Digithoughts

Marketing, Twitter and Business, oh my!

June 17, 2009 by Michele Rihlmann-Burke I like to tweet. Tweeting makes me happy and fulfills that sneaky impulse that creeps up throughout my work day urging me to share my latest random thought with anyone who will listen (or read). Not everyone who likes to Tweet is as lucky as me. I get to do it for work. Yup- Digitaria actually pays me to spew a constant stream of ideas, observations and articles to engage, and hopefully inspire, our @digithoughts Twitter followers. It’s true, the world is all (cheesy pun alert) “atwitter” with talk about that kitschy social networking service. Wondering why people are talking? Because all the cool kids are doing it (not just me -- I promise). And who exactly are these cool kids? A hodgepodge of celebrities, CEOs, news publications, event representatives, companies, bloggers, musicians, athletes, some guy that works down the hall from you, and some little known politicians (Barack Obama ring a bell?). Fun with Numbers In March 2009, Twitter clocked in with more than 8 million U.S. users. Nielsen Online reported a growth rate of 1,382 percent in February 2009 compared to the previous year. People either love it or hate it. A grey area exists between these two sides only in the honeymoon period of having a Twitter account. But with a growth rate in the thousands, Twitter is a force to be reckoned with and deserves your attention, at least for a little while. Marketing with Twitter Once you’ve set up your account, it will be pretty easy to figure out why many people love Twitter. Remember to cultivate your online presence and really make the service work for you. The information that follows outlines some valuable ways to make your Twitter account earn its keep.

1. Use Twitter as a relationship building and maintenance tool. Relationships are more important than ever in today’s rocky economic climate. But with travel and event budgets being cut, it is becoming increasingly harder to maintain personalized customer relations. Maintaining those relationships on Twitter is free!
2. Use it as a virtual networking event to meet potential customers. You can interact with others in the same or similar industries, as well as in your target customer industries. Find the people you’re looking for by searching key words related to your product or industry on Twitter Search and then follow those users.
3. Make friends with bloggers and journalists. Word on the street is that if they know you, they’ll probably write about you (provided you’ve done something worth writing about). Facilitate that relationship by actively responding and re-tweeting (reposting) their tweets.
4. Develop and promote your brand -- either your company’s brand or your personal brand. Use Twitter to showcase your brand as friendly, approachable and as a thought-leader.
5. Interact with your customer base. Notify them of planned outages, new product releases or recalls. Or pique their interest by releasing Twitter-exclusive company information. Better yet, encourage your customer base to communicate with you by asking their opinion on your processes, products or even the content of your tweets.
6. Track what people are saying about your company and brand. Through a third-party application such as TweetDeck, you can set up search parameters around specific keywords such as your company name, names of your executives, and much more.
7. Create buzz around upcoming events. Let people know when your staff is attending, sponsoring or speaking at events. Announce your booth number so people can hunt you down (it never hurts to mention the free schwag you’re offering, either) Don’t forget to post your thoughts about sessions and other event activities so that those Twitter users who couldn’t attend can still experience the event through your tweets.
8. Drive traffic back to your company’s web site or score some Karma points by directing traffic to your customer’s sites. Feel free to brag a little and promote other content you’ve created, including new press releases, webinars, blog posts or podcasts.
9. Twitter makes you a more effective communicator. Learn a little something from that 140-character limit and stop talking your customers to death. Twitter forces users to keep messages short and sweet – an important skill in this day of time-crunched, information overload. Your customers are much more likely to read and remember messages that are succinct and direct.
10. Finally, find some fresh meat in the Twitter-sphere. Recruit new talent by sending out a message asking for recommendations. Twitter gives you a speedy and painless way to find new hires and freelancers.

What to remember Twitter is still very much in its heyday. By participating in the Twitter world, you are sure to benefit from the contagious buzz swirling around it. One final thing remember - everything you say is public! Unless you decide to restrict access to your feed, which completely ruins the voyeuristic side that makes Twitter fun- unrestricted access to anyone’s tweets! And a tweet does not always die when it is deleted- tweets often live on in internet archives and could come back to haunt you. Tweet carefully, tweet often and tweet now!