Nathan Yerian
Twitter is one of the largest social network platforms in the world, but some companies still balk at the idea of investing resources into this social media marketing king pin. While there's still a lot of research to be done about the financial ROI that a company can gain from using Twitter, it's clear that using the service can do wonders for brand sentiment, which will only help product purchases in the future.
Here are five reasons why your company should be tweeting:
1. It's a customer connector. It doesn't require reading countless of unhelpful or nonspecific messages in a generic support mail inbox. Twitter is an instant way to connect with your customers to offer your support and garner their feedback on your products and service, good and bad. You can't control how people will always react to you on Twitter, but the direct contact you make with individual users can lead to powerful word-of-mouth recommendations and change your brand's entire customer outreach strategy. Focus group-level research, all for free.
2. It's a branding equalizer. Big brands aren't the only ones to succeed on Twitter. Influence on Twitter comes from creating and curating great content, which means small businesses and individuals can all garner the right attention. Companies on Twitter that get the most positive buzz are ones that are authentic - sometimes they're funny, sometimes they're apologetic, sometimes they're just really helpful. If your company is less well-known, you can start by putting a human face in front of the Twitter account because people will want to connect with a person. Make sure they're personable, honest, and engaging.
3. It's a place to promote products and share news without filters. Twitter's platform makes it easy to get news and other information out about your brand and its products to your most loyal followers. There's no longer any need to send out a press release and hope your local media outlet writes a positive story about it. It's why so many politicians and celebrities are using Twitter to make announcements or clarify rumors. Twitter is a space where you can control exactly how your message comes out.
4. It's a place to generate leads and make more money. In 2009, Dell announced that they had generated more than $6.5 million in revenue from Twitter alone. While that wasn't a huge percentage of their overall business, it was likely purchases made by customers they weren't reaching through traditional methods. More than Facebook, Twitter is a space for strangers to make connections that can benefit them both professionally and personally. With the right social strategy and engagement on Twitter, sales and business leads are sure to follow.
5. It's easier than blogging. Here's a little secret about blogging: it's hard. Writing a single blog post can be time-consuming and expensive. It requires more natural writing ability. It can be hard to come up with topics to write every day or week, and on average, longer-form content gets fewer reads (unless the content is exceptional, of course). On the other hand, Twitter is a quick way for just about anyone to join the conversation. You don't need to spend hours planning and creating content. Re-tweeting and curating the best-of tweets in your particular area takes seconds, and the payoff is big: your company looks active and forward-thinking.