Who me... tweet??
As a communications tool, Twitter can connect you with customers, potential customers, journalists, employees, and any other stakeholders in your business. It can convey real-time information that benefits your business, brand and customers but also provides an additional channel to inform and educate them. It is also helps you build a personal relationship with the public.
Like any other form of marketing and online PR, having a strategy is critical to its success- remember Twitter is a tool not a strategy in itself and it will only be successful if you use it appropriately
Some tips to get you started.
1) Set your goals and objectives- Twitter allows you to be a follower, listener, responder, developer of original content, content aggregator or a little bit of all these. Your own goals might be to have a certain number of followers, have your posts re-tweeted, or to drive people to your site. Set your goals clearly and it will help you find your “voice” and help you write relevant tweets.
2) Research your market- who are your competitors and those leading conversations in your subject area- know what people are saying and start following people who are relevant to your business and engage in conversations where you can add value and authority.
3) Measure your results- like every other marketing and PR channel, you want to see results for your efforts- if it isn't working- change it.
But what do I tweet??
Provide content that is interesting and original. The more original or useful, the more likely it is that it will be re-tweeted by others and hopefully get you more followers, like all your online content, it should provide value to your reader
Host a tweetup. Position yourself as an expert. Our client, Stevie English Hair, recently hosted a tweetchat in conjunction with Famous magazine on the latest hair trends. It was linked to their Facebook page & people were also driven to the tweetchat by an article in the magazine- it was great cross social & traditional media activity.
Prompt consumers to participate and engage- run a promotion, drive them to another piece of activity that you are doing, share news of your business
Find a unique #brandname or #tip. This is something you can use consistently throughout your tweets and encourage your followers to do too. This might be
Making the connection
Once you have established your social media channels, ensure you maximise your opportunity to promote them across each channel. Link your Twitter page with Facebook, Linkedin, Flickr, Youtube channel and your blog. Include your Twitter handle in your communication- your email signature should include all this information
There will always be an element of opportunistic, real-time activity with Twitter, your plans might need to be tweaked to react. Be agile, willing to participate and have fun with it. For more ideas on creating an effective social media strategy, contact us via Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter (or you can always call or email... we even respond to letters & carrier pigeons)
