Our last post, The Business of Tweeting, was an attempt at understanding what goes in creating a Twitter handle that is optimized for business communication. In this two-part post we will discuss what business requirements can be addressed through the use of Twitter account.

Twitter Network

The rise and rise of Twitter

Since its launch in 2006, the micro-blogging website has grown to become one of the most important online marketing and communications tools – which many people would say is second only to Facebook. It now hosts more than 1 billion tweets a week and is estimated to be worth around $10bn.

(Source: http://newtechpost.com/2010/08/03/twitter-grows-up-the-start-of-a-new-more-mature-era)

The growth has not been in just personal usage. From November 2008, when Barack Obama thanked supporters via Twitter after winning the US presidential election, to March 2011, when news of Tsunami striking Japan was being relayed via the micro blogging network, the growth has simply been phenomenal and diverse.

The untapped business tool

It’s true that Twitter is what a user makes of it. Some people publicize their daily activities, some make it about link love, some share quotes all day long. Smart people using Twitter for business mix it up. It must be noted, that while any business tool always aims at instigating a consumer to buy a product, social media tools such as Twitter are meant to build relationships with consumer. Hence harnessing the power of 140 characters becomes essential for Twitter Marketing.

Approaching Twitter Marketing

Twitter is a tool that can be utilized for sharing information about a brand, a person and at some level the offers that may be available through these brands. The three broad and distinctive areas where twitter marketing can be used are

1. Sharing information
2. Gather market intelligence and insights; and
3. Build relationships with people who care about the brand

As one would agree, a free tool which reaches out to 150 million users worldwide and roughly 5 million twitter users in India, that’s a lot of consumers waiting to be engaged without much expenditure.

Click here to read the details of conducting Twitter Marketing.

Continuing on Marketing through 140 Characters, in this post, we will discuss about the three broad and distinctive areas where twitter marketing can be used. These are:

1. Sharing information

2. Gather market intelligence and insights; and

3. Build relationships with people who care about the brand

Sharing Information

Twitters simplistic approach to sharing thoughts and news with other people on the Internet has caught on to the point where every respectable company has an official account and government agencies are using it to connect with constituents.

Tremendous growth has taken place in the creative ways businesses and organizations are leveraging Twitter in order to share company information. Brand patrons want information, and they want it now. Twitter is about the “now” and has earned its name as a leader in breaking news and bringing users closer to the newsmakers, which is what every brand attempts to be on Twitter.

If your brand has important information to share, Twitter should be the first place for you to share it on. This not only helps spread the news but also builds the brands image. And you can delight your consumers by sharing information about projects still being planned.

This is a typical buzz marketing technique that can make waves when the project is finally launched. But most importantly, sharing information is the best way of building Customer Relationship. An aggrieved consumer can easily be pacified if s/he can talk to the brand directly and have her/his problem addressed, thus, preventing a major PR disaster.

Market Research

Twitter has some useful features which make it especially helpful for conducting market research on almost any topic under the sun. This is because Twitter pages are viewable to anyone, even those without accounts, and the site has a search function which pulls in all recent posts dealing with a given topic or phrase. There have been instances, where events have been rescheduled, have undergone format changes and even cancelled based on feedbacks received via twitter. And to good effect as well. Similarly, researching for new products and response to new product launches has led to significant changes to improve the product or provide better services.

Here is a simple flow chart on how to do a market research on Twitter:

1 Log into your account.

2 Look over the "trending topics". Trending topics are those which have recently seen a big increase in posts. This can be a useful list to get an idea of what is currently getting a lot of buzz.

3 Use the "search" field to enter words or phrases to discover who is talking about them, and what they are saying. For instance, you might want to find out what people think of a newly released film. Just search for the name of the film and there will likely be several new posts of reactions of people that just got back from the movie.

4 Take note of how far apart the Twitter posts are for any topic. A good indicator of the relative popularity of a certain word, phrase, or topic is how often people post about them. If the first page of search results comes up with posts made over the past day or two, chances are the topic is not that popular. If the first page is filled up with posts from the past minute, it is a red hot topic.

You don’t even have to join Twitter to use the search function. If you just want to view trending topics and conduct searches, you can use the twitter search page. (http://search.twitter.com/)

Building Relationship

Relationship Marketing is a very important aspect of brand marketing and twitter can help a brand to successfully engage in it. According to Evert Gummesson, Relationship marketing is marketing based on interaction within networks of relationships.

According to individual researches, Twitter seems to be the ideal medium to build trust, win new customers as well as retain existing ones, thus helping in Relationship Marketing. It also showed that people who have been interacted with on Twitter are more likely to be a first time purchaser, a loyal consumer and a brand champion.

(source: http://www.socialglitz.com/twitter-as-a-tool-for-relationship-marketing/)

Most of the participants of the research agree on the fact that Twitter is an excellent tool to build trust which not only helps in building new relationships but also to strengthen existing ones.

(source: http://www.socialglitz.com/twitter-as-a-tool-for-relationship-marketing/)

The Conclusion

Word on Twitter spreads fast. Conversations happen in real time on Twitter, therefore giving it the sense of immediacy and intimacy. It is this one on one conversation and intimacy of Twitter which is of great value to any brand and a very convenient yet powerful marketing tool.

Twitter is a relationship building and relationship maintenance tool; the most obvious business use of Twitter is to meet potential customers and leads the same way you would at networking event or tradeshow.

However, you can also use it to:

1) Develop and promote your brand

2) Interact with your customer base

3) Track what people are saying about your company and brand

4) Create buzz around upcoming events

5) Help individual employees act as liaisons to the public

6) Promote other content you’ve created, including webinars, blog posts or podcasts

7) Develop direct relationships with bloggers and journalists for potential PR placement

With Google now showing social media updates in its results, a good Twitter Handle can only go a long way in helping your brand achieve a better search engine optimization.

Getting your Twitter handle correct.

With Twitter fast becoming a major search engine option and prime source of news, it is very important to use the medium correctly. One major aspect of being on the micro blogging site is to get the handle, or the twitter name, that is most beneficial for you and your business. Here are some basic Dos and Don’ts that you should keep in mind while creating your Twitter handle.

Creating a Twitter Handle

Dos

One name

Try to choose a name that is available on most of the social media platforms. With growing number of fans and followers, it will be hard for them to remember if your handle is abc on Twitter and ab_c on Facebook. Of course, that makes it even harder to find a handle that is available, but if you do, your followers will instantly recognize you across the web.

Real Name

Your full name or a variation of it will make it easier for people remember your handle. It also helps in promoting brand recall. Every time you tweet, you promote brand awareness for your brand and helps in making the handle more authentic.

Short is sweet

With only 140 characters to use, every letter is valuable. It’s not generally an issue but when people want to reply to you or retweet your posts, a short the handle is way better than an elaborate name. This will also earn you some brownie points with people who hate editing tweets before retweeting.

Avoid numbers and underscore

Underscores and numbers give the impression that your first choice was taken, or it gives the appearance that you aren’t putting enough thought into your username to think of something unique. This is not the impression your brand would want to give to the consumer. The uniqueness of your brand name and the brand equity associated with it should not be diluted with numbers.

Don’ts

Something completely random

This is not just confusing for the consumer but also a lost opportunity to increase brand recall. Do remember that while promoting your brand, the more you talk about it, the more it will register in the consumers’ mind. This rule is applicable any medium, be it ATL, BTL or Social Media.

A handle that has an underscore

Using an underscore is not incorrect or wrong, but it is generally not done. Use it at the risk of coming across as unaware of the “social norms,” or as a brand trying too hard to play the social media game.

A handle that is a slogan

While it may be a great way of promoting a campaign or a particular product, avoid using a handle that is a slogan for simple reason that slogans keep changing. The idea is to build bigger brand recall rather than momentary campaign involvement.

Once you are done creating your twitter handle, the world of 140 characters can open up like never before for you and your brand. Amazingly crafted tweets can make your brand a PR success like none before. Also, it can help you create a database of real time testimonials. So get going. Let your brand tweet its way to higher brand equity.

Also read about the Do’s and Don”ts on Facebook.