The social networking phenomenon Twitter is so popular and so big that any business, particularly an internet based business, cannot afford to miss out on its potential as a great tool for marketing.
Twitter is a free-to-use miniature blogging network that encourages users to exchange news and views ("Tweet") with each other using messages restricted to no more than 140 characters. Its tremendously valuable to marketers because of its capacity to target a specific audience and communicate with them in realtime. Add to this the fact that the 140-character limit ensures your messages have to be quick and focused, and they are therefore extremely suited to delivery to mobile devices, and you now begin to see Twitter as the marketers dream tool.
So, if you haven't already opened a Twitter account, do it now and this is what you need to know:
Your Profile - How to maximise its business value
If its not too late, keep your username short and try to choose something that ties in with your business and its products/services.Keep your personal profile constantly up-to-date and make sure you include your business details and visual personality.Write about yourself in a relaxed, friendly, one-to-one style and reveal a little bit about your personality and your interests from time-to-time.Add your picture to your profile. It helps viewers to make a stronger connection with you if they can see a 'real person' rather than imagining what the anonymous person 'hiding' behind a Twitter name might be like.Search for Tweets related to your business sector and participate in some of the conversations. Over time this will help to build up your credibility in the Twitter community as an expert in your chosen field. Eventually this will start to pull in some sales based on your online reputation but it is a long term game of patience. But hey! Tweeting is fun so just enjoy yourself as you go.When you are commenting on Tweets that interest you and your potential audience, make sure that you use ReTweets (RT) and replies (@.....) so that there is an online trail linking back to you.Make it easy for others to ReTweet your message by leaving space for someone else to include the standard ReTweet statement without having to edit down what you original wrote. This means you need to leave the number of characters in your username plus enough space for adding the 'RT@' message. It helps if you choose a shortish username because you have more characters available for your message.
Communicating - How to capture and keep the attention of your audience
Asking other Twitter users for help with a problem, or help finding a piece of information, or seeking their comments on a topic is a great way to start conversations with a niche group of people and to build up ongoing relationships that could later turn in to sales.Refer users to other Tweeters in the interests of helping them to find what they are after. Good deeds like this are surprisingly often remembered and then repaid at a later date, so always look to help someone out if you can because you could very well be rewarded later. Whenever you see an opportunity to offer advice or assistance to someone, then do so. Not only is it in the spirit of what the Twitter community is all about but the knowledge you pass on helps position you as an expert in your field. This helps build up the credibility of your business and your products/services.Check your Direct Messages (DM) regularly. Inevitably there will be messages that don't interest you but, as with your email accounts, make sure that you make time to reply to the honest, deserving ones.Use Hash Tags ( # ) in your Tweets to make your messages more easily found by Twitter search engines. This is like using Keywords to search for something on Google or Yahoo and makes your Tweet available to a wider audience who are interested in the subject you have tagged your message with. For example, # business finance or # Pay Per Click Advice.Limit your out-and-out promotional Tweets to just the occasional one. Keep a good 80% of what you Tweet concentrated on being informative, helpful and topical. This way you'll build up integrity and trust with your fellow Tweeters which means that when they are looking to buy the sort of product/service that you offer, you've got a head start over your competitors for getting that sale.Don't go for the heavy sell when you are Tweeting a marketing message - its obvious what you are doing and it just puts people off. Try a low key, relaxed approach that suggests a benefit to the reader of the Tweet. For example, "I've just added a new # business finance article to my website. See how you could save thousands on your loans ww.mybusinesswebsite.com". See how that lessens the feeling of a heavy sell, pure marketing message?Getting your own posts Retweeted is all about consistently writing good value content for your followers. Done right, Retweeting succeeds in helping your followers, building your business brand, increasing your Twitter and website traffic, and makes you a key player within your Twitter niche.Regularly posting new Tweets helps to drive more traffic to your site. The committed Twitter users that you are trying to connect with like people that post Tweets frequently. So try to work to a fixed schedule of days and times when you post new Tweets so that you are seen to be a committed, reliable Tweeter yourself.
Make good use of Links
Place a "Follow me on Twitter" link on your website, your blog, your Facebook page, at the foot of your emails, your business cards; everywhere that you can think of. Promote it widely because these days Twitter can be a favourite way for some people to find out about what's new and to track down something they are looking for. So fly the Twitter flag and don't miss out.Add yourself to the "We Follow Twitter" Directory so that others can find your contact details.Put website links in your Tweets to useful sources of information for your Followers, and not just to your own website. If your Tweets stay focused on your particular niche interest, and your website serves that same market niche, then don't worry that your Tweets telling others about something good on another website will divert your Followers permanently away from your site.Keep the content of your website high on quality and value; and do the same with your Tweets. This way people will keep coming back to check the latest thing that you have talked about and therefore you will get a noticeable gradual increase in your Twitter and your website traffic.There is good value to be gained from tracking down and following a few top businessmen, internet marketers or your favourite entrepreneur on the BBC's "Dragons Den" programme. There's a couple of reasons for saying this. Firstly, it gives you some insight in to how they are using Twitter so you might pick up some useful tips along the way. And secondly, your interest in them will be seen by others and will attract some attention to what you are saying and doing. People are naturally curious and therefore they often click on the links to find out more about the Followers of the top businessman or whoever it is that you all share a common interest in.
Tools that will help you
Track down your target audience using the Twitter search tools. Think about likely keywords people would be using (see the bulletpoint about Hash Tags) and look for niche groups and forums to join.Look out for breaking news stories about your industry or the business sector you trade in. Participate in the conversations and give your own clear opinion. Supporters of your views are likely to check out your profile and perhaps make later contact with you, independent of the news story that first connected you.If you are not sure about some of the jargon associated with Twitter then look it up on the Twitter Dictionary at Webopedia.comWhen you want to include a website link in your Tweet it is really helpful to reduce the length of the website page URL. Save characters in your Tweet by using a URL Redirection Service ("URL Shrinker") such as TinyURL, Cligs or Bit.ly. Typically these will replace a very long web page URL with a short 20 character code which directs a user to the desired web page when it is clicked on in your Tweet.An added benefit of using a URL Shrinker service is that you can get tracking information about each of your coded Tweets which is incredibly valuable to you in showing you which Tweets were popular and which were not. Use this information to help shape your marketing strategies and your future Twitter messages.A handy tool for maintaining a regular flow of Tweets is available at FutureTweets.com This works rather like an autoresponder because you can prepare a batch of messages for future publication and then set up the software to deliver them at the dates and times of your choice.When you've started to gather Followers who are making enquiries about your products/services it helps to be able to send them pictures via Twitter. To do this set up a TwitPic account at twitpic.com and upload your photos to it for easy publication on Twitter.There's a useful gadget for finding out who you are following that isn't following you back. It's called Tweepler and you can get it at tweepler.com Again, this is something that will aid you with your marketing plans so take a look and make use of it.Remember, there's new stuff and gadgets coming out all the time for Twitter, so keep your eyes open, follow the news and look into the latest technology releases and social networking trends as they arise.
There will inevitably be more developments to come which will help you even more with your strategy of using Twitter for marketing, so take advantage of everything you've learnt on this factsheet and keep it going for the long term in order to achieve success for your business. Happy Tweeting!
