Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Be On Twitter
Without a doubt, one of the hottest things in social media networking these days is Twitter. The social media and micro-blogging platform was listed as the fastest growing social media application by Neilson’s Media Service in October 2008 as its popularity grew by 343% last year.
The site also received tremendous press last year with its high profile users such as President Obama with 144,000 followers to date. The platform was a key element in his election marketing campaign as his team quickly learned they could reach thousands of would-be voters in seconds. Many entrepreneurs took note and are achieving similar successes via Twitter albeit on a smaller scale. It’s an amazing free marketing tool to add to your arsenal and can be done with minimal time investment.
If you need a little convincing, here’s a list of the top five reasons why you (and your brand) should be “tweeting”.
1. Free
As newspapers fold, magazines cut back on production, and advertising dollars drop from company budgets, social media has become marketing’s little darling. All the great platforms for business such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are completely free to use.
2. Next Big Thing
There has been a shift in marketing these past five years as the internet becomes more and more a part of our lives. The birth of social media has allowed consumers to edit their online lives and they are de-cluttering from all the narcissistic monologues, redundant sales pitches, and off-topic interruptions that plague the sales tools of yesterday. They are now focusing on finding companies that can understand their needs and supply them with much needed information and services. Social media enables these conversations.
3. Great for Time-Strapped Entrepreneurs
While a great blog post might take days to write, a 140 character “tweet” on twitter will probably only take you a couple seconds. There are also a great number of services out there that allow you to schedule “tweets” so you can “tweet” 24/7 without actually being at your laptop 24/7. While reading the “tweetstream” during your entire workday may seem tempting, its not necessary. Many users have certain times that they like to pop in and mingle each day. Even small does of Twitter are enough to give you a heads up on the hot topics, communicate with your customers, or just to check the pulse of your industry.
4. Get Maximum Use Out of Your Content
Content is King for generating traffic, customers, and much needed publicity. Help get maximum use out of your current content by “tweeting” your blog posts, your workshops on YouTube, or even your podcasts. Take a sneak peek at www.twitter.com and you’ll quickly see that the majority of the tweets all include a link to some type of content. As an added bonus there are a bevy of “URL shortening” services out there that will shorten your link to help fit into twitter’s 140 character limit. The bonus is that they include statistical monitoring so you can see just how many people have visited your link. Switch the wording up a little on each tweet and check the statistics to see which tweets generate the most traffic for promoting your content.
5. Instant Market Research
As you join, one of your first steps will be to find people to follow. Websites like www.twellow.com make this a snap and you can easily find “tweeple” in your chosen demographic. Add these potential customers to your “following” list and listen to their wants and needs. Rarely are there opportunities like this to do instant market research for free on such a broad scale. Build a relationship with these prospects by responding to their tweets and they’ll gladly read your content or help you fine tune your next product offering. Just remember to leave the sales pitch at home and instead focus on developing the conversation.
While there are many other reasons why I think you should try Twitter, such as the ability to monitor mentions of your company (my favorites are www.tweetgrid.com and www.brightkit.com ), supplement your customer service strategies (check out @zappos or @starbucks), or the ability to see the news as it’s happening (within seconds of the US Airways plane crashing into the Hudson River pictures were on twitter…faster than any news service) you will simply have to try it for yourself to find out why it makes sense for you.
If you do decide to start “tweeting” make sure you follow me www.twitter.com/glamajama and let me know your thoughts!
January 28th, 2009 at 9:48 am
First, let me say congratulations on five years in business and what is seemingly a very successful company. Second, congratulations on the nice position of blogger on this respected site. I do know what a struggle running a business can be - with or without children so my (virtual) hat is off to you. Regarding why business owners should be on Twitter I would suggest you focus on the business objective rather than those you lead with.
#!. Free - there are a lot of free things out there, many of which don’t advance a business’ goals. You mention Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. How / why should a business choose Twitter versus (or in addition to) any of these other free tools?
#2. The Next Big Thing - rather than getting ON Twitter, be aware of Twitter and what it means to business” would be my suggestion. If “what it means to business” is important to MY business then YES - get on.
#3. Time-strapped - ARENT’T WE ALL? If the entrepreneur is time-strapped because of a lack of organization and/or email/website overload, then Twitter will SINK them without a disciplined objective and strategy. Be careful here. Twitter is GREAT. Twitter can be a time-sink.
#4. Maximum Use of Content - Be careful about blatant self-promotion on Twitter. Twitter is about community and conversation and adding value. Yes, there’s a way to get your “stuff” out there and you should. Be careful in the delivery. If all you’re doing is broadcasting about your STUFF you will be “un-followed” faster than you can say “Tweet”.
#5 Research - Spot-on. For any “newbie” getting into social media, in general - Twitter, in specific THIS is the #1 way to start: LISTEN. You can learn a lot by listening to what is being said - live, real-time on Twitter - about your business, your industry, your market, etc.
It’s important to keep in mind that Social Media - including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. etc. are all TOOLS for business. Set your objective and then match the tools for the job. Social media has just expanded our tool box in an amazing way. Good luck.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Seeing as I ‘time strapped’ right now, I’ll make this quick. Great post, but my one critic is that Twitter is not great for Time-strapped entrepreneurs. The most effective tweeters are those that are consistantly and constantly tweeting…i.e. using up time to tweet. 24/7 tweeting capabilities sound all warm and fuzzy, but it takes the personalization out of the communication process. If thats what people are doing, then they got the idea of Twitter all wrong. The objective is to have real-time human dialogue.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Great Comments! You’ve brought up some valid points and I wish I could have addressed them all in my article. While I agree that there are people on Twitter wasting time and tweeting needlessly 24/7…I don’t think that is necessary or representative of the whole. I personally use Twitter about an hour each day spread throughout the day..15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. During that time I’ve made some great connections, found some great info, and managed to make a couple sales promoting my site. As with most things, there is a personal preference involved…Twitter doesn’t work for everyone. No Marketing Tool does. Every single one of them needs to be used with a concise plan of action and direct way of measuring performance.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
networking sites have come a long way in the past few years and with their success, they also have brought about greater dangers for those who reveal too much information. It seems to be great for businesses though and congrats to twitter for coming along so far.
January 28th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I’ve joined the Twitter bandwagon. In my opinion an effective way to use this is by publishing interesting tidbits of information about your company or industry. A BIG turn off for me are the people who tweet garbage like “going to lunch”, “checking email”. Who cares?? I stop following those and focus on the people who provide relvant information. Otherwise I think they have nothing better to do with their time.
Concerning the time for Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, etc., I am learning their are applications that talk to each other. For example my blog automatically posts an update to Twitter and the feeds are automatically updating LinkedIn and Facebook. Cool stuff!
Of course the best thing I like about Twitter…it’s something my 18 year-old knows nothing about!
@smtcpa
January 29th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Thanks for putting the spotlight on the value of twitter for the entrepreneurs. I have been using twitter for a few months now and I was completely unaware of your reference to Twellow and that service.
Thanks again Heather
February 1st, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I totally agree with the first 4 points and thank you very much for the post. But I don’t agree with the Market Research point quite yet. Market Research should be based on a much larger and diverse sample for accurate decisions on company direction. I have seen some companies rely a little heavily on twitter for the pulse and it usually alienates some crucial buyers. I think in the future it will be a great tool for research, but right now it requires more content and feedback report on a different company controlled web page or blog.