3 Ways to Use Twitter for Business

26
Mar 2012

Twitter can be an extremely useful tool for marketing your business.  It is by far the most underused and misused social media platform there is based on the amount of impact you can have.  There are so many different and unique ways to use it for business, I could make a list as long as my Twitter feed.  Today, I am going to tell you 3 useful ways that you can use Twitter for Business.


Networking

How do you get customers?  If you are like most people and businesses you probably do a lot of networking and introducing yourself and your business to new people.  Twitter is a great place for networking because it is completely open.  You can follow, talk to, and read whatever anyone else on Twitter is saying (with the exception of locked accounts, which are rare).  This is one of the main attractions to Twitter.  People can follow their favorite celebrities and know what they are up to and talking about.  How does this help for business?  Well, who is your target audience?  Why not start talking to them.  Don’t sell, just talk.  If they are interested in you, they will search out your services.  Who is someone who has a lot of followers in your target audience?  Why not talk with them too?  If you can engage in a conversation with someone who influences a lot of people in your target audience, those people will take note of who you are.  It’s just like networking in real life, it’s just online and in 140 characters at a time.

Broadcasting

Networking is great, but it can’t be all talk and no substance, right?  People also want to see that you are credible, and Twitter is a great way to share your expertise.  Share the content that you are creating (Blogs, Video, Podcasts, etc.).  Share this content frequently.  You have created this content so that people will see it, and this is a simple and easy way to do just that.  We recommend putting out about 3-5 tweets a day that add value.  Your blogs and videos do just that, and people will want to share that valuable information with their followers, which in turn gets more people to know about you.

Market Research

How much do you think it would cost to find out how a large group of the population feels about your industry?  Hundreds of dollars.  Thousands.  Tens of thousands?  The cost can be enormous.  You can get a REALLY good idea of how people feel about a certain subject by simply using the Twitter Search Function and typing in topics around your industry.  Lets use an example.  When Facebook’s new timeline came out, I wanted to know how people felt about it.  I typed in ‘facebook timeline’ into Twitter Search and hit enter.  What resulted was every tweet that referenced ‘facebook timeline’ and every person who was talking about it.  Within 5-10 minutes, I could tell what the general sentiment was about it.  How valuable do you think that was?  Very!  We were able to start creating content around the confusions that people had, answering questions and approaching the subject already knowing how most people feel about it.  Do you think you could use that kind of instant insight into how your target audience feels?  The answer should be yes.

 

Twitter is an extremely valuable social network for businesses.  If you want to learn more about how to use it for business, take a look at our upcoming Twitter for Business Workshop.  Or, ask me a question in the comments below.  Or, Tweet me (@socialmediacub)!

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