There is no question of ruling out Twitter as an effective online platform especially after it has been an important factor in the political protests on one hand and online advertising on the other. The platform has been associated with the Arab Spring as well as successful Disney’s Toy Story.
American president Barrack Obama used to update his supporters during elections using Twitter. And the latest news of Dell making more than $3 million sales in two years from Twitter followers reinforces the fact that it as one of the most viable online marketing platforms.
Quiznos is a famous Denver, US based fast food chain that specializes in toasted subs. The company promoted their sub sandwich through Twitter and ended up selling around one million subs in just three days. The social networking site crashed in 2009 when it got a record 50,000 tweets in just one hour about Michael Jackson’s death. All facts!
There are a lot of things that people/companies can do on Twitter. They can spread news to a huge audience within a few hours. The platform also enables them to directly reach out the customers and engage them.
Unfortunately, a very high percentage of Twitter users have no clue on how to use this platform effectively. Stats say around 40% of the users do pointless babbling on this platform. Despite its limit of 140 characters per tweet, they talk nonsense. They are happy tweeting about what they are doing and what they are eating.
If used in a right manner, Twitter is an ideal platform to generate a burst of traffic. However, you have to have a marketing plan ready with you so that you can make the best of your tweets. As they are visible to public by default, you need to be more cautious about the content of the tweets. After all, it’s a matter of your online reputation.
Here are a few tips that can help you promote your business on Twitter and generate a flurry of responses:
1. Have a Professional Yet Interesting Profile
After looking at tweets, most people would like to know who you are, what you do and whom you are associated with professionally. Having a professional yet interesting profile is the first and foremost requirement to establish a positive image of your company
2. Plan Ahead for Tweets
Decide when to post a tweet. Re-tweet and connect with people but don’t bombard them with pointless babble. Limit your responses to a maximum of 120-125 characters and use rest of them to add a link to your website.
3. Carefully Decide the Content of Tweets
Keep a tab on what message is going out through your tweets. Choose your words carefully and ensure that they are neither too flashy nor hurting to a particular group/individual. Even if you get a negative comment, re-tweet in a mild tone. You don’t need to pour out your anger on a social networking site.
4. References
Give appropriate references or cite examples from other niches to support your answer. You can do it once have a descent fan following but in the beginning you should restrict yourself to your company promotion only.
Twitter is one of the most effective and reputed platform for online marketing. So, use it carefully and make the most of it.