Twitter is becoming a huge asset in the business world. Both start-up businesses and Fortune 500 companies are recognizing the importance of using Twitter to stay in contact with customers. Here is how to eerffectively use Twitter for business:
Expand Your Reach
Having Twitter as an avenue to reach out to others is a powerful way to expand your reach. There are a lot of people who would click a Twitter “follow” button with much less hesitation than they would give out their email address. They want to follow your business, but they don’t necessarily want to be on another email list. In addition to people in your own network, you’ll also have access to all the people on Twitter. They will land on your website from direct searches, from retweets or from friends. It is a whole group of people you didn’t have access to before.
Market Research and Competition Research
Twitter is a great way to do market research and keep your eye on your competition to learn their latest developments. If your competitor has a Twitter account, you should be subscribed to it. In addition, pay attention to what your followers and the followers of everyone in your industry are saying. This will help you really keep your finger on the pulse of your industry.
Building Your Brand Actively
Rather than choosing a lot of logos and colors and sitting back hoping they will reflect positively on your brand, you can use Twitter to drive your brand actively. Using Twitter, you can regularly put out tweets about what is going on in your company, special promotions and other things that are relevant for your customers. You’ll also be able to handle customer complaints quickly. You’ll be able to resolve them, or at least mitigate the damage quickly if you are on Twitter.
Increasing Sales with Twitter
Twitter can be an incredibly powerful way to drive sales. Remember that your Twitter followers are loyal consumers who have signed up to follow your tweets because they like what your business is about.
Twitter gives business owners an opportunity to sell that simply isn’t available with email or Facebook. That opportunity comes from the frequency of contact.
It is frowned upon to email a consumer several times a week. With Twitter, however, you can tweet several times a day without breaking consumer trust. Things like a countdown to a product launch, reminders about a freebie giveaway, or up-to-the-minute updates on a contest would never be acceptable by email, but are welcomed on Twitter.
Using Twitter for business can make a big difference on your brand, your customer relationships and your bottom line.