Twitter

[Jennifer Kim]

What does everyone think about using Twitter as a marketing tool? I'm undecided on whether I should spend the time to test the viability of the platform. Has anyone had any success with it?

[Gene]

I've heard some success stories with Twitter. I think it takes a lot of time and dedication. You need to keep your followers interested, don't spam the whole time about your service. Personally, I haven't been real successful with it yet, but I'll keep working at it!

[fthom]

I think it can be useful, but I agree that you have to keep it interesting and not just pack it with offers...it's sometimes nice to see the human side of a business and I think blogs and twitter are two platforms which allow this side to come through - so when using Twitter as a marketing tool, it's probably best just to be yourself, don't necessarily talk about your business all the time, just talk about whatever interests you! (as it's likely to interest your clients too!)

[Ergo1]

I agree with fthom, it really helps bring the human side of business out, which I have found works very well with the younger generation.

Since half of our business is on the service side, we like to use twitter to engage our users by recognizing their achievements. People like the "fame" that goes along with that.

[byrneof]

Although I have a twitter account I haven't used it much. Interested in the comments on this post.

[Bouch]

Wow Ergo1, that's a great idea recognizing user achievements. I just recently joined Twitter to see how it can help increase traffic as well as network with others posting related information. So far most that I have followed are now following me for mutual benefit.

[Jennifer Kim]

Ergo1,

That's an interesting concept with regard to recognizing customers. One method of recognition I think would simply be to reply to a tweet of one of your followers. I'm not talking about a generic response; something well thought out and individualized would go a long way in creating a loyal, repeat customer.

Maybe you can even take it a step further and offer Twitter only promotions like 20% off for the 1st to reply to a tweet and things of that nature. My company is a dating service so maybe I can match two followers who share common interests. So much potential with today's technology! =)

[clabrat]

I just started using it and it seems to be doing pretty good. You are correct though that it does take time to keep it interesting.

[Ergo1]

Twitter works for us in several different ways, not only engaging our current users, but also hooking new users once they come to the website. What we did was replace a description of our company on our home page (that nobody was looking at since it was just block text and everyone loves pictures) with a twitter module. The updates in the twitter module immediately give a newcomer a sense of what is going on while engaging their interest in becoming part of the "community".

We definitely need to work on the back end of twittering by following our customers and giving friendly tweets here and there. That is the part that really takes time and will be a little harder to develop. I love your idea on 20% off promotions for twitter activity though. It reminds me of when the radio opens up their call lines for a prize (and of course the lines are all swamped immediately!)

Ergo1,

That's an interesting concept with regard to recognizing customers. One method of recognition I think would simply be to reply to a tweet of one of your followers. I'm not talking about a generic response; something well thought out and individualized would go a long way in creating a loyal, repeat customer.

Maybe you can even take it a step further and offer Twitter only promotions like 20% off for the 1st to reply to a tweet and things of that nature. My company is a dating service so maybe I can match two followers who share common interests. So much potential with today's technology! =)

[ACMAir]

A great tool is Monitter.com which searches for keywords in people's posts. Its helped me find 3 prospective clients in a few hours.

[MpyreDzirez]

What I do is try to get other people that are influencers
in my market to start up a conversation with me. If I see
they are talking about something that I have information
about then I jump in.

When the influencers reply their followers see them talking
with me and then I get follows. If we're in the same market
then I have just gained targeted followers.

Other things I do is give my followers quality content via
blog posts so that they get to know me and what level
of quality I put out.

Lastly, I use ViralTweets.com to giveaway something of
value to my target market. It gets people retweeting my
message and then their followers come and it repeats.