Twitter for @Your Business

Twitter may have been originally aimed at individuals, but it’s clear that companies are using Twitter to promote their businesses and products, and to exchange views and ideas. Twitter is sometimes seen as blogging’s chatty little sister, and how much it can really offer in return for your precious time and attention. Let’s take a look at some of these advantages, and some helpful tools and tips.

Why bother with Twitter?

Twitter provides business users an up-to-the-minute forum in which to broadcast ideas, search and follow specific topics, and create close connections to a growing community of users.  

It’s an easy and convenient way to stay current on industry news, players and trends.  It’s an unprecedented tool for peeking over the shoulders of and communicating with industry leaders, share expert tips, establish valuable contacts and monitor emerging trends.  What are people excited about?  What is losing steam? What are they gravitating towards?  What are they complaining about? It’s a limitless source of information and inspiration.

Now What?

To begin establishing your presence, you’ll need a Twitter name relevant to your company/brand/ website or blog.  Even if you’re still at the planning/procrastinating stage, grab your name while the getting’s good!  If multiple employees will be tweeting, decide whether you will be setting-up a single main account or multiples.  In the latter case, it’s a good idea to have those accounts follow a naming convention in order to retain consistency across your organization.

Who am I?

Take some time and care in establishing your profile and writing your Bio.  Leaving the bio section blank or too clipped makes you appear unavailable and disinterested - not what Twitter’s about!  You can populate this section however you think appropriate, but it should be relatable and approachable, relevant to your business and its unique culture.  A brief description of your services, physical location, business hours and contact information can provide a nominal outline.  View this space as an opportunity for free advertising and marketing.

Showcasing your Twitter name on business correspondence, adverts, your e-mail signature and website can also serve as an invitation to users and customers of your Twitter presence, and make it easier to find you.

Speaking of free marketing - maximize background use.  This space is made available to you and can be a valuable tool to reflect and inject a little personality to your presence.  The creatively inclined can use one of many free online background generators (TwitBacks, Artweet, to name a few) or Contact Us for a Free Consultation, and we would be happy to discuss potential social media strategies with you.

Looky Here!

How you decide to use your page is company-specific and the possibilities are virtually endless.  Maybe it can be an offshoot page specifically for Twitter user-only specials?  Dell uses its DellOutlet identity to sell refurbished, scratched and previously ordered computers at discounted prices.  Offering deals and discount codes exclusive to Twitter users is a great way to attract followers, generate repeat traffic and create buzz.  This also enables you to filter and track direct sales generated through Twitter.  Other uses include:

• Answer customer questions and get feedback.  This can offer invaluable insight into what’s working and what needs work.
• Showcase your product/industry knowledge. 
• Post pictures and videos that may be of interest or can serve to educate customers.  Sharing information is such a big part of the Twitter community experience; point-out pertinent sites, resources or contacts. 
• Announce and allow followers to register for upcoming or ongoing events and industry meet-ups.  
• Inform followers of the latest news and give followers behind-the-scenes access.

Remember that while being efficient and professional is great, being human is also desirable.  Don’t be afraid of offering personal opinions, humour and showing interest in non-business related areas.

Now What?

How do you find your place and let other see you in an ocean of chatter?  Twitter is based on reciprocity; follow others and they will follow you.  Start participating by joining-in conversations and engaging in discussions that are of interest to you and your company, and do it generously.  There are several directories such as Twellow (the Twitter “yellowpages”) that allow you to search users by industry category.  You don’t have to spend countless hours generating Tweets but be persistent and consistent in your efforts.  It’s also wise not to fall into the elitist trap of following only the cream of the crop.  Diversity will keep your spoon in many pots!

Avoid relentlessly pitching your wares and punctuating every conversation with self-serving commentary. That kind of clutter gets boring really fast and people will tune you out.   

Tools

Familiarise yourself with the different Twitter web-based applications available to you, most of them for free.  Hootsuite, a dashboard application that interfaces with all your other social accounts, allows you to follow all the feeds on one screen and to post simultaneously to your different personalities and accounts.  It can also schedule tweets for later delivery, post photos/videos, shorten URL’s, tracks activity and offers basic analytics.  We’re big fans here at Synergycode.

There is such a plethora of tools available that we recommend using Twitter itself to see which ones users find more helpful and stay current with the latest tools.

Call us!

Whatever the size and scope of your project or business, the level of expertise or the urgency of your challenge, Synergy Codeworks can help.