Recently I started paying more attention to it for a number of reasons, my mother was a librarian at a conference recently and she attended a meeting on Twitter. I had a conversation with her, and then the next day I saw John Reese’s e-mail on Twitter. It seems there is much twitter about Twitter. So what is Twitter?
According to the Twitter FAQ, “Twitter is for staying in contact and with friends, no matter where you are or what you do.”
Wikipedia says: “Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates via SMS, instant messaging, e-mail, to the Twitter website, or one of the many Twitter applications now available.”
principle Twitter asks the question: “What are you doing?” and can a brief 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 (or tweets) via your browser, e-mail, instant messaging clients and SMS (using your mobile phone). Regardless of where you are, you can Tweet!
I have not been following Twitter since day 1, so I’m not going to comment on its evolution, but I will speculate that if its popularity grows, as more and more marketers use 2 things are inevitable:
1. Twitter etiquette rules will continue to evolve as we know what we like and dislike, and as we respond to the inevitable abuse of Twitter (do not mean to sound negative, but it happens with every exciting new opportunity ‘people eventually abuse it).
2. More and more companies will jump on board and try to get on the conversation.
Start Twitter (or is it Ting Two?)
Remember, when you first join Twitter may feel like a lonely place. If you do not after all and no one follows you, you find yourself the question “what is the point?” I heard many people say they just do not get. In fact, I said to myself.
The key is to find the tweets you want to follow so that you can use your finger on the pulse of your niche. The following key is to start building your followers. More on that in a minute.
How Twitter can help your company?
The more contact you have with a potential customer, the more likely you are to their business. You can stay top of mind “via Twitter. Let them know what’s new in your industry, your company, etc. You will be a source of quick news flashes for them.
Here are just some of the benefits of Twitter - It reminds people that you exist
- It shows people that you have something to say
- It appears that your people
- Allows you to specify new offers, sales and breaking news immediately
- Allows you a more casual relationship
- You can use Twitter for your social bookmarking submissions.
- You can ask for referrals, suggestions, feedback and help, and people will respond.
Twitter is fun and adds to the new language we are constantly evolving. Eg, “Twitterference” the intrusion of twitter updates on your phone makes it difficult to talk on your phone.
Find Followers:
Start reaching your friends, family, mailing, etc. You can also link your Twitter to your e-mail signature line, add links to your website and blog. Give your Twitter account in your newsletter.
Twitter Rules
A cardinal rule (that is in your interest to follow): if you use Twitter as a pure marketing tool, you will lose followers quickly. As with all forms of social media is about creating a conversation and exchange of news’ it’s not about you shoving your sales message their throat.
Tweets are limited to 140 characters. This is to enable them to be easily sent through mobile SMS systems.
You are not able to embed HTML, except for hyperlinks. (But they are not left, so they will not help you in your quest for SEO backlinks) Bonus: Twitter automatically uses the service TinyURL to shorten links.
Tweet Not too much or too little. There is no magic, and the number varies depending on your audience. Some people say do not update more than once per hour. Others say no more than one or two times per day. I tend to be one or two times a day camp. If there is breaking news and some days you just have to work more often than it is OK. If your tweets are valuable information people will be more tolerant of frequent updates.
On the other hand, if you also quiet, the people have nothing to follow so make sure you find that balance and Tweet just enough to keep people informed, but not angry.
Do not forget that your profile shows a history of all your tweets, so if a new person comes along and sees that not many tweets you can decide you are not worth following. Even if your past tweets not informative or interesting, you lose a number of potential followers.
You’ll discover that sometimes you get involved in personal conversation with someone. Try to avoid doing too much. Not everyone is interested in your personal communication. If you still need to do this, put the @ symbol for a person’s name indicating that this message is for them.
One thing to keep in mind about personal tweets - some people who are not following your response to the person with whom you talk. This means that only half of the conversation. One suggestion is the word of your Tweet so that the spectators an idea of what your talking about. That way they can feel more included in the conversation.
Trust and Twitter
With so much hype in the market, people are really looking for a company that can trust. You can use the confidence of potential customers by allowing them to get to know you and them with information. Twitter allows you to do so.
A great tip: look at your own Tweet History ‘is the information valuable is the trust? Would you want yourself?
Get two tax!
It may take some trial and error, and you probably want to check some information on two others to a sense of style. But do not be too long lurking ‘check it out and then jump on in.
