Twitter is a premier communications vehicle and all marketers should become students of Twitter.
So what should you use Twitter for?
Here are just a few:-
- As a listening tool
- As an education tool
- As an engagement tool with existing and new audiences
- As a business networking tool
- As a brand monitoring tool
- As a research forum
- As an information sharing tool
- As a website traffic builder
- To reach your local / geographical community
- To build opt-in email lists
- To gain professional credibility
The key thing is that your content should be engaging, informative and entertaining. More importantly your tweets should be a reflection of you and your brand.
With Twitter you can expect the feedback to be immediate because Twitter is conversational.
Our advice if you are just getting started is to
- Introduce yourself (in 140 characters of less of course)
- Say hello to the “Twitterverse”
- Personally welcome your early followers
- Share your expertise
- Give the “Twitterverse” some idea of what you will be tweeting about in the future.
When you start out with Twitter it may seem like you’re talking to yourself but use this as an opportunity to build up a good base of quality tweets to attract people and give them a reason to follow you.
You can also respond to tweets and even start a conversation “what do you think about ……”
Also go and listen in or “tweavesdrop” on conversations going on and reply yourself – it’s all about networking on line.
Above all enjoy it.
You may think this is too time consuming. If you have a blackberry or an iphone you can tweet from your phone.
Mobile Apps for the iPhone: Tweetie, Twitterific, Tweetdeck for iPhone
Mobile Apps for the Blackberry: Twitterberry & UberTwitter.
Mobile Apps for other smart phones: Tiny Twitter & Twibble Mobile
Popular web-based sites: HootSuite, SocialOomph
