I personally have been Tweeting for a few months. But I
use the phrase "tweeting for a few months" loosely. I
haven't been all that consistent with it, and I definitely
didn't have a strategy. I just thought it was kind of cool.
Recently I've started paying more attention to it for a few
reasons; my mother-in-law was at a librarian conference
recently and attended a session on Twitter. I got into a
conversation with her about it, and then the next day I saw
John Reese's email about Twitter. It seems like there is a
lot of twittering about Twitter going on. What is
Twitter?
According to the Twitter FAQ, "Twitter is for staying in
touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are
or what you're doing."
Wikipedia says, "Twitter is a free social networking and
micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates
via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website,
or any one of the multitude of Twitter applications now
available".
Basically Twitter asks the question, "What are you doing?"
and allows you to send a short update (your tweets are
limited to 140 characters) to your followers (family,
friends, colleagues, customers, potential customers etc).
Twitter allows you to send and receive updates (also called
tweets) via your browser, email, instant messaging clients
and SMS (using your cell phone). No matter where you are,
you can tweet!
I haven't been following Twitter since day 1, so I'm not
going to comment on it's evolution but I will speculate
that as its popularity grows, as more and more marketers
use it, 2 things are inevitable:
1. Rules on Twitter etiquette will continue to evolve as we
learn what we like and dislike about it, and as we respond
to the inevitable abuse of Twitter (don't mean to sound
negative but it happens with each exciting new opportunity
' people end up abusing it).
2. More and more companies will jump on board and try to
get in on the conversation.
Start Twittering, (or is it Tweeting?)
Remember, when you first join Twitter, it can feel like a
lonely place. When you aren't following anyone and no one
is following you, you may find yourself asking "what is the
point?" I've heard so many people say they just don't get
it. In fact, I've said that myself.
The key is to find the Tweets you want to follow so you can
keep your finger on the pulse of your niche. The next key
is to start building your followers. More on that in a
minute.
How can Twitter help your business?
The more contact you have with a potential customer, the
more likely you are to get their business. You can stay
"top of mind" through Twitter. Let them know what's new in
your industry, in your company etc. You become a source of
quick news flashes for them.
Here are just a few of the benefits of Twitter: - It
reminds people that you exist
- It shows people you have something to say
- It shows them that you are human
- It allows you to mention new offers, sales and breaking
news immediately
- It allows you to form a more casual relationship
- You can use Twitter to promote your social bookmarking
submissions.
- You can ask for referrals, suggestions, feedback and
help, and people will respond.
Twitter is also fun and is contributing to the new language
we are constantly developing. For example "Twitterference"
' the intrusion of twitter updates on your phone making it
hard to have a conversation on your phone.
Finding Followers:
Start by reaching out to your friends, family, mailing list
etc. You can also add your Twitter link to your email
signature line; add links to your website and Blog. Mention
your Twitter account in your newsletter.
Twitter Rules
One cardinal rule (that is in your best interest to
follow): if you use Twitter as a pure sales tool, you will
lose followers quickly. As with all forms of social media,
it is about creating a conversation and sharing news ' it's
not all about you shoving your sales message down their
throats.
Tweets are limited to 140 characters. This is to allow them
to be easily sent over mobile SMS systems.
You aren't able to embed HTML with the exception of
hyperlinks. (But they are no-follow links, so they won't
help you in your SEO quest for backlinks) Bonus: Twitter
automatically uses the TinyURL service to shorten links.
Don't tweet too much, or too little. There is no magic
number and it varies according to your audience. Some
people say don't update more than once per hour. Others
say not more than once or twice a day. I tend to be in the
once or twice a day camp. If there is breaking news and
some days you just have to update more often then it's OK.
If your tweets are valuable information people will be more
tolerant of frequent updates.
On the other hand if you are too quiet, people have nothing
to follow so make sure you find that balance and tweet just
enough to keep people informed but not annoyed.
Don't forget that your profile shows a history of all your
tweets, so if a new person comes along and sees that you
don't have many tweets they may decide you aren't worthy of
following. Also if your past tweets aren't informative or
interesting, you lose some potential followers.
You'll find that sometimes you get involved in personal
conversation with someone. Try to avoid doing too much of
this. Not everyone will be interested in your personal
communications. If you do need to do this, put the @
symbol in front of somebody's name ' this indicates that
this message is for them.
One thing to keep in mind about personal conversation
tweets - some people who are following you may not be
following the person you are talking to. This means they
get only one half of the conversation. One suggestion is
to word your tweet so that spectators have an idea of what
you are talking about. That way, they can feel more
included in the conversation.
Trust and Twitter
With so much hype in marketing, people are really looking
for a company that can trust. You can build trust with
prospects by allowing them to get to know you, and by
providing them with information. Twitter allows you to do
just that.
A great tip: look at your own Tweet history ' is the
information valuable, does it build trust? Would you want
to follow yourself?
Get tweeting!
It may take some trial and error, and you probably want to
check out what others are tweeting about to get a feel for
the style. But don't spend too long lurking ' check it out
and then jump on in.
----------------------------------------------------
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing and co-owner
of http://www.EcomBuffet.com
Since 1998, her expertise in
online marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has
helped clients increase revenue and achieve their business
goals. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on Search
Engine Optimization and has been published in many SEO and
marketing publications. Jennifer can be reached at
Jennifer@ecombuffet.com
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