How to use Twitter for your Business
Question: I keep hearing about Twitter everywhere! I hear about Twitter on the news, at the grocery store, from friends, in the house, out of the house, on the house… Is Twitter mainly teenagers messing around or should I Twitter for my Business? If so, how can Twittering as an online marketing technique help my business?
Answer: I hate to say this but Twittering can actually be a great tool for your business. When I first heard about Twitter and tweeting it drove me nuts. It still does. The words twitter and tweet are extremely irritating. The whole craze got all the more obnoxious when celebrities started tweeting. I had hoped Twitter was a quick fad and promised myself to never Tweet.
My negative feelings towards Twitter were reinforced when I saw Twitter Tracker on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. If you want a good laugh check out the video below where Conan pokes fun at how lame Twitter can be.
Ok, so you may have picked up on the fact that I find Twitter annoying but that does not mean that it can not be an effective tool for your business. Business owners should regularly communicate with prospects and customers. It used to be that email was the only way to directly contact these people via the internet. Today, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are becoming an increasingly more popular way to send direct messages to people on your contact lists.
How to use Twitter for your business
For Tweeting to be effective and not just a complete waste of time you need to 1) build a large list of Twitter followers 2) Semi regularly communicate the followers in messages that are 140 characters or less 3) don’t be irritating or people will just stop following you. People like to use social networking sites for fun not to be bombarded with ads. Say things that are useful or funny to keep your followers attention. Building and maintaining a Twitter Followers list will enhance brand awareness and can also be used to promote the business or specials and events. Just don’t overdo it!
Be careful of the blackhole
Many Gazillions of work hours are wasted on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Using these sites as a marketing tool for your business can be a good idea but be careful not blow countless work hours reading about what your favorite celebrity ate for lunch or watching videos of your friend’s dog chasing its tale. Good luck!
