Techniques for Leveraging the Power of Twitter

Including Twitter in marketing strategies and goals for expansion is becoming common place. Many have realized the power of social media marketing, and Twitter is one of the most used and prominent tools the social media experience has to offer. While it is very simple to log into Twitter and begin broadcasting to your Twitter followers, read over these tips, tricks and techniques for harnessing the full power of social media marketing on Twitter.

List Your Contact Details. There are millions of Twitter users on the service every single hour of every day. While it is impossible to interact with every single Twitter user, it is important to make yourself available for those who want to interact with you. If you’ve decided to include Twitter in your social marketing strategy, it is important to give open yourself to every opportunity to reap the benefits of your work. By providing a link to your brand’s webpage, or a custom background that includes your email address, instant messenger handles and other ways to contact you, you are sure to see more results from marketing on Twitter. Interested parties may contact you for business opportunities, interview requests or permission to promote your product on their blogs or webpages. A key to social media marketing on Twitter is to make yourself available for all opportunities that may come along.

Get personal. When you receive notification of a new Twitter follower, take a moment to review their profile, interests and any webpages or portfolios they may make available. Consider sending a direct message to introduce yourself personally to your new Twitter followers, giving your brand a more friendly face. The social aspect of social media marketing is what makes it so effective.

Play nicely. On Twitter, you are the face of your company, your brand, your products and your offerings. Any marketing strategy employed on Twitter is sure to fail if you give off an air of rudeness, elitism or unpleasantness. Twitter is contains your target audience, and social media marketing relies on your target audience wanting to interact with you. Be helpful, informative and polite at all times when employed Twitter as a social media marketing strategy, in order to ensure a positive reputation and perception of what you have to offer.

Social Media Policy – Do you have yours yet?

The ins and outs of social media seem to become increasing complex and overwhelming with new tools and platforms appearing every day. Just when you think you cannot absorb one more bit of social media related information, there is one last thing that you absolutely must consider before involving your company in social media in any form. A social media policy is a must for any company looking to establish a presence on the web.
A social media policy is a set of rules, procedures and guidelines dictating how you and your employees will conduct yourselves when engaging in social media networks.

(Here is an example of some used by companies  )

I believe a social media policy is essential to businesses for several reasons:

First, all employees need to be aware of the branding, voice, message and image the company is looking to convey. By creating and distributing a social media policy to all employees who will be engaging in social media practices on behalf of the company, you ensure a consistent and reliable message across all fronts.

Second, procedures need to be established for dealing with customer interaction. Employees of your company need a social media policy to dictate how, when and who is to interact with customers and clients via social media networks. Whether you have certain employees designated to handle customer issues or you prefer to handle them yourself, a social media policy will ensure that customers receive personal attention, but no confusing crossed lines.

Lastly, a social media policy will dictate what employees are to do in the situation that negative press or attention falls on the company for any reason. A clear message on how these situations are to be handled can be outlined in a social media policy, equipping all or just a few employees to deal with the containing or repairing of negative social media messages spreading.

Taking the time to create a social media policy is a necessary step to preserve customer service, outline employee responsibilities, and keep your message consistent across all faces of the company. While it may seem obvious, a clear social media policy can save a lot of headaches in the end.

Does your company have an established social media policy – and if so – what are it’s key points or differentiators?

Using Twitter for Marketing: Three Twitter Tips for a Notable Brand

Using Twitter for social media marketing is becoming more and more a standard practice for brands and companies looking to expand and connect with their target audience. When marketing on Twitter, branding is extremely important, to give a distinctive personality to what you have to offer and stick in Twitter users minds. While branding is often still a bit of a fluid concept, especially when it comes to using social media and Twitter for marketing, the following tips will help you along the way to establishing a solid and impressive presence for your brand on Twitter.

Broadcast Relevant News. If you’ve expanded your marketing strategy to include Twitter, then you have obviously spent some time on the Internet. When your feedreader, co-workers or other contacts provide you with breaking news related to your industry, share it on Twitter. Not only will this make you a valuable asset an contributor in the eyes of your Twitter followers, but it can also lead to retweets, where your tweet with a link back to your profile included is rebroadcasted out to widening circles of Twitter users. Those interested in the same type of news are likely to join your Twitter followers.

Find Out Where Everyone Is. At industry conferences, it can be frustrating to try to get face time with popular and influential people in your field. These days, not only do most people Twitter throughout conferences, but conferences themselves also have their own Twitter accounts. If you are attending, presenting or exhibiting at an industry conference, follow along on Twitter to find out where these VIPs are and what they’re interested in seeing. Befriending these social media giants can be a very effective tool in your social media marketing arsenal. Take advantage of the information offered on Twitter to arrange a brief meeting or one on one conversation with these users, in hopes that a good impression will lead to them tweeting about you and your brand in the future.

Monitor Your Reputation. Nothing kills a brand, product or company faster than negative experiences. Negative experiences and stories travel with amazing speed with the advent of tools like Twitter. When Twitter is a part of your social media marketing strategy, monitoring what people are saying about you or your offerings is one of the main benefits of the service. By keeping track of what is being said about your brand, you have an opportunity to quickly turn negatives into positives. If you are able to use Twitter to respond quickly to customer concerns, your social media marketing will allow you to head off the negatives of the problem and instead, create a more powerful reputation for your brand due to your swift and responsive actions.

Social Media Marketing: Building a Community on Twitter

The most important aspect of social media marketing is building a community of interested people who will carry your message, offerings and news to their own networks on contacts. When using Twitter for social media marketing, there are several simple steps you can follow to get you started on building a loyal community of Twitter followers. This network of Twitter users has the capability to spread your brand’s reputation father than you could ever hope to do on your own.

Know What You’re Doing. Before you dive in head first, make sure you understand the basics of using Twitter. The shorthand is also important to understand. A DM is a direct message, only visible by the Twitter user to which it is sent. The “@” symbol before a Twitter user’s name is used to indicate a reply, and RT stands for “retweet,” the practice of repeating a tweet, with credit, of someone else in order to pass along the message. Making use of all of these communication methods on Twitter are important to the community building aspect of your social media marketing strategy.

Utilize Search Tools. Many Twitter tools come with search tools built in, as does the web interface of Twitter. Utilize the earch tools to find Twitter users who are discussing topics relevant to your interests and follow them. Many of these Twitter users will follow back upon seeing that you share interests. Also, if your search turns up conversations relevant to your marketing strategy, join the conversation by utilizing the “@” reply technique.

Promote Your Twitter Account.  While your social media marketing strategy calls for using Twitter to promote your brand, use other web locations to promote your Twitter account. In forums, email messages and web profiles, be sure to include a link to your Twitter page or your Twitter name. When commenting on blogs within your industry, sign your posts with “@YourTwitterName.” By placing your Twitter identity in relevant locations across the web, you will make yourself easier to find and thus grow your community of Twitter followers. A large and engaged community of Twitter followers is essential to acheiving your social media marketing goals.

Twitter Blogs: Finding Tips & Tricks for Marketing on Twitter

While using Twitter for social marketing may seem like the simplest thing in the world, it does not necessarily always have to be. You can create a Twitter account, slowly grow a network of Twitter followers and broadcast your targeted marketing messages to them and be happy with just that. However, over the life of Twitter, many power Twitter users have developed tried and true techniques for establishing community, effective social media marketing and getting the most out of using Twitter. There are several Twitter blogs and blogs dedicated to social media that focus on sharing these tips in order to help you with the most effective social media marketing strategy.

Twitip. Twitip.com, a relatively new blog, was created by Darren Rowse of Problogger.net. Already a powerful figure in internet marketing and generating income through the web, Darren has created this Twitter blog to share what he has learned as far as using Twitter, gathering Twitter followers, effective Twitter marketing and more. His regular posts are full of Twitter tips and helpful hints, allowing your to better craft your social media marketing strategy around Twitter.

Mashable. Mashable.com is not solely a Twitter blog, but is instead focused on social media as a whole. Since Twitter is a major player on the social media scene, it gets a lot of air time on the Mashable blog. Mashable’s Twitter postings will keep you informed on the latest Twitter news and tools, along with helpful “cheatsheet” type posts including lists of people you can meet on Twitter, Twitter etiquette and more. For those whose social media marketing strategies include more than just Twitter, Mashable is an excellent social media blog for all marketing needs.

The Twitter Blog. The official blog of Twitter.com is surprisingly not necessarily the best source of information when it comes to social media marketing and leveraging Twitter for marketing results. However, following the Twitter blog will keep you apprised of downtimes, server issues and upcoming features that you can integrate into your social media marketing plans. Also, the awareness of instability and server problems will help you to time targeted campaigns, contests or other social media marketing strategies that rely on Twitter to succeed.

Three Tips for Effective Twitter Marketing

Establishing a social media marketing presence with the intent of publicizing your business, brand or offerings is the newest and one of the most cost effective methods of creating brand awareness and product loyalty. Getting started is as simple as setting of a Twitter account, but some of the nuances of being an effective marketing presence on Twitter can be a bit more subtle. Below, find three tips for creating an effective Twitter marketing strategy for your business, brand or blog.

Complete Your Profile – Completely. When you follow a new person on Twitter, the first thing they will do when deciding whether or not to follow you back is read your profile. The more complete your Twitter profile is, the better chance you have of gaining a new Twitter follower. Include your name and location, your website URL, and a bit about your business, interests or products. You may also want to consider a customized Twitter background, with contact information and other sites on which you can be found. Be sure to include information about topics you are interested in hearing about or discussing so that like-minded Twitter users will consider adding you to their communities.

Choose to Follow Twitterers with Common Interests. Conduct regular searches of Twitter for keywords and terms relevant to your business or products. When you find a Twitter user with lines of interests similar to those your wish to promote, follow them. When you follow a new person on Twitter, they are notified and given the option to follow you back. Even if they do not choose to follow, make a deliberate effort to engage targeted Twitter users in conversation, exposing yourself, your ideas and your products to their followers as well.

Avoid Over-promotion. Whether you are promoting yourself, your blogs, your business or your products, avoid flooding the Twitter service with constant promotional messages. Look for reasonable and natural openings in conversation or questions to suggest or link to your products or more information. Try to tweet about your own products or interests only when you have news, are running a contest, launching a new project or otherwise have something important to share. While keeping promotional posts to a minimum may seem to go against the very idea of a social media marketing strategy, it is important to keep up at least the appearance of being interested in the Twitter community as a whole rather than just your own interests.

Social Media Marketing on Twitter: Create a Meme

When doing research on Twitter for social media marketing, or, in fact, for any kind of internet marketing, a term you will come across often is “meme.” Memes, pronounced like “themes,” are simple, user generated concepts or repeated structures that pass quickly from one person to the next, in an almost viral fashion. When you have established a solid social media marketing plan and presence for your company, you may want to consider attempting to start a meme that relates to your products, brands or Twitter goals.

A meme has to be catchy and easy in order to encourage the maximum number of Twitter users to participate. A popular meme is #followfriday, in which users suggest other Twitter users for following every Friday, denoted with #followfriday included in the Tweet. In establishing a meme, you will have to think carefully about your brand, your social media marketing strategies, and the best way to engage your Twitter users in a meaningful and fun way that will spread quickly to other users.

The main goal of your meme, with regards to Twitter and internet marketing strategy, should be to get your hashtag or keyword to be used so often by Twitter users that it appears in the “trending topics” sidebar or gets some press on popular blogs. Also, it may be picked up by Twemes.com, a listing of hot Twitter memes, if it ends up being popular enough. Crafting a meme related to your business, brand or products will involve serious consideration and most likely many failed attempts. However, once you find something that works, your Twitter followers will do the rest, carrying it (and your marketing message) to vast numbers of Twitter users.

When thinking up a meme, come up with something quick, memorable, easy to participate in and associated with a specific date or time. #Followfriday and #musicmonday, for example, occur on their respective days. If you run a blog network, you could start a meme that includes suggesting a favorite blog every Saturday morning. Crating a meme that fits in with your Twitter marketing strategies will take some serious thinking, but if accomplished, it will easily become the most recognizable thing about your brand.

Twitter Marketing Strategy: Tips for Encouraging Conversation

Twitter marketing is unlike any other standard marketing practice in that rather than being a broadcast medium like banner ads, television commercials or radio ads, Twitter relies heavily on conversation and interaction. When you first begin a social media marketing strategy with Twitter, you may find yourself more as a participator in conversation rather than a facilitator. While that is an excellent way to get your brand and name established on Twitter, eventually you will want to encourage discussions around topics relevant to your business, product or interests in order to create organic opportunities to promote your offerings to your Twitter followers. Read on for tips and tricks for generating productive conversations on Twitter.

Ask Questions. When you have gathered a group of Twitter followers, ask them questions. The range of these questions can be huge, as the most important point is simply to encourage conversation. Take advantage of the knowledge of your Twitter followers to ask for advice or answers. Assess the needs and desires of your customers and clients by asking questions relating to your products and what your Twitter followers may like to see in future offerings, or what they like or do not like about your current offerings.

Take polls. People of all types love to have their opinions heard and considered. Open up timely decisions to the targets of your social media marketing, giving them several choices and asking for opinions on each. By indicating that you are genuinely interested in what your customer, clients and marketing targets have to say, you generate a sense of investment in the results of your specialized polls. An important aspect of social media marketing is the social part, and allowing participation in polls rewards your Twitter followers with visible results from their interaction with you.

Be interesting. Sounds like a broad instruction, but being interesting is the most essential part of social media marketing. In order to engage followers on Twitter for your marketing purposes, you need to think of Twitter much like a cocktail party. Be interesting, intriguing and offer up timely questions, statements and news stories for discussion with the Twitter community. The more discussion you can encourage, the more your profile on Twitter will rise. This is a necessary step for creating a solid social media marketing platform on Twitter.

Twitter Marketing: The Number One Rule

If you’ve started using Twitter as a marketing tool for your business, personal brand or affiliate products, you’ve likely had some successes and some failures. Twitter is loaded with marketers and the line is very clear. The line between those who “get it” and those who don’t. Those who don’t get it are likely to labor in obscurity, while those who do will find Twitter to be an extremely powerful marketing tool. But how do you make sure that you’re on the right side of the Twitter line?

It’s simple. To avoid being ostracized on Twitter, to be included as a valued and trusted part of the community, there is one rule. For every time you talk about yourself, talk about someone else. That may seem counterintuitive. After all, you’re on Twitter to talk about your brand, your products and your offerings. Why would you want to talk about your Twitter followers instead of yourself? It’s because Twitter is a conversation, not a commercial. The point of any kind of marketing is to interest potential consumers and clients, and Twitter is no different in that regard. What is different is the way interest is generated on Twitter. To get your followers interested in what you have to say and sell, you have to play by Twitter’s rules. Self-interested tweet after self-interested tweet will get you nowhere except labeled as a spammer.

By engaging with your Twitter followers and tweeting about them, for them, or answering their questions, you slip right in to the flow of Twitter. Being seen as a valuable contributor and participating in the Twitter community, you humanize and personalize your business or brand. The personal face and engagement of social media marketing is what makes it such an effective strategy, creating mini-evangelists of sorts out of your Twitter followers. By indicating that you are willing to give as well as receive, your presence on Twitter won’t be seen simply as a marketing ploy, and become all the more effective for it. Following the “one for you, one for them” rule with what you choose to broadcast on Twitter shows that your brand or company grasps the whole Twitter concept, allowing for seamless integration of Twitter into your overall social media marketing strategies.

Copyright © 2011 Jackie Cuyvers