Hootsuite rocks.
Most businesses think of Twitter as a promotional vehicle, a way to gain readers for a blog or increase site traffic, or perhaps announce new events or products. But it can be a useful sales-generating tool as well.
Let’s review some facts and figures as a why-should-you-care refresher:
- Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users.
- 180 million unique visitors come to the site every month.
- New users are signing up at the rate of 300,000 per day.
Now you might be thinking: Super (sarcastic tone), so a lot of people are on Twitter. I knew that. And my small business is supposed to find my customers in the haystack HOW?
- Well, the size of your company doesn’t have much to do with it. If you know your Twitter objectives (aka boost sales) and target audience – Twitter can be effective regardless of the number of people on your payroll.
- Repeat after me: Blindly tweeting won’t get your business much mileage. Do: Avoid promotional tweets not tailored for your target audience. Don’t: Be robotic. Personal messages (ex: your CEO contributes every so often) will make your Twitter feed a personal face and credibility.
- Find the influencers in your industry. Then follow them, figure out what makes them successful, and contribute tidbits to the conversation.
- Use Hootsuite to monitor keywords, schedule messages, measure results and manage other accounts (like Facebook and LinkedIn) simultaneously. Interested in HootSuite? Sign up here.
- A relevant Twitter domain is a great (and easy) way to establish credibility with potential customers. If I tweet “Looking for affordable local antiques any recs?” I’m much more likely to respond to FabNashAntiques than storeTN37215.
Curious how other companies are using Twitter? Check out Mashable’s rundown of the 40 best Twitter brands in 2009 (a bit dated, but still interesting).
