To tweet or not to tweet? That is the question

With over 200 million users and growing, twitter cannot be ignored. And for businesses it is definitely worth considering. It’s easy to get yourself set up on twitter, and it’s free. If you are not sure, set up, listen and learn!

So why should you use twitter?

There are a whole host of reasons, here are just a few. Notice none of them say to sell!

  • Engage with potential customers
  • Grow your customer base
  • Publicise your business
  • Build your brand
  • Test new products/services
  • Grow your network
  • Drive traffic to your website/blog
  • Position yourself as an expert
  • Improve customer service
  • Inform customers about offers

If you are going to use twitter you should decide what it is you are trying to achieve just like any other marketing activity and although it is free, do not underestimate the cost of your time, it can be quite time consuming.

It’s worth checking Smarta’s free ebook on twitter which has some fantastic tips: www.smarta.com

Getting started

Build a profile on twitter. First of all you will need a name. There are two arguments, one that says because this is social media you should twitter personally using your own name and photo. The second is that if you are promoting your company you should twitter under the company brand name. You see both on twitter and very often people will combine the two or have company logo but a personal name. It’s your decision but often can be dictated by what name is available on twitter.

Make sure you build a good profile. It is easy to do. A photograph or logo and a short description of who you are and a possible link to your website – remember this is what is viewed by potential followers. You can also download a specific background or use of the template backgrounds already on twitter.

Who to follow

Twitter itself will give you some suggestions of who to follow. Click on the ‘Who to follow’ button and it will give you three options:

  • View suggestions - which presents you with people twitter thinks you may be interested in following. Obviously the more you use twitter the more it understands who you are already talking to and the suggestions will become more relevant!
  • Browse interests – here are a good list of general topics that may be relevant to your business, with some of the top people in that area to follow. Again a good starting point!
  • Find friends – a bit more specific as you can search here on your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Messenger, AOL and LinkedIn accounts to find if any of your contacts are using twitter.

You can also search for people or companies in the search bar, or try searching for key words such as your industry sector or for competitors or public organisations. Remember you are looking for quality, not quantity though, unless you are a celebrity! And around a third of the people you follow, will follow you back.

What to tweet

You also need to start tweeting because if you are not tweeting potential followers will not follow you, simple as that. The idea is to engage with people rather than broadcast. Listen and learn is a good idea. See what other people are doing. You’ll soon learn that those who twitter on about the weather and what they had for breakfast are not going to engage with people. Share your knowledge, retweet interesting things that you see and read on other tweets. Link to good websites and offer tips and help to your followers. Twitter is also great for sharing offers, competitions and getting responses from potential customers.

Promote that you are on twitter

Now you’ve started you need to promote that you are on twitter:

  • Put a follow us on twitter icon on your website
  • On your business cards
  • On your blog
  • On your email signatures
  • Everywhere!

Link your twitter activity to LinkedIn, Facebook and your blog so that it will automatically tweet when you use other social media and you are not having to update all of them separately. And once you get going you will need to consider a management tool such as tweetdeck or tootsuite to help you manage your tweeting activity.

So get set up and get tweeting! It can really help your business and engages with potential customers in a completely different way. You might be pleasantly surprised by the results!

If you want more help with twitter and other marketing activities contact First Impression at 01457 857111 or visit us on www.firstimpression.co.uk