Nine Twitter tips for business
Nine Twitter tips for business
By Jason Snell | May 6, 2009
3 comments
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Twitter is so red-hot right now. It's also so good at attracting buzzwords that I can't decide whether to call it a microblogging service or a social-networking Web site. But it doesn't really matter what you call it, or whether you prefer to follow Ashton Kutcher or Britney Spears. What matters is that users are taking to Twitter in massive numbers. And your business should be there, too.
Does this mean that plumbers need to start posting messages about what they had for breakfast in order to drum up sink-repair orders from desperate Internet hipsters? No, but you can and should use Twitter to connect with your customers, clients, and fans in a way that you couldn't do before. Here are some tips on how to use Twitter effectively--and a few cautions, as well.
1. Don't automate it
If you've got a blog that's connected to your business, you can use a service such as TwitterFeed to directly channel your new blog posts into Twitter posts. Sounds nifty, doesn't it? Well, don't do it. Your business's primary Twitter feed ought to be hand-fed.
If you publish a flood of impersonal links, your Twitter account will just seem like a faceless promotion machine. And that's not any way to engage people on Twitter. Link to the very best stuff on your blog, as well as relevant stuff you see elsewhere on the web, and also post items that don't contain links at all. (Don't forget to use a URL-shortening service such as tinyurl, is.gd, or xrl.us for your links.)
2. Be conversational
Your business's Twitter account should talk like a person--even if it's a collective "person" representing your company or brand. Think of your Twitter account as a character in a little Internet play--it's a walking, talking personification of your entire company. If you feel like it, take it to the limit: Use the first-person ("They're putting my stuff on sale again!"), invent a personality. Or just use the royal "we" and "our"--"Our editors have the latest on so-and-so." But be chatty.
Some companies prefer to disclose members of their team when they're tweeting from the company account. That's a valid approach, too. For example, the clever group-tweeting service CoTweet (currently in beta) can automatically append your initials to the tweets you make while representing your company. (Macworld is testing out this service to see if it makes it easier for a group of our editors to jointly operate our various Twitter accounts.)
3. Follow people who are relevant
From your Twitter account, follow everyone on your staff who uses Twitter. Follow colleagues in related companies and in your industry. Follow relevant brands and journalists and pundits in your market, even those who compete with you. It's polite to follow people.
And by following people you are creating an ecosystem--people will see who you are following and consider those as suggestions for users they should follow as well.
Comments
Comments
I just read the other day that twitters #s are starting to level off and may be dropping a little.. Now that the novelty is wearing off it will be interesting to see how long it sticks.
Jane | adjustable beds
I use twitter and i enjoy it, i update when i have to do ! When i have an interesting news or another things to share...
So how often do you think I should update twitter? You didn't mention whether I should update every day, hour, week or month? I update it about once a week now. Should I do it in some kind of set timeframe? Perhaps if I always do it on Monday then my clients and followers will always know when to check.
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