I had an amazing meeting this afternoon with 3 of the coolest guys you would ever be so lucky to meet. These guys are clients of mine, who wanted to discuss Twitter as well as the best ways to leverage its power. Everyone of these guys (up to this point) were WAY TOO COOL to use (or be found dead on) Twitter. By the end of the 2 hour meeting (which really did FLY by) they were ALL ready to get their own personal Twitter accounts setup (besides the corporate one I had already helped them set up).
Why the change of heart for these hardest of hard core “cool dudes”?
It really is simple – I showed and helped them understand the power of Twitter and what it would/could do for their business (as well as what it could do for them individually).
Businesses for the most part, still just don’t get Twitter. They feel it is simply a trendy fad and you’re less cool for being a part of (I admit that it is a fad). My clients were actually worried that they would look like sell outs to all the hard cores out there in their specific industry. True or not, they need to be taking advantage of what it is doing for businesses right now, just like they will be needing to take advantage of whatever fad is helping businesses in two years from now.
I explained to them, there is at least one reason to get a corporate Twitter account, which is to get your business (Twitter URL) name locked down before the competition (or worse – someone who hates you more) does and causes you some major online reputation management problems. How would you like to have someone out there pretending to be you, promoting stuff you may not want to be promoting, and getting fans and followers (and money) off of your good name that you have taken the time, and spent the money to gain? This piece of advice really opened their eyes. I am always surprised that more businesses do not understand this.
Now, these guys are not idiots when it comes to social stuff (in fact they do very well on Youtube and other social forums, but they still have a long way to come when understanding the overall pictures of social media and reasons that a business must embrace it. This is one of my most important challenges as an Internet marketer – helping businesses understand and grasp the “big picture” of online marketing strategies. You are not simply “tweeting” ONLY to make sales, or creating amazing content that will FP Digg just because it will make you initial sales. There is more to it… which I will explain as you read further.
Here is a breakdown of some of the “eye opening” things (to these guys) I told my clients today in terms of helping them to understand the direction they need to take Twitter with their company:
- Online Reputation Management – making sure you are the one that is in control of your name and brand socially.
- Customer Service – if people know you can be reached via Twitter, they will reach you. You can often help people much quicker and easier through Twitter. (140 chars, or less baby) Saves a ton of time from annoying phone calls, am I right??
- Tips – These guys are in an industry filled with people looking for tips, so what better platform to put your tips out there? Get in front of the millions of people who are using Twitter everyday. Tips are a great way to get people checking back and can help increase the number of followers you have tremendously!
- Services – Let it be known why you are on Twitter, and how exactly you can help people via Twitter (what services you are willing to offer etc).
- Humor – Just because you are on “trendy Twitter” does not mean you can’t be yourself and make people laugh. In fact, the more you are yourself and let people know its the real YOU, or the REAL COMPANY that they have grown to trust and love, the more likely it is going to do you good – and get you more followers.
- Videos – Again, if you are in a field that has videos, Twitter is a great place to share them – especially if they are going to make people laugh, teach them, or in some other way “enlighten” them!
- Content promotion – Got a blog? Well make sure you put up a “tweet” every time you got a new post live. The more people that like it will re-tweet it and share it. The more people share it and pass it around, the better it is for you (but that should be a no brainer huh?)
- Product promotions – Its OK to promote products that you offer on Twitter – it really is. Just make sure you are doing other things with your Twitter account besides just “promoting”. You are more likely to make sales and gain (not lose) followers by mixing it up!
- Contests – A great way to gain new followers and get more people interested (or knowing) about your brand. Offer something that will get people talking about, and linking back to you. This is very powerful when done right!
- Reach new customers – You want to be doing everything you can to be finding new customers. The old hard core base is great, but the only way to expand and gain more customers is by stepping outside the traditional methods of marketing. I had to help these guys understand that traffic from Youtube is great, but why not throw in 10 more sites that will do 10x better for them? Lets hit ALL areas people!!! Are ya with me??
Finally, I ended it by sharing some reasons (and personal experiences – you have to be my client to hear – hah) as to why I am on Twitter personally and how it can help make money and grow you as an individual. I think that was the final thing that did it for these guys. Basically, I told them that there are people looking for stuff and asking questions on Twitter all day long – if your company can provide those answers (or services) and get paid for it – then WHY ARE YOU NOT DOING IT?
My meeting ended with one of the guys throwing down his pencil to say “DAMMIT MAT, now I am going to HAVE to go get a Twitter account when you put it that way.” We all had a good laugh, and they accused me of being the reason their business was going “soft” but it was all in fun and games and was a truly amazing breakthrough.
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I wish you had put this up a while ago when I wrote my paper last semester on the benefits of Twitter. Would have been an awesome resource! Thanks for sharing Mat. Awesome stuff that people should take to heart if they want to succeed in the online social circles.
@Jon Barker
Glad you liked it, and sorry I could not have posted it sooner (but I just had the meeting) LOL Thanks for dropping by!
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Hi Mat,
Please count me as an official “convert” to the Twitter movement.
I’ve been ambivalent about joining Twitter but, as you mention, it
is important to protect one’s online identity and reputation. Of
course, I hope to accrue the other benefits that you mention.
Mat, although there is no hard and fast rule, how often do you think that one needs to “tweet” on Twitter? I just don’t know how effective
sporadic posts will be? Thanks for any feedback regarding this matter.
Best Regards,
Andy Lax
@Andy Lax
Thanks for the question Andy. I think it really depends on how into it you are planning on getting. If you really want to “get into it” and be a part of the movement, putting a number on it is no good. It’s more like how you would participate in your neighborhood and interact etc. You must be a good community member and add value to the conversation. Ask, share, recommend, comment, give feedback, answer questions etc. Let me put it this way – if you are only tweeting every once in a while – you are not getting it. If you find yourself tweeting every minute of everyday — LOL you are getting it. Hope this helps. Just participate and don’t force anything. be yourself.
All Great tips. It can prove to be quite challenging to explain the value of Twitter to someone that is not already in the know. You laid it out quite well here. Tweeted. 😉
.-= Gerald Weber´s last blog ..Who Are You Gonna Call When You Need A Guru? =-.
@Mat Siltala
Hi Mat,
Thanks for your thoughtful response. Yes, you’re right, Twitter should be thought of as a anther community, and I’ll try to be an active, contributing member. Your advice about being oneself is very prudent.
Best Regards,
Andy
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I couldn’t agree more with your article, Mat. I’m still surprised at some of the companies and individuals that aren’t utilizing Twitter. Even if they aren’t incredibly active Twitterers, it still helps to keep an ear to the ground and listen to what is being said about their company and their industry!
.-= Zack S´s last blog ..Monitoring Social Media for Niche and Localized Marketing =-.
@Gerald Weber
Glad I was able to add value! That is my goal here!
@Zack S
I think this is one of the biggest things I may have missed on this list … use it for LISTENING!!! TO what is being said about your company … people ARE talking about you, but the question is: Are you listening? Great point, thanks for commenting!
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Hey, great article, a few things: should small local businesses be interested in twitter–> shouldn’t their time be more focused on the business at large than the online world? Also, how is a small company supposed to acquire hundreds or thousands of followers? Is their a tactic you reccomend? Thanks!
If you look at it almost everything that we do is a fad. Some just happen to last longer than others. It is up to you to take advantage of that window of opportunity while things are hot. If Twitter crumbled next year you had a solid year to really build and grow yourself as a brand using their communication tool. Fad or no fad all tools within reach should always be applied, or at least tested.
@Sam D
What about the group of online “local people” that they would be missing if they didn’t send out “Twitter specials of the day” or “Twitter only promotions” to drive local customers in. I think local people are the ones that could be using Twitter most effectively. They have the power to drive massive numbers of local people to their businesses, when before Twitter they really did not. I know of businesses that have offered local promotions on Twitter and have gotten so many people into their stores because of it that they ran out of food/and-or products!!!!!
I think one of the best ways a small company can gain thousands of followers is by having contests and promotions. Give people reasons to follow you and they will. Besides contests you can offer tips, coupon codes that you serve up daily etc. The ideas are limitless.
@Nick Stamoulis
Well said, and I hope my post drove home that point. With marketing (online or off), you take advantage of what people are using NOW!
This is a great resource for selling the value of Twitter to your boss or clients. There seems to be a lot of pushback when it comes to using Twitter for small businesses, so it is good to have a lot of good reasons to explain how this can make an impact.
I would add that you want to be where your customers are. When a growing number of your customers are using Twitter, you should be there also to engage with them.
Also, I actually discovered this blog through a Twitter recommendation!
.-= Charles Sipe´s last blog ..Why You Should Blog On Your Own Domain =-.