According to a study conducted by Global Language Monitor, a service that tracks language trends, the most popular word in the English dictionary in 2009 was Twitter.
In just over a year it has gone from a popular social networking site to a worldwide phenomenon. According to Jason Keath CEO and founder of SocialFresh.com, during 2009 Twitter rose from between two and four million users to around 40 million.
“Whether you are a fan of Twitter or not one thing that can’t be denied is that it is an excellent communication tool, which up until now has not been optimised by the business sector”, says Judith Middleton CEO of DUO Marketing + Communications.
So how can you make it work for you, what are the pros and cons and most importantly does your business need Twitter?
Build Large Following
Building a Twitter Empire is simple, if you are offering valuable content; people will start to follow you, but before you do anything ask yourself I am associated with quality? It is not that difficult building a massive following, but if half of your followers are spammers, you are wasting your time.
In order to build a large targeted network optimise you time spent on Twitter. If you are looking to build lasting relationships, make use of direct tweets, this adds a personal element to the experience, alternatively if you read something interesting retweet it and let your followers know about it. By doing this you will quickly build credibility for your brand.
Get Feedback and deal with complaints
Due to its ease of use, people will be far more willing to spend 2 minutes typing up a 140 character message than they would be writing a letter, sending an email or even making a phone call. If you really want to promote effective two way communication, you need to provide a simple platform and let’s be honest it doesn’t get much easier than Twitter.
Because of its simplicity, Twitter also has a number of pitfalls, anyone can tweet about you, which makes controlling the message at times very challenging. If a customer or competitor writes a defamatory remark about your business or brand, respond to it. By ignoring people’s negative remarks, you will quickly damage your brand.
If you have 1000 fans and someone tweets about your company’s sweat shops in China you could very soon be the most tweeted about topic on Twitter. If you are using Twitter be willing to commit, constantly monitor what people are saying about you. If you can’t do this then Twitter is probably not for you.
Drive Traffic
No one is stopping you posting a link to your website, Facebook fan page or your LinkedIn account, but at the same time don’t waste your follower’s time by posting random links. If you have a product launch, or a news release that will offer genuine value, include it with a short message.
The point of posting links is so that people click on them; if you inundate your followers with random articles they will simply ignore the tweets and in all likelihood stop following you.
Use strategically
There is a common misconception that if you are on Twitter you need to be tweeting 10/15 times a day. If you are sending out a message that offers value, tweeting once every three or four days is plenty. Nothing annoys me more than receiving random information from a business particularly ones selling me something I don’t want.
Far too many people on Twitter suffer from verbal diarrhoea, don’t fall into this trap; be selective with who you associate with and what you say. If you don’t have value to offer, keep quiet.
Separate business from social accounts
If you want to use Twitter as a business tool, be careful not to include tweets pertaining to your drinking habits. People will start to associate what they read on Twitter with your company, so avoid being rude or snappy. As your company’s Twitter representative you are a brand custodian, so don’t say anything you might regret.
Follow relevant topics/ Learn
Twitter is all about sharing valuable information, if you are a marketer and are interested in the online space you can search for tweets around SEO, alternatively if you want to follow a particular person like Tony Robbins or Bill Gates you just click follow, it is really as simple as that.
With literally a mountain of information at your fingertips, be careful not to get sucked in, focus on topics relevant to you and your business, don’t read every post you receive, be selective and if you like something by all means retweet it.
To tweet or not to tweet that is the question
With Twitter there are no restrictions you can follow as many people as you want and view their tweets as they happen and who knows if you offer something of value maybe Barrack Obama will start following you. At the same time be weary of damaging your brand, bad news tends to travel a lot faster than positive news.
Twitter is not for everyone if you don’t have the time to manage it then rather stay clear. Like any social media tool Twitter has so much potential, but it will only prove truly effective if you willing to invest the necessary resources.
