Just like the old Ronseal adverts said, this post does exactly what it says on the tin. For all those business owners and readers who want to gain an understanding of what ‘social media’ is, and what it can do for your business, this post is for you.
Update – we updated this post in 2017 to include Twitter’s updated tweet character count.
I’m not aiming to go into major detail, which is a positive for those who struggle with internet jargon – I will touch the 4 main powers of social media which could have a positive impact on your business; Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn.
Being that we are discussing 4 Social Media websites, I thought it was best to organise these posts into 4 separate parts – Part one will explain what Twitter is, what it is for, what businesses use it, how they use it and how you can utilise it as a business tool.
Twitter is what is called a microblogging tool allowing users to post ‘tweets’ or messages on their own ‘profile page’ which their ‘followers’ or friends can read. One of the defining characteristics of Twitter is that your ‘tweets’ or posts are no longer than 280 characters long.
Twitter has many uses for personal or for business. It’s a way of broadcasting information, whether it’s to tell your followers what you are doing, where you are, some recent news or even project wins. Generally it is used as a communication tool allowing people to connect with each other – or for businesses to connect with their customers. Businesses have chosen to use Twitter for support or getting feedback to questions asked through your twitter page. Ultimately businesses use Twitter to show that they have a human side and their business is not faceless.
It can also be used for promoting links to your key website pages or news posts, that have more than the 280 characters – allowing people to continue reading if what your posting is of interest to them – so make sure it’s worth reading!
Most business are using Twitter and best of all you can follow all of them. From large chains to the local store.
Dell have multiple Twitter profiles and have each setup differently, they have cleverly branded each account to promote different deals that they are offering.
Starbucks utilise their account to provide promotions and also join discussions and listen to feedback on peoples perception of their brand.
RedBull use twitter to connect with their customers and provides information on their upcoming events.
Connect
Firstly and most importantly connect with your client base, be available to answer questions. Build trust and relationships with new prospects and answer feedback – even if it’s bad. Twitter can be a portal where unhappy customers go to complain about your business. Make sure you deal with complaints in a professional manor mind you – many celebrities don’t take criticism too well!
Get Feedback
Ask questions on how you can improve your business. This is a great way of getting real testimonials without causing your customer too much trouble.
Market yourself
Whilst you’re building your network tell people about what you do have you got interesting products or services that might be useful to your followers? Remember though you don’t want to constantly post about yourself – Twitter is a 2 way communication tool, so generally you want to post tweets aiming to get a response.
News
Use Twitter to post latest news about your business, or link to articles on your blog to help attract more visitors to your website.
Promotions
Use your twitter channel to gain new business, to do this you could try using promotional codes that are strictly only for your twitter followers. This way you have given your followers another reason to follow you.
A quick FAQ breakdown on some of the technical jargon that is used when talking about twitter – hopefully this helps to understand it more.
Mentions – You may hear this term whilst on Twitter, it basically means that another user has mentioned you by placing your Twitter username into their Tweet. E.g @impactmedia.
Hash Tags – Hash tags are an important aspect of Twitter. Hash tags appear in posts usually next to keywords that users want to talk about. E.g. when something’s in the news like the launch of a new iPad someone might tweet “love the new #iPad”. When users are searching for other people that are talking about the iPad to understand more about this – they can simply click the hash tag to search Twitter for everyone talking about the iPad. This is a good way to test popularity or trends – if you have an event you are trying promote you can ask people to use a unique hash tag so that you can monitor how popular the event may be – before its taken place.
So very bite-sized, hopefully that paints a small picture of what Twitter is and how it could help your business should you choose to use it. Next month we will discuss what Facebook is and again how it can be utilised as a business tool.
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