Recently business has realised the potential use of Twitter as a tool for marketing products and services directly to new customers. If you and your business want to capitalise on Twitter’s application for marketing, here’s some advice on running your Twitter marketing campaign:



Set up your Twitter account and profile using your company name. When it comes to filling in your profile details, make it keyword rich, so if a potential customer is searching for companies such as yours, they have a great chance of finding you on Twitter.

Unless you run a REALLY informal company, you should aim to keep your ‘Tweet’ messages business-focused. Potential customers don’t need to know what you had for lunch.

 



Whenever you are writing ‘Tweets’ make your messages keyword rich, this way people using alerts and searches will be directed to your Tweets when searching for your product or services.

 



Use updates judiciously otherwise you will just annoy your potential customers. Once or twice per hour is enough.

 



Use an IM-style program like Twitterfox and Twhirl, it sits on your desktop, so it will be quicker and easier to manage than logging into the Twitter website every time you want to send a message.

 



Tweetbeep is an alert service to let you know when people are tweeting about key phrases that relate to you and your business. This allows you to reply directly to them if they are looking for help or advice.

 



Inform your newsletter subscribers, hot leads and CRM database that you are available to follow on Twitter. Encourage your customers to sign up to Twitter by publishing special Twitter only deals, after all, a Tweet takes no time at all but a newsletter plenty!

 



Promote your Twitter account everywhere possible, your social networks, social bookmarking sites, on your company websites, in your emails, wherever you think customers will see it, the more followers that you have, the larger your potential audience/market becomes.

 



Finally, plan your Twitter marketing campaign carefully to attract the right attention and create the right buzz. Don’t just tweet for twitter’s sake. Know what you’re doing, plan out your strategy and implement it effectively. Used properly Twitter really works as a great marketing tool.





Twitter is a highly effective tool for business users to connect directly with their potential customers. If you need help attracting new customers through Twitter Marketing, email Nikki at nikki@nikkipilkington.com

And of course, you can ‘follow’ Nikki herself on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/NikkiPilkington and clicking on ‘follow’.

 

To see this article in it’s original form, complete with links, please visit

http://nikkipilk.sc10.co.uk/blog/2008/06/14/using-twitter-for-business-part-3-marketing-with-twitter/



By: NikkiPilkington

What is Twitter?

Twitter has to be the fastest growing Social Media sites online today.  It is taking the internet by storm and there are around 10,000 new users per day signing up to participate in this new online revolution.

Twitter is best described as a micro blogging network.  Users are limited to 140 characters of text each time you do an update, which initially, may seem a small amount.  However, as you play around more, it’s just amazing what you can fit into 140 characters.

However, Twitter is much, much more than that.  It is like one huge global forum, but then again, it doesn’t have to be.  It all depends on how many people you follow on Twitter.  If it’s in the thousands, then your “Tweetstream” will be running fast and furious with everything that’s coming in.  If you are only following a few hundred, or even less, then things are much easier to keep up with.

Twitter is also a great way to meet new people online, particularly those with similar interests to you.

How To Set Up Twitter Account

Setting up Twitter Account tand o have your own account is easy, but there are a few things that you should be aware of when organizing your account.  This can apply even if you already have an existing twitter account too, so consider these tips and it can improve your entire Twitter experience.

The first thing to do if you don’t have a twitter account is go to twitter.com which is the main page of Twitter.  You will be asked to either login or register. If you don’t have an account, then of course you will need to register for onw.  So let’s go through the registration process and explain it all here.

How to Register Twitter Account

The Twitter screen will ask you for your first name and last name and will then check this is entered correctly.  A green tick will appear next to the box.

The next screen asks you for a user name and this is where you need to consider how you are going to present yourself on Twitter. You should remember that you can set up more than one account on Twitter, but you will need a different email address for each one.

Now this is where the thinking bit comes in.  The first account you register should always be in your own name if you can get it.  Naturally, common names like JackSmith (there are no spaces in usernames) will already be taken.  However it is possible to get variations on your own name such as Jack_Smith, or Jack_Smith23 or some variation like that.  You can only use an underscore in a username. Hyphens are not permitted in the field.

It isn’t absolutely critical that you register your own name, but I would advise you do if you can, particularly if your name is a special one.  I’m sure the last thing you want is someone else impersonating you on Twitter, or anywhere else for that matter.

If you wish to register a business name, then you can do that of course, but make sure you use your own name in the sign up process so you are identifiable and connected with the company name you register.  The concepts and reasons for operating under each type of registration will be discussed later.

You are now asked for your email address. Email addresses are linked to accounts and you will only be able to use your email address once. For every account you register, you will need a different email address.

The last thing to do is to fill in the Captcha letters and then click on Create My Account.

The next screen will ask if you want to add any of your friends from the popular web based email programs.  You can do this later if you wish.

The next screen presents a short list of people who Twitter asks if you would like to follow. Choose some if you like, but I wouldn’t bother. I prefer to find my own friends on Twitter.

When you click Finish, you will then be taken to your very own Twitter account.  You are logged in and ready to go!

To learn more about How to use Twitter to market your business and drive traffic and sales to your business, take a look at these Video Tutorials on Twitter



By: Bobby Leong