Using Twitter for business
I just watched a video of Laura Fitton, co-author of “Twitter for Dummies”, talking about Twitter and how and why it can benefit any business – even if that business isn’t on Twitter, and doesn’t believe any of it’s customers are either.
This is an important aspect of the Social Media Buzz… it’s the core question for many of the businesses we want to help here at Saucy Horse. Businesses don’t understand how Twitter, Facebook and the like can have any relevance in their world – and more to the point, how these social media shenanigans can actually help them increase sales and grow their businesses!
The excellent Ms Fitton shows us the way – she touches on 5 Benefits of Twitter for Business –
SEO – Twitter searches are coming up high in page rankings – the frequently updated content / links are recognised by the search engines and reflected in search results, so Twitter activity can help directly with your SEO. Don’t believe me? Try searching “pistachio” (a commonly used word) on Google – Laura’s Twitter ID will come up @pistachio – she ranks 7 on a word in common use worldwide, solely down to her Twitter activity.
RESEARCH – Twitter is the most customer centred way to listen to what’s going on and what’s being said about your company or brand. You can run live events, surveys, polls – use hash tags during live webinars so that you can start conversations about whatever you want to – all for a fraction of the marketing budgets that many companies would allocate to offline activities.
WORD OF MOUTH – Amazing way to launch and spread offers via coupons and vouchers. Twitter users spread them around their offices / families / friends whether they are on Twitter or not, and before you know it, your sales have rocketed by targeting a relatively small group and using “pass along”.
CONTENT GENERATION ENGINE – Twitter widgets on your home pages and fan pages generate visitors to your website in an organic way that would be hard to achieve with anything other than social media.
PR GRAVITY – Tons of journalists are on Twitter. And they will find you – if you are openly sharing your views, and explaining how your business is providing solutions. You’ll be a refreshing change to the sterile press releases drummed up by old style PR!
Laura’s advice is to Make it Unselfish – Learn, Listen, Care & SERVE!
Do we all do that well enough? Do you have any tips or advice on how business users can really put that into action? I’d love to hear any thoughts you may have!
Laura explains it all beautifully here:
