Tapping the Marketing Power of Twitter

Twitter is a fairly new kind of social networking site that allows what has become known as "micro blogging". Users can send short messages to other users and to the Twitter website through a number of different outlets.

The most distinctive aspect of Twitter is that messages are limited to 140 characters in length. While this does limit the detail that can be sent in a message, or "Tweet", it means that users can receive updates through the Twitter website, SMS, instant messaging, RSS or email.

Twitter was launched in March 2006 by start-up company Obvious Corp. From a marketing point of view, it has uses in customer service, ecommerce and mcommerce marketing, and affiliate marketing.

A number of companies, large and small, are using Twitter to keep their customers up to date about their products and deals. Amazon has been using Twitter successfully to keep customers posted about new products and special deals.

This can be an easy and free marketing tool. Simply set up a page or section on your website that allows your customers to subscribe to your Twitter feed. Think carefully about the nature and frequency of your content. Only Tweet when you have news that will genuinely be of interest to customers. Nobody wants to receive 10 Tweets a day from a single company.

While Twitter allows you to connect directly with customers, customers can also communicate with you. They can respond to any Tweet you send — appearing as a conversation on the Twitter website. This is an excellent tool for gauging your customer needs and providing one-to-one customer service.

You can respond to customer queries directly, or private message them if the information is sensitive. You can also delete negative posts — only recommended for vulgar or off-topic posts. Ignoring customers' legitimate, negative comments won't help your reputation. Negative comments present an opportunity improve both your products and your customer relations.

Twitter pages do well in search engine searches and thus are an excellent way to boost your exposure. While it's not as good as a direct website link, it will certainly diversify your traffic source.

You can also reciprocate links between your Twitter pages and your website or blog. It's also another way to get your message out on social networking sites.

The great thing about marketing in the Web 2.0 world is that it's still very much experimental. There's not right or wrong only what works. Take advantage of these technologies to market and brand yourself.

 

Written by: David C Skul - CEO

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