Those who have actually delved into all that Twitter can do have found a site that is completely rewriting the future. It’s changing the fact that some people have been unreachable and that some causes too obscure to make any real change. Take the Earth Hour initiative that grew from 88 countries before the twitter boom to 128 countries and countless participants after it. Twitter has made making a difference possible.
So the question is ‘How do I put that to work for me?’. It’s simple. You have to understand that Twitter.com is a place to make connections and relationships. It goes so far beyond networking that it hinges on true community. With Twitter you can go beyond mass email marketing and instead speak to people directly and encourage them to care about your business and/or cause.
A few things to remember:
- First, stay on top of your @ messages but use the search bar. Find out who is talking about you and your company and be ready to offer thanks for praise and solutions for complaints. Consumers love to have the option to reach out and speak directly to a CEO when they have a bad experience (and it doesn’t hurt that complaints are limited to 140 characters!) but some won’t @ you so you have to find them.
- Remember that most of those using twitter love that it is informal, so be sure that your ‘voice’ is casual and friendly. Phrases commonly used by customer service reps should really be avoided. Just be candid.
- ReTweet interesting or relevant things you see. People love to have their tweets shared. Offer links to pertinent or even just fun or insightful things you’ve seen, even when those things aren’t on your website.
- Lastly, and this cannot be stressed enough, DO NOT SPAM. One of the best things about Twitter’s setup is the difficulty to spam people. Don’t be the company who perseveres and gets the spamming out there. No one likes it and it’s against their terms of service.
The bottom line is to have fun while getting your name and information out there. Find people to follow who are interesting and be interesting in return. You don’t have to follow everyone who follows you but be courteous and check things out.
