The so-called ‘micro-blogging’ service, Twitter, has been one of the most successful social media platforms in the Web 2.0 landscape. More than 100 million users share their thoughts, communicate with likeminded users and search for information on Twitter everyday. It is instant, highly personalised and above all, easy to use.
Twitter also offers an incredible opportunity for businesses and brands to directly communicate with their customers, clients and constituents. But before you sign-up it is worth considering a few things:
- Why do want a Twitter account? What is the strategy behind having it?
- Do we have the resources to back it up? It might be free to sign-up, but it requires time to monitor and use.
- What is our plan for engaging with our customers? How will we approach negative comments?
For brands that utilise Twitter well and take the opportunity to engage with their customers, the benefits can be great. The following is an outline of what Twitter is and how is can be used effectively by brands as part of their communications strategy.
Some definitions and basic Twitter principles:
- Tweet - a Twitter post
- A Tweet consists of 140 characters
- “Following” means people whose Tweets you are following
- “Followers” means people who are following you're Tweets
- RT is a tag used to indicate that you’ve re-posted someone else’s tweet
- Your followers can re-tweet (RT) your post to their followers
- "@" - is a tag used to represent a person’s Twitter account - eg. @gracefultaylor
- Lists - each person has the ability to create categorised lists of their favourite people
- A simple way to describe Twitter is micro-blogging.
Who sees your Tweets? Your followers receive a chronological stream of your Tweets and others they follow on their Twitter home page. Anyone who clicks on your profile can view a chronological list of your Tweets.
It’s important to remember that you don't need an account to view a user’s Twitter updates (unless it’s a locked account) – it’s all in the public eye. Also, Google searches now also display Twitter results.
For brands and businesses Twitter:
is a great way to network, engage, connect, share and grow a community around your brand
- can assist you and your brand to become an industry thought leader, engage and contribute to the wider community, build brand awareness and drive sales and qualified traffic to your website
- provides access to a huge network of engaged bloggers and networkers ready and willing to communicate
- is also becoming a popular substitute for Google - it's a great tool for searching for relevant real-time topic results, news, inspiration and information.
It's important to remember that Twitter provides consumers with an opportunity to voice opinions good and bad about a brand - for more on this topic take a look at our blog article Social Media - a marketer's nightmare or a great opportunity to be a step ahead of your competitors?
For brands and businesses Twitter ISN’T:
- A place to exclusively advertise your business or flog your wares. Unlike Facebook, Twitter wasn’t developed specifically for marketing and gathering market intelligence. Twitter doesn't sell advertising space (at least as yet), nor does it display analysis of profile activity
- A quick means to drive website traffic. Getting results from twitter requires time, thought, diligence, patience and dedication
- A task to be undertaken without a strategy. Great damage can be done to brands that don’t properly consider how they want to use Twitter.
Expectation of results:
It's important to note that seeing a result from Twitter takes time. Getting the most out of Twitter requires diligence, patience and dedication.
Building a network of dedicated and engaged followers and seeing results takes time. You will need to allow six months or more to establish your account before expecting to see any results.
Setting up your Twitter profile:
Carefully consider how you craft your profile blurb and profile picture. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential followers and consider the value your tweets will provide them. Ensure it not only focuses on your business but equally highlights the benefits of following your tweets.
Finding followers:
Develop a profile of your target followers and consider the kinds of traffic you hope to drive to your site through Twitter. You may like to consider things like country of origin and interests. Study who they follow, define their peer groups and tweet about relevant topics. If appropriate you should consider targeting people both directly and/or several layers down the Twitter tree.
You should follow people that show an interest in the subjects you tweet. Review tweets, profiles and follower networks for related content.
Ways to find potential followers:
- The easiest way to attract followers is to follow them first - they may follow you back.
- Twitter search tool to find twitter post topics with related subjects. Search through the follow "lists" of people who fit your target profile
- Search industry blogs and follow their tweets
- Comment on blogs and forums related to your subject and target audience, use your twitter URL as your sign-off to lead them back to your profile page
- Consider the extended Twitter tree – i.e. who does your target follow both within and outside Twitter? Will engaging the third party encourage them to follow you?
- Search for relevant profiles to target on Twellow. This is a site designed to facilitate categorised searching of Twitter profiles. You should also add your profile to this database too
Engaging and keeping followers?
Finding followers is much easier than keeping them. Tweet often - around three tweets per day is recommended.
It's important to consider the times of day your audience is likely to sit in front of their computer. Twitter is about immediacy. People rarely scroll through several pages of followers’ tweets and most follow hundreds of people.
Carefully craft your tweets – use a voice that reflects your brand and that your target will relate to. Remember, your tweets are a communication of just brand, just like an ad or your website – you need to make sure you reflect this in you 140 characters.
Tweet content – Content is king on the internet and Twitter is no different. Tweet a variety of different kinds of information: some advice, some inspiration, some resources and some conversation. Always consider your new followers - you need to engage them with your communications.
It's good to post links to sites other than your own, so don't be concerned about pointing people to other places on the internet. This will only enrich their Twitter experience, add more flesh to their perception of your brand, and keep them coming back to you. Always stay on-topic and work to deliver diversity and value wherever possible.
TIP:
To maximise your 140 characters use URL shorteners like www.TinyUrl.com
You should Re-tweet (RT) content from other users how say relevant things you think would be of interest to your followers. This will get you noticed by the person you re-tweet and encourage them to follow you. They may even re-tweet your content to their followers, which will encourage their followers to follow you.
TIP:
Always thank a person who re-tweets your content.
Join and start fun and engaging conversations and offer helpful support or advice wherever possible.
A few pointers for conversation on Twitter:
- Don't preach
- If you enjoy someone’s tweets or value their advice… say so!
- ALWAYS thank a new follower
- Follow Friday, #FF on Friday's tweet lists of your favourite tweeters
- Use the twitter list maker to create and share lists of your favourite follows
- Re-tweet content often, but not too much. To be taken seriously you need to tweet a substantial amount of your own content
Don'ts - how to prevent losing followers
- Once you've established a substantial group of followers ensure your follow list isn't higher in number than the list your followers (or you'll look desperate)
- Don’t tweet exclusively about your blog, site or business
- Don't tweet content that's weak, irrelevant or boring
- No more than 20% of tweets should be directly related to promoting your brand. While self-promotion is definitely appropriate, you should limit the amount of talk that’s directly related to your brand. The more helpful and open you are on Twitter, the more others will start to promote and talk up you and your brand and click through to your site
Some Australian social media stats, Overall Australian Statistics and Usage Trends
Thanks to: digital marketing lab blog
Twitter Audience: In September 2009, Twitter users in Australia peaked at 1.6 million unique users and in January 2010 this dropped back to 1.2 million users Time Spent Onsite; Twitter users spent an average of 19 minutes each month using the micro blogging site
.
Growth: Twitter’s audience levels grew by more than 400% in 2009
Other Important Information: 23% of Australians online read ‘Tweets’ in the past year whilst 14% ‘followed’ companies or organisations via Twitter (up from 5% in 2008) Social Media vs Search; According to Hitwise social media and search traffic is now neck and neck.
Other Important Information: 23% of Australians online read ‘Tweets’ in the past year whilst 14% ‘followed’ companies or organisations via Twitter (up from 5% in 2008) Social Media vs Search; According to Hitwise social media and search traffic is now neck and neck.
In the week ending the 16th of January, social media was just .4% behind search as an online category in Australia. Online Reviews & Opinions; 86% of Australian’s online are looking to fellow Internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands. Brand Interaction; According to Nielsen nearly 40% of online Australians are now interacting with companies via social networking sites, reinforcing notions that Australians are open to engaging with brands and companies online.
By Taylor & Grace
© 2010 Taylor & Grace
© 2010 Taylor & Grace
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