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CONTENTS
TWITTER MOTIVES
WHAT IS TWITTER AND WHAT CAN IT DO FOR YOU?
TWITTER FOR PERSONAL USE
TWITTER FOR BUSINESS USE
TWITERMINOLOGY & VOCABULARY
TWITTER POWER
WHAT CAN YOUR BUSINESS GAIN FROM TWITTER?
BRAND AWARENESS GAINS
LEAD GENERATION GAINS
BUILDING BRAND REPUTATION
MONITORING
TWITTER FOUNDATION
CREATING YOUR PROFILE
PERSONALIZING YOUR PROFILE
TWEETING
TWITTER STRATEGIES
FOLLOWING & GAINING FOLLOWERS
ENGAGING
CUSTOMER SERVICE
PUBLIC RELATIONS
TAKE FLIGHT
OPTIMIZING YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR BUSINESS
MARKETING WITH TWITTER
TWITTER ANALYTICS
CONCLUSION
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What motivates your business to want to be on Twitter? Understanding a clear
objective of what you hope to gain from your Twitter page management will guide you
in the right direction to capture the most success. Brand exposure is one of the key
benefits of using Twitter for your business.
WHAT IS TWITTER & WHAT CAN IT DO FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION?
PERSONAL USE
Twitter is a social media channel that allows you to send a short message to a bunch
of people publicly. You can also use the tool to message a specific person publicly, as
a way of striking up a larger conversation. It also allows for messages to be sent to a
specific person privately. Twitter is often referred to as a “micro-blogging” service.
BUSINESS USE
In the world we live in today, consumers are able to control the communication they
receive. Consumers can now block undesired communication with tools like caller ID,
spam-blockers, and DVR. They’ve also gained more control over what types of media
and messages they would like to receive. However, it’s important to understand
that consumers are still interested in learning about products and services that are
right for them. It’s not that they don’t want the information; it is simply a behavioral
change of seeking the information when they are ready to receive it - most commonly
by using the Internet. Because of this recognized behavior change in consumers,
most businesses have adapted with inbound marketing. With inbound marketing,
businesses can push their message out through social media, social networks,
content publishing, blog sites & search engine optimization. Inbound marketing
provides the message that your consumers want to hear on their own terms, and
Twitter has mastered the efficiency of this method of communication.
Businesses now use Twitter as a way to overcome the communication
drop realized in consumer behaviors today. Twitter has become
a powerful tool to build and maintain relationships with
current and potential customers. Using Twitter efficiently as a
business allows your brand to be present in the
discussions where consumer relationships
are built.
TWITTER MOTIVES
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TWITTER HANDLE Twitter Handle is the same as your username, but is also the title
you use to represent yourself on Twitter.
#HASHTAG is a tool to aggregate a conversation regarding a particular topic. To do
this you simply add the (#) symbol to a word and a gallery of similar topics will appear
in a separate feed.
RETWEET is when you repeat something that someone has already tweeted. This
is most common when you feel the information is valuable and you wish to share it
with the users in your own network.
FOLLOWING is subscribing to updates from a specific users Twitter page. You do
this by clicking “follow” on a Twitter page. You will see updates displayed on your
Twitter home page of anyone you follow.
FOLLOWERS are the Twitter users who have subscribed to your updates. You can
view the number of followers you have on your Twitter profile page.
FOLLOW BACK is a notification sent from Twitter when someone has recently
followed your page. The email you receive will include a link to that person’s page
where you can view and decide to follow back if you choose. It is common Twitter
etiquette to follow back to show good engagement, but is not required.
TWEET is a short 140-character message you post to public from your Twitter
page. This is also known as an Update.
TWEET-UP is a function where users can meet up for casual networking
opportunities.
TWITTER STREAM is a list of all updates made by a Twitter page. All of your page
updates will display in your Twitter Stream on your profile page.
@REPLY is a public message sent from one Twitter user to another by adding the (@)
symbol before the recipients’ Twitter Handle.
DIRECT MESSAGE is a private message sent from one Twitter user
to another.
TWITTERMINOLOGY
& VOCABULARY
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Twitter is arguably one of the most powerful social media platforms used by
businesses.
WHAT CAN YOUR BUSINESS GAIN FROM TWITTER?
BRAND AWARENESS GAINS Organizations are largely benefitting from the use of
Twitter for growing brand awareness. Your Twitter page is likely to become one of
your highest search engine results when directly searching your business or industry.
What’s even more outstanding is that every tweet itself is also searchable. This means
that if you regularly tweet content relevant to your customers, your organization will
populate in search results for those keywords also.
Your organization can also benefit from being present in hashtag feeds that are
important to your industry. The audience interested in that hashtag will be able to
scroll through the feed and find your brand. The more often your organization uses
that hashtag, the more often your brand will be present, thus impressing upon your
potential target customers.
Social media is becoming a popular avenue for market research. Customers and
prospective business partners may be searching for additional resources to validate
your work. Twitter will tell the story of what your business is about, and simply having
an active Twitter presence will confirm that your organization is current and reliable.
LEAD GENERATION GAINS Twitter is one of the best platforms to gain new sales
leads due to the functionality, indexing and amount of exposure possible. Prospective
customers will be interested to see if you have social media channels, and will use the
Twitter search functionality to directly search your brand, industry related keywords or
industry related hashtags. Representing your brand in those Twitter search queries
will be an easy way to be found by some of your highest quality leads.
Larger purchase decisions, such as applying for a mortgage or what gym to buy a
membership from, will often justify the need for further research. Being present on
Twitter and welcoming engagement from prospective customers, is the best way to be
researched. Think of Twitter as your digital trade show. This allows you to be found,
and start conversations with those who desire to learn more about you.
Hiring a full-time social media manager will be the best way to greet your
customers warmly as they peruse your Twitter page.
TWITTER POWER
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TWITTER POWER
BUILDING BRAND REPUTATION All of your marketing efforts have been crafting
a persona for your business from the day you first opened your doors. Your
partnerships with other businesses, the quality of your work and your overall
humanistic reputation is an impactful element in your future business. Twitter,
among your other social media channels, will assist in amplifying your business voice.
Executing on that task might mean identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your
business reputation and tweeting to reinforce that message.
Twitter is also a wonderful platform to monitor your brand reputation. A best practice
is to get into the habit of Twitter searching your brand name to pay attention to all
tweets that may concern your brand. This will be an easy way to quickly respond
to unhappy customers, and a great way to celebrate the success of growing brand
advocates.
In the event that you find negative commentary in your brand monitoring, a quick
response to apologize, explain (if necessary), and offer a “make good” will be the best
way to rebuild your reputation. In the event of finding happy customers using Twitter
to shout out their loyalty and satisfaction with your brand, you will nurture that great
relationship with a quick response to reaffirm that you value their loyalty to your
brand.
MONITORING Simply monitoring your pages will allow you to hear the conversations
being had by your customers, and encourage your page engagement to flourish.
There are many apps such as Hootsuite, which will allow you to manage your page
through real time notifications. Many of your notifications may be comprised of new
followers and positive engagement, but always listen closely for opportunities to
strengthen relationships and join conversations. These opportunities will ultimately
build your brand, and can be a very powerful element to your marketing.
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GETTING STARTED WITH TWITTER
CREATING YOUR PROFILE
The process of setting up a business account on Twitter is identical to the process
for a personal account, only the name of the account should be the name of your
business and you will want to refrain from adding any personal information in your
profile and posts.
Decide on a Twitter Handle that defines your business well. Your Twitter Handle is
arguably your powerful branding opportunity on Twitter, so be sure it is relevant and
searchable.
PERSONALIZING YOUR PROFILE
It is important to add a personal touch to your profile so your audience knows it is
you. The risk of operating a page with missing information is great. You will see far
less engagement and your page may look like spam.
Use a profile picture with 400x400px dimensions and a header image of 1500x500px
to represent your business. Using these size specifications will allow your logos and
images to render correctly and create a clean look for your page. To take creative
personalization to the next level, you can go to the design tab to customize your
theme or background. If your company has a specified background graphic, you may
choose to upload that image to capitalize on your brand recognition and consistency.
TWITTER FOUNDATION
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TWITTER FOUNDATION
TWEETING
Once your account has been set up, you will want to begin publishing content in the
form of tweets. It’s a good idea to have a few tweets on your page before setting
out to find people to follow you. This will create brand recognition, and give your
followers an idea of what kind of information you plan to share.
THE TYPES OF THINGS THAT ARE COMMON TO TWEET ABOUT MAY INCLUDE:
WHAT’S NEW – announcements of current events happening at your business
THOUGHTS – Be the thought leader for your particular industry
VIDEOS – Share a video hosted from Hulu or YouTube that is relevant to your
business.
ARTICLES – Post links to your website or blog articles.
SHARE ARTICLES – Post links to other organizations articles as an industry resource.
CHAT – Use the @ symbol before a Twitter Handle of another person or business to
have a public conversation.
RETWEET – Simply click the retweet button to share information that has already
been posted with your network.
Always speak in the voice of your business when operating your business Twitter
page. Do not post anything that is not in line with the reputation of your business.
Imagine standing on a stage in front of a sea of your entire audience before your
compose a tweet. Be mindful that even if you delete a post, it may still be archived on
the internet and could resurface.
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TWITTER STRATEGIES
FOLLOWING & GAINING FOLLOWERS
One of the easiest ways to find people and businesses to follow is to do a search. You
can use the free Twitter resource at http://search.twitter.com to find similar people
and businesses to follow. For example, you can find people who have tweeted about
“financial planning”, and follow people talking about that topic. It’s also a good idea to
use the search function to find people who may be talking about your company. Do
this by simply searching the name of your company, and scanning all search results
to ensure your company’s reputation is being maintained. If running this search
uncovers opportunities to communicate with your audience, you may easily click the
respond button to engage in a conversation.
A good practice is to follow people you meet at events and follow the hashtag of
events you attend. This is a good way to find people in your industry who were at
the same event as you, and may be a good resource of information relating to your
industry.
In order to have engaging conversations on Twitter it is important to gain a qualified
audience to follow your company as well. The more you engage in conversations on
Twitter, the more likely you are to attract the audience you want to follow your page.
Be sure you are posting content that is a valuable resource for your industry. If you
are a small community financial institution, you may decide to tweet announcements
of upcoming events as well as financial education tips. Twitter will also send an
automatic notification to those that you have followed, inviting them to follow you
back. With these built-in tools your follower base can grow organically at a healthy
pace.
ENGAGING
One of the easiest ways to engage is to have public messages by adding the @ symbol
before someone’s Twitter Handle. This is an @reply message and will
be filtered into that person’s replies. Adding the @ symbol before
Twitter Handles of those you are giving credit to or are speaking
to within your post will expose the content to their followers as
well as your own.
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TAKE FLIGHT
OPTIMIZING YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR BUSINESS
PROVIDING CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH TWITTER
Twitter is a great resource to use to listen to the needs of your customers. Once
again, using the search functionality to find the conversations that may reference
your products or services, and engage in those conversations. Twitter, being one of
the fastest ways to reach your audience, is the first place you will want to post quick
announcements. For example if your location should need to be closed or your
website is down, your audience will be less upset, and will appreciate your company’s
efforts to communicate and fix any issues.
MANAGING PUBLIC RELATIONS WITH TWITTER
Twitter is a great tool for managing public relations. If your organization has an
announcement to make, Twitter is the fastest way to get the word out. After the
message has been publically tweeted, it is easy to follow the conversation to monitor
the response from your audience.
MARKETING WITH TWITTER
Twitter makes monitoring your company’s reputation very easy. Once again, using the
search function will allow you to search keywords relevant to your industry including
your own company name, products and services. When you have taken the first few
seconds to confirm there are no immediate reputational risks, then you can capitalize
on the conversations you’ve found. If you’ve found someone tweeting about your
products or services, get involved in the conversation and thank them for the mention
or provide other solutions they may be seeking.
Similarly, you can drive more traffic to your website or events. If you
have valuable resources, articles or free downloads hosted on your
website or blog, tweet about it and link back to your website.
This type of exposure is the first step to driving return traffic to
your website. Some of your followers may even retweet or @
mention you in response.
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TAKE FLIGHT
TWITTER ANALYTICS
It is a good practice to take a birds-eye-view of your overall metrics monthly. You will
want to look at metrics such as reach, response rate, branding & awareness, Twitter
grade and sales funnel. Looking at these metrics over time will give you insight to
what strategies you may want to implement to reap the benefits of Twitter.
Visit http://Twitter.Grader.com for your overall effectiveness of your Twitter account.
CONCLUSION
After reading this ebook, you should be equipped with the
foundations of operating a Twitter page for your business.
Keep in mind the ever-evolving nature of social media, and
continually seek educational resources to stay in the know on
all that Twitter has to offer your business.
