Recently social media experts, Brian Solis and Marc Meyer shared their expertise on a webcast from MyVenturePad and sponsored by SAP. The topic of their discussion was how companies can use Twitter to grow their businesses. Below is a recap of the lessons learned from Brian Solis and Marc Meyer.
Unlike any other marketing vehicle Twitter allows marketers to connect, follow, watch, listen, learn and engage with current and potential customers as well as your competition. In order to be successful, you must create quality relationships, which comes in the form of the persona that you present, the image you promote, the links you share and the messages you tweet. Below are some tips for successfully using Twitter.
- “Get your house in order” – This involves creating a complete and accurate profile. In your bio be careful to avoid listing too many interests – be focused on one main topic of theme.
- It is important to find the right people to follow. Begin with following the experts/analysts in your industry as well as any major trade publications. Also, remember that finding the right people to follow is a two-way street so based on your profile, individuals with find you.
- The following sites will help you find individuals interested in the same topics: tweepz.com, chirpcity.com, twitterel.com and blastfollow.com.
- The following tools will help you monitor, listen and participate: tweetdeck.com, seesmic.com and monitter.com.
- Focus on the quality of your engagements and not your number of followers. Remember you are talking to an audience with their own audience so you should be thinking about what you can do to get people to follow you, share your message and ultimately refer you to their followers/friends – you must humanize the brand.
- Everything starts with listening and research. The following are excellent tools for completing these tasks: advanced Twitter searches, Analytic.ly powered by People Browser, Collecta and Google Blog Search.
- There are four main reasons why individuals follow brands and they include: Affinity, Allegiance, Invitations to special events and Exclusive offers. A recent survey showed that 51% of individuals following brands identified themselves as current customers, 41% were following in hopes of receiving special discounts and 36% were hoping to be the first to know about company news/offers. This is important information because if you can convert these customers into brand advocates you will create an army of individuals spreading your messaging.
10 Ways to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business
- Competitive Intelligence
- Insights and analytics
- Syndication of meaningful advertisements
- Lead generation
- Customer service
- Coupons / Discounts / Promotions
- Grow your community
- Increase brand awareness
- Increase sales
- Word of mouth / public relations
Is your company using Twitter? If so please let us know what tactics you are using to grow your business.
