Almost everyone has heard of Twitter. You know, the micro-blogging service where you send a 140-character message to people who are following you. So, why would you want to use such a site to promote your company, your message, or your expertise? Well, it’s an easy way to interact with customers and prospective customers in a fast, concise manner. You can use it for many different purposes such as:
- Promoting your brand
- Interacting with your customers
- Tracking what people are saying about your company or your products.
- Hear what people are saying about your competition.
- Create a buzz about a trade show or other corporate events.
- Promote your blog content, webinars or podcasts you produce.
- Generate leads and interest in your company or products.
So, how do you get started with this technology? It’s really easy. Here are a few easy steps:
- Set up a company account. This is a good way to represent your company to your customers base. You can give real-time updates about your company activities, offer customer, service and technical support. You can also set up multiple employee accounts. For example, you may want an account for investor relations if your company is public, a separate customer service account, or even product-specific accounts. But, make sure the employees who are responsible for updating these accounts, use common sense in what they post. You do need to create some corporate guidelines as to who can post and what they can post, especially if you are a public company or have Regulatory requirement. Log on to Twitter. Decide your username. If you are creating a corporate account, you an abbreviation of your company name. If you are setting up a personal or individual account, use your real name or use a combination of the company and personal name.
- Set up your profile. Now that your Twitter account has been opened, you can start personalizing it. Click on Edit your Profile and upload a photo. Rather than just a company logo, it’s always best to show a picture of a real live person. People like to put a face to the name. Add your location such as city and state. Add a link to your company website, blog, or LinkedIn profile. Just another way for people to find out more about your company. Add a short description of your company. Think “elevator pitch”. Keep it short and sweet and to the point but descriptive enough so that your followers will know who you are. You also have the option to protect your tweets. But, why be on Twitter if your tweets are protected. That means that only your followers can see your updates. Many people will not follow people who have protected tweets.
- Upload a background to make your Twitter page more esthetically pleasing. You most likely already have some artwork in-house that you can use. it’s always good to add additional information such as your website, blog, Facebook or LinkedIn URLs. Make sure your background is professional looking. After all, Twitter is like any other promotional piece that you would produce. Make sure it complements your current branding. You’ll want to make sure your company logo is shown on the background. It’s better to use one image rather than tile the background. And use the left hand side of the background image for your important information.
- Now that your account is all set up, just start tweeting. What do you want to share about your company? If you have a blog, it’s easy to post a link to an article on your blog. Are you attending an event? Tweet about that. You can also retweet or post someone else’s content if the information is relative to your followers. You can even post a link to a “how to” video. The possibilities are limitless. You’ll feel more comfortable tweeting as you gain some confidence.
About the Author
Sheila T. Brann is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, business owner, and marketing coach. She specializes in Marketing and Strategic Planning and has over 20 years of business-to-business marketing experience. She is the Founder and President of KIWI Communications, Inc., a full-service marketing, advertising, public relations, and social media consulting firm that specializes in the biotech, life sciences, medical device, and high-tech industries.
