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 Marketing
Best Practices
Is Twitter a Corporate Communication Tool?
By Bernie Borges
Published: November / December 2008
If you don’t yet know about
Twitter, read on. If you already use Twitter, you know
how addictive it can be. But, do you realize how
effective a marketing communication tool Twitter can be?
Twitter is a micro-blogging
tool located at
www.twitter.com. The idea is that you selectively
“follow” people and people selectively follow you. You
write what you are currently doing or thinking about in
short posts that can’t exceed 140 characters.
Admittedly, the idea sounds absurd at first. And it does
take a little getting used to. But as many Twitterers
will tell you, once you are following people and have
people following you, it can become somewhat
intoxicating. If this still sounds a little absurd, read
on and look beyond the platform toward its marketing
communication and branding potential.
When you Tweet (the verb for
posting comments on Twitter) you are communicating a
thought to your followers. It can be a random thought,
or it can pertain to a specific topic. The polarized
extreme of people who shun Twitter and people who are
addicted to it is fascinating. As of July 2008, 2.2
million people were set up on Twitter. So, what is all
the attraction?
Twitter is used both by
individuals and by businesses as a social media
communication tool. The culture in social media is to
become part of an online community and to engage the
community in meaningful content and conversations. You
only follow people on Twitter that you want to follow
and anyone can follow you unless you set up your profile
as private which requires permission to follow you.
Twitter followers can use their PCs as well as their
mobile devices to send and receive Tweets.
The opportunities for
businesses to use Twitter are plentiful. Individuals
within your company can create a Twitter profile. They
can post comments about things that are happening in
your company or your industry. They can search to find
and follow people who share common interests by
searching in Twitter using relevant keywords. For
example, I follow people whose profile includes keywords
pertaining to social media, Web 2.0, SEO, SEM and
Internet marketing. When you select someone to follow on
Twitter an email notice is sent to them and likewise you
receive an email notice when someone starts to follow
you. Your follower network can grow if your profile
describes your topics of interest well. And your network
can grow if you actively post interesting thoughts and
links to meaningful content. The opportunities for
businesses to create brand awareness, thought leadership
and general networking using Twitter are terrific. It is
truly a social networking phenomenon.
The 140 character limitation
per post offers good incentive to provide links to other
content such as a blog posts or articles, such as an
article in BABM. By providing a link to content, you can
promote your own content using Twitter as long as your
community agrees your content is meaningful. If you spam
or shamelessly promote your business, your community
will not appreciate it. Anyone can stop following anyone
at anytime.
When someone has a response
to your Twitter posts he can reply either publicly or
privately. A public reply references your Twitter name
along with the reply. Anyone can join that conversation
which can result in good exposure on the conversation
topic.
Many organizations are
setting up Twitter profiles in the name of the
organization. The list includes both non-profit and
commercial organizations. For example, in
Tampa Bay ABC
Action News and the Tampa Red Cross have Twitter
profiles. They regularly Tweet about current events and
community needs. Other well known businesses who
actively use Twitter in their company name are Dell,
Apple, Comcast, Jet Blue Airways, as well as the Los
Angeles Fire Department and many, many others. For a
fluid list of prominent people and businesses with
Twitter profiles, visit:
http://blog.fluentsimplicity.com/twitter-brand-index/.
A typical Twitter community
is vibrant and energetic and very conversational. The
relationships which can be formed in Twitter can carry
offline. The businesses that benefit most from Twitter
have several people in their organization with
individual profiles. If you think it’s a time waster,
think again. By actively using Twitter you can identify
influential people in your network who have common
interests and create valuable relationship potential.
Don’t hesitate to take some of those relationships
offline.
The micro-blogging concept
is rapidly growing in the enterprise beyond Twitter.
Commercial micro-blogging tools have sprung up around
the world.
Here are a few:
-
Yammer
-
SocialCast
-
Laconica
- The Open Microblogging Tool
-
Status
- Keep your group connected.
-
Trill - What's On Your Mind?
-
IBM has a private
Twitter-like network called BlueTwit.
Popular social networking
sites, Facebook and LinkedIn, have a “what are you doing
right now?” status which can link to your Twitter
profile for automatic updates of your status. Twitter
widgets are available to connect to a website or blog to
display your most current Twitter post.
Micro-blogging, made popular
by Twitter is rapidly growing as a social communication
platform which allows organizations to creatively
communicate with an online community extending its reach
and brand by creating new conversations and
relationships. Give it a try.
Bernie Borges is the
founder and president of Find and Convert, an Internet
Marketing agency specializing in search engine
optimization and social media marketing strategies.
Bernie is a frequent speaker, blogger and podcaster on
these topics and is currently writing a book on social
media marketing business strategies. Bernie can be
reached at 727-234-0952 and
bernie@findandconvert.com. Follow Bernie on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/berniebay.
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