Twitter is a free micro-blogging platform where you can ‘tweet’ short, regular messages to followers you build up over time. Twitter can provide a low-cost marketing route and also open up networking opportunities.
A message on Twitter is known as a tweet and is automatically sent to all your followers. Those you tweet, with 140 characters or less, may choose to ‘retweet’ your message to their followers. The model is viral marketing, the potential obvious.
The best users of Twitter follow the maxim “tell, not sell” and aim to engage their audience and build a trusted identity. Twitter can help build a human face to a business with a more informal style than is suitable via conventional marketing messages.
You can spend a lot of time tweeting, with some getting hooked on it, but regular tweeting at consistent times during the day is perhaps the best plan to aim for. If you’ve got something really interesting to share with your followers then you can always do an extra tweet or two! Tweeting six times one day and none the next is not the most effective way to utilise the channel, if you’re serious about wanting to establish a presence.
When using Twitter as a business tool you need to bear in mind:
- Everything you ‘tweet’ is public (unless you use a Direct Message to talk privately with someone who’s in your network)
- If you use Twitter to market your product or service overtly you’ll find people won’t be keen to keep following you. Rather, use Twitter as a channel to share insight and information.
- Use a shortening service such as bit.ly to enable getting more in your tweet, which is only 140 characters in total, including links.
You can follow a step by step guide to setting up a Twitter account, or just consider the following before registering without any support.
- When choosing a username you may want to incorporate your company name, if it’s short.
- Whatever username you choose, it needs to be memorable.
- Try to add a bit of personality to the one line biography, but keep it clear and concise.
- Your profile image can be of a person or company logo.
You may like to follow one, or all of the 3 video tutorials made by Wings Academy to provide step by step help with learning to use Twitter:
- Twitter – first steps, making your first tweet on twitter, deleting a tweet and customising your home page.
- Recap on lesson 1, plus how to follow people on Twitter
- Recap on lesson 2, making Twitter lists and setting up Twitter on your mobile device.
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