Twitter - Jumping into the Unknown - PART 1

We’ve had a bunch of enquiries from clients regarding how to get the best out of Twitter and how to integrate it into their online PR and marketing.

If used effectively Twitter can become a great way to connect with your customers in a dynamic and real time environment. It is the web as a true leveller where opinions, ideas, thoughts and feelings can be shared, commented upon, aggregated and shared again in minutes.


My customers don't Tweet?
Twitter is the 3rd most used social network in the world. In old school marketing terms its base value can be found in the demographics of its users – a whopping 61.3% of its user base (by traffic on its site) are between 25 and 49. Why’s this important? Because they’ve got money that’s why and in B2B ter


What's the point? What is it really?
According to their site Twitter enables people to answer the question “What are you doing?” in real time and share that with as many people as who are interested in the answer. It is essentially an “evolution of mobile messaging”, a chat room made global or a universal micro blogging tool, depending on who you ask.


So why would you want to get involved?
In simple terms the business specific uses are endless and there is an unique opportunity to take a tool with a very broad base and focus it on the needs of your business and your customers.

A quick example:

Big Bites Sandwiches are based in a city centre crowded with competition and have trouble standing out from the crowd. They don’t get telephone orders because people are busy doing their jobs and feel that buying decisions are made due to proximity and convenience and not quality or service. They decide to use Twitter to take lunch orders and broadcast daily specials and deals quickly to their followers. Result: the buying decision is made on an informed basis and people become more willing to go a little out of their way for a great lunch and a good service. The consumer wins and so does the business.

It can help you:

  • Promote your brand, service or product
  • Interact with your customers and prospects
  • Learn from open and honest feedback and new ideas
  • Create a loyal following of brand advocates
  • Help your customers solve problems
  • Relate to your customer and prospect base


So where do you start?
As ever, you start with planning and research. Think hard about what you want to achieve through Twitter; ensure these objectives are directly related to your wider business and marketing strategy. Ask yourself some searching questions:

• Do I want to build my customer base?
• Do I want to publicize new products and services?
• Do I want to build my brand or businesses profile?
• Do I want to gain market intelligence about the attitudes, behaviours, needs and wants of my potential market?
• Do I want to establish myself as a thought leader?

Then think about what you can achieve specific to your business:

  • If you’re a Recruiter you can Tweet out new jobs – this can appeal to “passive” job hunters who need opportunities pushed towards them.
  • If you’re an Hotelier you can Tweet out last minute deals or ideas about what to do when your guests arrive.
  • If you’re a Publican or Club Owner you can Tweet out promotions and offers to sway people potential customers making last minute plans.
  • If you sell online you can Tweet out voucher codes and drive customers to specific offer URL’s.

As with any business decision work out what people will want from you and then give it to them. Make it relevant, targeted, valuable and exclusive.

A Cliff Hanger

So now we know what Twitter is and a little about the value that it can have for your business. Next week we're going to look at how to get started.

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