AutomatedBuildings.com Column - Twitter Marketing Tips for Business

Most of us are familiar with Twitter as one of the three most popular microblogging tools on the internet today. One of the reasons that Twitter has become so popular is that it is easy to use, and an extremely open platform. That means that the data can be used by anyone on a variety of devices.

It is because of Twitter’s open software design that companies can use the code to build third-party tools that incorporate Twitter functionality. A quick Google search will show hundreds of applications and desktop tools that are compatible with Twitter.

Business owners will find Twitter to be an extremely powerful tool once they fully understand what it is capable of. It is way more than just creating a profile, issuing Tweets, and waiting for followers to arrive. Twitter is about community. Specifically building a community that wants to hear what your company has to say. Those people are all perspective leads for your products and services. They may either want to purchase them, or Re-Tweet microblogs from you to their followers who may purchase your products and services. Over all using Twitter effectively is a very cost effective and easy way to not only increase your company’s digital footprint, but to increase qualified leads for your sales force.

1. Do not pay anyone to use a robot or code to increase the number of Twitter followers that you have. Sure your company will pay a small fee and quickly get 5000 + followers, but the quality of these followers are poor. More than likely these Followers have no idea what your company does, or who you are. Doing things as organically as possible is the best route for both quality and quantity of followers.

2. Look for large companies who are in your vertical to follow. I recently set up a Twitter feed for an airline in British Columbia, and the first company to follow was BC Ferries. Follow the company that everyone else follows and you’ll get a look at all of their followers. These are people that you want in your community. For the Building Automation vertical I would look to companies like: LonMark, Tridium, Siemens, Schneider Electric, and event companies like Clasma.

3. Use the Twitter feature invite by e-mail to invite customers to follow you. Perhaps your company has just attended a trade show and you have collected a huge list of leads. Why not ask them all to follow your company on Twitter when your sales force sends out a follow-up email.

4. Reply to people who follow your company. I’m as guilty as anyone else for not always being as diligent as I should be about saying thanks, or responding to Twitter questions. Simply put an @ reply involves starting your Tweet with an @ symbol and the nickname of the individual that you want to respond to. For example @emandrusiak <enter the text that you want> then click the grey arrow or swoosh to reply to a Tweet or message that I would have sent you.

5, Learn and listen about what people say about your company. Twitter is one of the most economical ways to monitor your company reputation. This works best over a long period of time. A company can track what people are saying about them (whether positive or negative) through Tweets about a company brand or products. This can act as an effective tool for companies wanting to find issues with products or software.

6. Respond to any negative Tweets that you find on your Twitter page. If your company can offer an immediate solution then do so, it not, then you can take the high road and acknowledge that your company is taking steps to fix the issue.

7. Track everything. Keep detailed notes of the questions that people ask to problems that arose. This can be done manually or by using tools like: CoTweet or Radian6.

Twitter is still one of the best ways for any business to exploit the power of Social Media to their advantage. Twitter is capable of way more than can be mentioned in this article. The steps above are meant to assist companies in growing their Twitter accounts, and getting more value out of the data that they produce. This data can be used to increase lead generation, better qualify leads, and even market products. The only real limitation to Twitter is the imagination of the individual operating it, and the time and commitment to make a Twitter account flourish.

Any questions about using Twitter for business can be sent to me at my Twitter account: www.twitter.com/emandrusiak

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