Twitt
er has some amazing capabilities that most people do not know about. Everyone assumes that Twitter is a way to let everyone know what they are doing every minute of everyday. Some individual users may use it for this purpose, but that doesn’t mean you have to listen. This ‘noise’ on Twitter is often a deterrent to most people even giving the micro-blogging platform a chance. Micro-blogging is the technical name for the service that Twitter offers. Using 140 Characters or less (spaces and punctuation count) you have to write the message you want others to see. This leaves the door wide open for tech-savvy business’s to become subject matter experts.
This blog post will share how to set-up your own Twitter and its MANY uses.
Initial Set-up
Once you sign-up for Twitter be sure to follow the steps they assist you with and fill out your bio and information completely. Also, let people know why you are on Twitter by telling them what industry and topics you are interested in. Whether it may be Health Care, Marketing, Manufacturing or Construction there are people you can find to follow and engage with. If you are curious about whom is most influential within your industry or a given topic check out WeFollow.Com, where they list Twitter profiles and rank them in specific categories. Make your profile more inviting by adding custom color schemes, or even a custom background image, and a hyperlink to your website.
What can Twitter be used for?
A News Source – Our world is moving deeper and deeper into the digital age and our source of news needs to be up to the minute, even up to the second. You can utilize Twitter’s power to be your source for news. Every top news channel in the world is tweeting what’s going on locally and across the world. Look up your favorite news source and stay informed.
Knowledge source (best practices) – Twitterites (people on twitter) are some of the most knowledgeable at what they do. When you follow someone on twitter you can tap into that knowledge bank and learn from the best. Who doesn’t want to hear from thought leaders?
Industry Specific – No matter what industry or sector you come from, someone is on twitter talking about it. If you want to hear what is popular and catching people’s attention in your industry you have to get on twitter. Listening to others is the best way to get a handle on what’s hot and what’s not, and to stay on the cusp of the up-and-coming. Learn from the best so you can become the best!
Listen and Share (engage) – Ever heard the saying “You were given two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you speak?”Well that is a great way to approach twitter. Before you jump in and start tweeting, be sure you understand how to use twitter in the most effective manner by listening to how others do it. Listen, and then speak. If you are confident that people are going to listen to what you have to say, don’t hesitate. Someone out there is going to listen, but be sure to thank them for becoming a follower!
Cross-Pollination – Social Media is all about sharing and Twitter is no different. Gaining influence on Twitter comes over time. Once you have people attention and your following is growing, be sure to invite them to your other social media outlets. ‘Like me on Facebook’ and ‘Connect with me on LinkedIn’ are all great strategies to engage on Twitter.
Link Sharing – Once you get on Twitter you will begin to see a ton of links. Nearly every Tweet has a link on it, because you can’t get the whole story in under 140 characters. If what you say is interesting enough people will click the link. Now this may be your first interaction with short-links, but have no fear. Short links allow you to take up less of the 140 characters that Twitter gives you. Links are integral to your strategy of sharing content on Twitter. Be sure to let people know where the link will send them, and they will be more likely to click.
Marketing – Twitter can add another touch point to your marketing mix. This allows for you to become an industry leader and send traffic to your website, or your blog. Twitter is also a great platform for offers and promotions. If you are curious on how to track how successful your Twitter efforts are please see our blog post on Measuring marketing Results (LINK TO BLOGPOST).
Food for Thought – Ever have an interesting thought pop into your head and you felt like you should share it? If you’ve ever had a construction marketing revelation and wanted to let people know about it, Twitter is the perfect outlet. Remember that it is all about thinking outside of the box. People are more likely to engage with the unconventional because it will catch their attention. This strategy also adds a altruistic feel to your Twitter account, and people may see value in following you.
Word of Mouth – If you’ve ever wanted to attempt a viral marketing campaign twitter could help. The infamous Tweet button can now be found on almost every site you may get your news from. If you share great content on Twitter, others will spread the word for you. Just focus on putting out interesting, engaging thought provoking tweets and your loyal following will do the rest of the work.
Trending Tweets – When you first sign into Twitter you will see Trends on the right hand side of the screen. This is where you can see what everyone is talking about. You may not be interested in what is happening around the world (60% of twitter users are outside of the U.S. which means often times things are in a foreign language) but you can change your trends to reflect your geographic location and what you may be interested in. As I’m writing this “Vday” is trending as February 14th is fast approaching.
Advertising – Seeing that people tend to spend time engaging on twitter, they have recently added advertising options. Promoted Twitter Accounts, promoted tweets, and promoted trends are the three basic options Twitter now has. Pricing is based off of each engagement a twitter user has with the specific option. Retweeting, link clicking/ sharing, and following are all examples of engagement. A robust metrics dashboard is given to advertisers. We can all hope that this dashboard will soon be released to everyone using twitter for business, as measurement becomes increasingly important.
Applications / Utilities – Seeing that Twitter does not have a robust dashboard offered to its users, people have created ways of keeping track of your account. Programs such as TweetDeck and Hootsuite offer Twitter users an easier way to track conversations that are happening on twitter, and measure results. These applications are often times free.
Hash Tags – You may often times see a world preceded by a “#” sign, which is defined as a hashtag on Twitter. This means that people who search for that given topic will be alerted to what you have written. For example I would write:
“NEW! Blog post Titled Twitter for Construction Marketing (insert short link here) #marketing #construction #twitter”
This tweet above now alerts people interested in marketing, construction and Twitter. Hash tags are very important to reaching more people, and leveraging the word of mouth aspects of Twitter.
You need to be aware of the different ways Twitter can be used and find what works for you, and your business. No one-way of using this micro-blogging platform is right. Before doubting the power of Twitter sign-up, and start to network and connect with people in your industry. Soon you will have a powerhouse of followers who listen to what you and your company are doing and saying.