Twitter for Business?
50 Best Practice Ideas to Put this Killer App to Use
By Chris Brogan
We really can’t deny the fact that businesses are testing out Twitter as part of their steps into the social media landscape. You can say it’s a stupid application, that no business gets done there, but there are too many of us (including me) that can disagree and point out solid business value. I’m not going to address the naysayers much with this. Instead, I’m offering 50 thoughts for people looking to use Twitter for business. And by “business,” I mean any growth-directed business from a solo to a global 1000.
Your mileage may vary, and you might have some really great ideas to add. Send you comments to info@thecxogroup.com or tweet them to @CEOStrategies.
First Steps
1. Build an account and immediately start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
2. Add a picture to your profile. We want to see you.
3. Add a custom background with your corporate information (see @CEOStrategies for a good example of this).
4. Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human. Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
5. Share links to neat things in your community (@wholefoods does this well).
6. Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead (see how @jetblue gives travel tips).
7. Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
8. Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories (@TheHomeDepot does it well.)
9. Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
10. Talk about non-business issues, too.
Ideas About WHAT to Tweet
11. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
12. Have more than one Twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
13. When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
14. Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
15. Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who he or she follows and follow them.
16. Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, this doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes others feel like you’re not “that guy.”
17. When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful and add business value. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
18. Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
19. Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time).
20. Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.
Some Sanity For You
21. You don’t have to read every tweet.
22. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty if you don’t reply to others).
23. Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation.
24. Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
25. Third-party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
26. If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
27. If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
28. Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
29. If someone says you’re using Twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt-out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
30. Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.
The Negatives People Will Throw At You
31. Twitter takes up time.
32. Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
33. Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
34. There are other ways to do this.
35. As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
36. Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
37. Twitter is just for technonerds.
38. Twitter is only a few million people. (only)
39. Twitter doesn’t replace direct e-mail marketing.
40. Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.
Some Positives to Throw Back
41. Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
42. Twitter works well as an opinion poll.
43. Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
44. Twittering at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
45. Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
46. Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
47. Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
48. Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
49. Twitter helps with business development.
50. Twitter can augment customer service.
Chris Brogan advises businesses, organizations and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value. You can reach him at www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/.
This article reprinted with permission of The CXO Group, a managing consultant group that helps to integrate sales, marketing, strategies and financial performance to maximize revenue growth. For more information, or to sign up for the free e-newsletter, visit www.thecxogroup.com.