In 2006 it was MySpace, last year it was Facebook, and it seems this year Twitter is what everyone buzzing about.
While people are flocking to the site (Twitter claims that its user-base has increased sixfold in the last year), many marketers still aren't sure how to leverage Twitter as a tool to grow their business. This article will walk you through strategies that you can use on Twitter to reach your customers and grow your business.
First, before you develop your Twitter business strategy, you should become familiar with three Twitter search tools:
- Twitter Search: Formerly known as Summize, this tool was recently acquired by Twitter and integrated as its search platform. This is like your standard search engine, but it searches only Twitter. So you can search for your business, your employees, and industry-specific terms.
- TwitterLocal: You specify a location, and TwitterLocal will show you the tweets from people who have included in their profile that they are in that location. For example, you can get results from all Twitter users who say they live in New York City. TwitterLocal will also create a feed that you can subscribe to so that you can get updates as new tweets come in.
- Twellow: Twellow is a search engine that lets you search for people based on several dozen categories. For example, you can search for people in Social Media, Accounting, Environmentalist, and many other categories. It's a good way to find people who might be interested in a certain subject or industry.
Now, here are four ways you can use Twitter to grow your business.
1. Twitter as a customer service tool
Frank Eliason has become a bit of a social-media superhero this year; he has leveraged his ComcastCares account on Twitter to provide live, real-time customer service for Comcast customers.
Frank and his team monitor Twitter to find people who mention that they are having a problem with their Comcast service or who ask a Comcast-related question; the ComcastCares team swoops in to reply and either help solve their problem or put them in touch with someone who can address their concerns.
This has two big benefits for Comcast. First, it helps solve more problems as they happen for Comcast customers. But a big ancillary benefit is that it improves Comcast's image as the rest of us see how proactive it is about addressing problems and concerns from its customers. That greatly improves Comcast's image and reputation, especially among that early adopters and influentials who use Twitter.
It also makes us wonder why Comcast's competitors aren't doing the same thing that Frank and his team are...
Key action point: Start monitoring Twitter using the above search tools to find out what your customers are saying about your business on Twitter. If you find that they are having customer-service issues, respond to and address their problems as quickly as possible. Also, consider adding an account to Twitter that's devoted to customer service for your company. After you begin spending time on Twitter, customers will begin replying directly to you with their customer service issues, which makes providing support easier.
2. Twitter as a tool to build brand awareness
As you use Twitter, you will see that your number of followers will likely increase. As you develop a network of connections on Twitter, you can then build awareness for your brand or business by making your followers aware of it.
Melanie Notkin did just that by keeping her followers up to date on the progress of her community site for aunts, Savvy Auntie. And as she made friends and connections on Twitter, her network of friends had a vested interest in helping her get the word out about her site.
"When you connect with others on Twitter in an authentic way, reciprocal trust is natural." Notkin explains. "@johndoe Follows @janesmith. I trust him, so I'll trust her. And from those connections comes genuine word-of-mouth support, both within the Twitterverse and out. But if you are inauthentic, and you do more Tweeting than Listening, chances are, no one is listening to you either. That's spam, not community.
I am not "using" Twitter to boost my brand. I am engaged in a reciprocal, supportive community of super smart and helpful people who genuinely want to see me and my company succeed. As I truly do theirs."
Key action point: As you use Twitter to connect with and grow your network, that network will naturally want to promote you and your business. You can create natural WOM for your business, if you are honest and consistent in how you use Twitter.
3. Twitter as a promotional tool
Most Twitter users do not like it if a company uses its Twitter presence as a direct promotional tool. However, if your business already has multiple Twitter accounts set up for real people, it might be a good idea to set aside an account that alerts customers to specials or deals that you are running.
This is what Dell did in setting up an account for Dell Outlet. The beauty of this is that it's completely opt-in, you have to follow Dell Outlet on Twitter in order to hear about Dell's offerings. So if you don't want to be advertised to, simply don't follow that account on Twitter.
Dell opened a Twitter account for Dell Outlet in June 2007 and claims that the account has led to over $500,000 in sales so far. And as of September 2008, the account had over 1,800 followers.
Key action point: Consider offering a separate Twitter account that promotes your products and services exclusively. This way, you allow your employees that are active on Twitter to communicate with your customers, and provide customer service. And as your employees encounter someone on Twitter that's interested in your products, you can point them to your Twitter account where you promote your products and services. This is a very 'hands-off' way to use Twitter as a tool to promote yourself, and it's done in a way that respects how Twitter members use the site.
4. Twitter as a tool to cover live events/breaking news
A great way to use Twitter is to cover live events and relay breaking news to your followers. Partly due to its 140-character limit, Twitter has become a wonderful way to quickly get breaking and live news out to a large audience. In fact, many recent major news stories have been talked about on Twitter hours before mainstream media reported on those stories.
A favorite way that Twitter users use the site is to relay breaking news from conferences or media events. If a company has a major announcement at a conference or press event, it is reported on almost instantly via Twitter. In fact, recent events such as Apple CEO Steve Jobs's announcement of new Apple products has resulted in surges of traffic to Twitter that have all but brought the site to its knees.
Companies are also using Twitter in times of crisis to relay information to their followers. Recently, during Hurricane Gustav, The Home Depot used its Twitter account to get information to followers on how they can protect their home and personal belongings from storm damage. This is a great example of providing information to people on Twitter that they can find value in, but which can also indirectly promote your business.
Key action point: If your company is holding a live event, or a press conference, or if there is any breaking news that you want to report, consider using Twitter as a channel to do so. This is an instance where direct promotion of your business is fine, because breaking news holds inherent value, and people will want to hear about it before others do.
For example, if your company is unveiling its 2009 lineup of products, announce that on Twitter, and also inform your followers where they can get more information about these products. This will also help generate excitement and interest among Twitter users, and likely increase your number of followers.
* * *
Above all else, spend some time investigating how Twitter users are using the site, and then begin using the site as others are. Take at a look, for example, at MarketingProfs on Twitter. After becoming used to how the site functions and how users communicate with each other, you will have a better idea of the capabilities of the format, which will help make your efforts more successful.
As with other forms of social media, when you use Twitter always consider whether you are creating value for your customers. Doing so is a wonderful way to ensure that your Twitter strategy has every chance of being a success!
