5 Great Tips to Get the Most out of Twitter for Business
As most everyone knows, Twitter is a social media micro-blogging tool. What many Denver-area businesses don't know is that Twitter can be very useful to business and marketers becuase it helps “break the ice” with potential customers, and engage them in (hopefully long-term) relationships.
It works because it offers marketers a way to build a foundation of trust and authority well before any transaction takes place.
Getting to know your customers through Twitter is a smart marketing strategy. And, with a limit of 140 characters, it’s the perfect complement to mobile. So, you can reach these people anytime, anywhere, even on the go.
If you’re interested in Twitter for marketing, have a plan! A social media service in Denver makes it easy to develop the strategy that’s right for you. First, let’s get you started:
Set up an account. This is as simple as adding some basic information.
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Hashtag. This is your “handle”—for example, @dbcdigital. People use this to find you, so keep it simple, as close to your business name as possible, and leave out dashes and numbers.
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Photo. A logo or photo of the team works well.
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Company bio. Hours, contact information, who you are and what you do. Link to your site here.
Post information. These are your daily or weekly updates, or “tweets”.
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Blogs. If your company has a blog, have it fed automatically to your Twitter account so that followers can see each post as soon as it’s live.
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Links. Post a short intro phrase, then a link to anything that you think your followers might find interesting. Use a URL shortener such as bit.ly to condense link addresses.
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Comments. You can do more with 140 characters than you might think. Contribute short, engaging comments frequently, to maintain reader interest. Skittles is one brand that does this very well.
Build a following. This is the community of people interested in your company. Keep adding fresh content, engage with people by following their Twitter accounts, comment on their content, and gradually build your following.
Once you’ve gotten started, consider using a Denver social media company to help plan your overall long-term strategy. Here are some ways to find success:
1. Involve the executives. We’ve talked about social media and the C-Suite. People want to hear from your higher-ups, so get executives actively involved with the Twitter account. Emphasize how quick and easy it is to participate. If they can send a text message, they can tweet!
2. Promote content. This includes not only your own content, such as the latest blog post, but also relevant content from other sites. Linking to interesting articles, sites and videos turns your business’ Twitter account into a resource for useful information.
3. Keep it updated. In fact, live updates are best. Do you have a booth at an industry trade show? Did you just launch a new product line? Followers want their information fresh and hot, so shoot out a tweet the moment something interesting happens.
4. Maintain contacts. Follow other bloggers and industry leaders, comment on their posts and invite them to comment on yours. It’s faster, easier and more convenient than emailing or calling them.
5. Monitor your brand. As with any marketing campaign, you want to constantly check for customer/follower feedback. With the help of a social media service in Denver, it’s a simple process that helps you engage with followers and keeps your reputation intact.
Twitter offers many advantages for business. It allows each member of your team to directly engage with customers. It expands your reach. And, it can be used anywhere, wherever you are. It is an agile marketing tool that just about anyone can utilize for knockout results.
What other beneifits have you found using Twitter for business? Let us know in the comments section!
