomplish different negotiation goals. Social media carries a lot of sway in a negotiator’s life. He can be positioned by it, up or down, and have it serve his efforts as a silent ally. If you embrace this silent ally and use her wisely, you’ll gain an unforeseen advantage in your negotiation efforts. And everything will be right with the world.
Remember, you’re always negotiating!
Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://c-suitenetwork.com/radio/shows/greg-williams-the-master-negotiator-and-body-language-expert-podcast/
After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com
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