ADNET Audio & Internet Advertising

Twitter is instant messaging made available to the public. A reported 5,000 to 10,000 new people join every day. Estimated of total users are in excess of 5 million.

You post updates (Tweets) as often as you want. When you follow other people on Twitter, you see their tweets. When they follow you, they see your tweets.

Some business people report that it is a great way to connect on a more personal level with their employees and customers. They use it to help build a brand, not drive direct sales.

Twitter Search is a way to see what people are saying about your products or services. Replying to questions can lead to direct sales. It’s a form of constructive promotion.

Following the right people on Twitter is key. There are some people very gifted at building relationships on Twitter.

You can login to Twitter watch what others are talking about. When you do Tweet, present useful information and resources to your followers. Some report 800 percent increase in enquiries about their business.

You can use Twitter as a form of networking by following and interacting with people you respect. Other than a cold call on the phone or e-mail, it’s hard to get your name or products in front of vendors, industry analysts, and industry experts. Twitter conversations can lead to personal conversations.

To stay top of mind with experts, offer interesting links, respond to tweets, and post your thoughts for conversation at least a few times a day.

You never know when national media will write about or link to you based on something you tweeted. It could result in a spike in web traffic and/or a sale.

Twitter has a whole world of available support applications you can employ to gain the most of the service for your business.

1. Echofon for Twitter: This Firefox web browser add-on allows you to view Tweets within your web browser. This is very handy and eliminates the need to constantly go to Twitter.com.
2. tweet-u-later.com: apparently allows you to schedule tweets (much like you would schedule emails)….. I haven’t been able to get this to work
3. Ping.fm: If you have accounts with many services, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, this site allows you to post updates across ALL of your social media sites in one single step. This does work.
4. Twitter for Facebook: If you are on Facebook, this application forwards your Twitter updates directly to Facebook as status updates.

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

Shane Warne uses Twitter to release short publicity notices to the world but Warnie’s Warnie so what has that got to do with you?

Twitter is an information network. Millions of people, organizations, and businesses use it to discover and share new information.

Build your following, reputation, and customer’s trust with these simple practices:

1. Share. Share photos and behind the scenes info about your business. Even better, give a glimpse of developing projects and events. Users come to Twitter to get and share the latest, so give it to them!
2. Listen. Regularly monitor the comments about your company, brand, and products.
3. Ask. Ask questions of your followers to glean valuable insights and show that you are listening.
4. Respond. Respond to compliments and feedback in real time
5. Reward. Tweet updates about special offers, discounts and time-sensitive deals.
6. Demonstrate wider leadership and know-how. Reference articles and links about the bigger picture as it relates to your business.
7. Champion your stakeholders. Retweet and reply publicly to great tweets posted by your followers and customers.
8. Establish the right voice. Twitter users tend to prefer a direct, genuine, and of course, a likable tone from your business, but think about your voice as you Tweet. How do you want your business to appear to the Twitter community?

Only you can decide whether promoting your business via social media is beneficial or simply a waste of time.