Twitter: How do you use yours?

[FishBowl]

I think that it's important to be really natural with Twitter. It's about, in my opinion, creating a personality behind the brand. So I wanted to share my thoughts in the hope that I could get some feedback and find out if and how you guys are using Twitter.

So, I manage @fishbowlhq which is the main Twitter account for IN A FISHBOWL | Follow entrepreneurs as they make steps in their new businesses. I find Twitter to be a fantastic tool firstly for giving real time, regular updates from all 3 Fishbowl businesses. So, I retweet what @fishbowlone, @fishbowltwo and @fishbowlthree are saying, as well as tweeting about new blog posts and videos. Further to this, I ask questions and seek opinions about what's happening with the businesses.

Aside from this, however, I like to get involved with and interact with people who I find interesting with regard to my target audience - people who say interesting and relevant things that might also interest my followers, so I retweet them. I also get involved in conversations and give my opinion - I particularly enjoy #watercoolermoment which gives businesses a chance to take a break and chat. By retweeting, I gain relationships with interesting people too.

Finally, I like to give a human feel to my Twitter by adding the occasional informal, chatty tweet, perhaps about my weekend or the weather - anything to show that I'm not just a robot.

How does everyone else feel about Twitter? How do you market your business through it?

[Alvin McCoy]

Hello FishBowl, nice topic. I absolutely agree with your approach, its how I go about using my twitter account. I think its crucial to maintain relationships with your target audience with direct @tweets.

I believe the biggest thing to avoid is appearing to be spammy with your tweets, I had that problem when I started using twitter. This is exactly why the human factor is so important.

[FishBowl]

Hi Alvin,

I was discussing this with someone the other day, and they said something which I thought was a really good point.

They said Twitter is like a conversation, and the etiquette shouldn't differ from a conversation in real life. You wouldn't turn up at a networking event, throw some sales pitches at someone then ignore them for the rest of the event. You'd chat to them, get to know them, say some interesting things and every now and then throw in a sales message.

I think that's really relevant to Twitter and why I like it so much - it really makes you think about the personal approach to marketing and treating people as individuals not just a target demographic.

[mcfarldr1]

I'm doing an internship with an amazing company my cousin started.

They use twitter to let followers know of new products or any news they have. They don't do much conversation on it. It's like free marketing.

[DayTrader]

Hi Alvin,

I was discussing this with someone the other day, and they said something which I thought was a really good point.

They said Twitter is like a conversation, and the etiquette shouldn't differ from a conversation in real life. You wouldn't turn up at a networking event, throw some sales pitches at someone then ignore them for the rest of the event. You'd chat to them, get to know them, say some interesting things and every now and then throw in a sales message.

I think that's really relevant to Twitter and why I like it so much - it really makes you think about the personal approach to marketing and treating people as individuals not just a target demographic.

I so agree with you, FishBowl. Twitter should serve its purpose of expanding a social network, to gain friends and to get to know other people. It's kinda different if you just use it to "throw some sales pitches" as you said it.

You inspired me with your idea of following entrepreneurs on twitter, and I think I'm going to have a lot of asking and seeking done these following days (I'm looking for ways to market my product).

Thanks!

[GetGrasshopper]

Here at Grasshopper,many of the employees are on Twitter for personal use and we also have quite a few business accounts. Our main business account promotes our blog, keeps customers up to date with company news and we even retweet and interact with our followers. It isn't a bad idea to have different twitter accounts for different purposes. We also monitor searches for our product, for our brand and for industry terms.

[FishBowl]

Grasshopper - your point about monitoring searches for your product, brand and industry terms is a good one. I use 'saved searches' for my business account which means that I can see when people are talking about things relevant to my website, whilst also showing up on my Twitter page and giving people a good indication of what I am interested in based on what I save in searches.

I also have a personal Twitter account, which is quite chatty and informal, and where I tend to ask a lot of questions. However, I am always keen to ensure my business profile doesn't come across too business like, and I use it to engage in conversation just as much as I would a personal account. It's important to show the person behind the brand to engage people in conversation and build relationships.

[Southern_Lenders]

I like twitter, but I don't see what the competitive advantange is over a site like facebook... Twitter is not a chat, so you can't talk in real time, and thats all twitter does. It's just one giant status update feature like what facebook has.

[broyaz]

Twitter is an incredible tool to extend your brand and build new relationships. By following those in your industry and creating a niche of conversation, your company can be PERCEIVED as a leading force in your market just by the number of followers — that's it. Twitter can provide some credibility and traction, especially for startups, looking to network with similar voices. But it all comes down to quality content!

[madvillain]

I have my own personal twitter but for my business one, I have a list of messages which I have posted on a timer to a list of niche specific followers and it's brought in a few sales.

[DeonKrey]

I use twitter both personally and for business. By tweeting say 10 tweets a day, 3-5 of them will be like conversations from few of my twitter friends while the rest would be links from my favorite reads and also few from my blog posts. Ultimately, that initiates conversations better as you combine them. At the same time, I also am marketing my blog to them.

[mvtglobal]

Twitter is a really great tool for updates.
mvtworld.com

[FishBowl]

How do you use Twitter? Do you go straight to Twitter direct or another Twitter platform eg Tweetdeck or Hootsuite?

[Jenie0109]

I use twitter as a quick journal of what I'm doing day to day for info and updates.

[FishBowl]

Do you use it to market your business too?

I think sometimes people can forget to be themselves on Twitter when using it for marketing - it's good that you use it for day to day stuff.