Four Ideas for Marketing or Promoting a Business Using Twitter

Using Twitter to promote a business is not a new idea but it requires taking some time to think out what the reason for using Twitter might be before starting an account.  Twitter users are looking for information as well as great deals and they can be turned off by a user who appears to do nothing but sell.  When determining that Twitter will be a good marketing tool, define a strategy for communicating with desired Twitter audience before trying to turn them into customers.  The best business strategy includes sharing information by giving and getting it on Twitter.  Then follow that with a few promotions scattered in and giving the business a personality the readers can feel confident in.  Below are 4 ways to use Twitter that a business should consider as part of the strategy.

1.    GIVE SOMETHING:

Before starting to give information on Twitter, look at what others in the field give out and how many followers they may have.  This will provide an idea of what a particular audience is interested in.  If an account has a lot of followers, then the chances are good that they are providing data their followers want to read.  Some of the most popular information items on Twitter include:  links to informative articles, clever or inspirational quotes, and of course for business people like to be the first to find out about new product and service releases.

2.    PROMOTE OFFERS:

Only after sharing something with Twitter followers, should a business consider doing promotions.  Too many promotions can turn followers away as they may see this as a hard sell rather than another form of information sharing.  Something that is appreciated on Twitter is to find out about giveaways a company may be offering or free stuff on the business’s website before it is announced elsewhere.  Sharing markdowns, discounts, and coupons via Tweets is also a popular.  Retweet of these types of promotions may get sent to others by an account’s followers, thus increasing the distribution of the promotion.

3.    GET DATA: 

Also use Twitter to get information as people on Twitter not only like to get the latest information; they enjoy sharing their opinions and ideas as well.  Consider using it to ask for product reviews or do pre or post customer surveys.  These are typically done as a single question asking for a short response or 2-3 choice options so the response can be done through Twitter’s 140 character direct messages.  If multiple questions are needed to get lots of data at once, it is best to provide a link to an on-line survey and give readers an idea how long the survey might take – should try to keep it less than 5 minutes.  Be sure to follow-up by sharing the survey results via Twitter. 

4.    PERSONLIZE ACCOUNT:

Personalize the business account somewhat so people following it can learn more about the company.  Share information about the organization, what is going on right now, special plans for the future, or even employee recognition.  Consider highlighting customers and suppliers who are on Twitter by mentioning their account and something being worked on together or a joint project.  If the project might be confidential, be sure to get the customer’s or supplier’s permission first.  The customer or supplier may choose to retweet other tweets than mention them or create a similar tweet that mentioning the business they are working with.  Consider mentioning customer’s accounts on Twitter and retweeting any great recommendations they provide as well.

Use the four ideas for business use on Twitter to improve networking, marketing and communications.  Remember to start with a give before you ask to get strategy for using Twitter.  As soon as possible, get to work promoting your business on Twitter.