Business Uses for Twitter

This past week, Chris Brogan wrote a very concise and useful post on how to use Twitter for business.

In it, you will find ideas on creating an account, topics to consider for the medium, a check on Twittetiquette, and an assessment of both the minuses and the pluses of having a Twitter presence.

Whenever I write up ideas for execution, I tend to sell the concept up front by addressing why you should consider this idea. 

If you are interested in listening in and interacting with individuals who may give you ideas on uses for products and services - yours or those of others - as well as catching a glimpse of what early adopters are working on and talking about, do sign up. The "why" can also be a "why not".

A brief aside for eager marketers - Twitter is not another channel for pushing messages or ads. Please go back and reread this line, twice. Aside from the important fact that you audience may not even be there, this is such a small community that the cat will be out of the bag before you have a chance to Twitter much.

The conversation at Chris' blog got into a lot of different tactics, with many useful comments. As for business value on the strategic side, I would like to suggest the following as starting points (please feel free to add):

1. Have a presence in a channel where your customers could be.

You'll need to figure out if that is the case for your business - do your customers buy shoes? Then @Zappos would make sense. See the USAToday story. Are your customers likely to do some home repair? Then @TheHomeDepot would be a smart way to be listening and participating. How about computers? See @RichardatDELL and many other members of the Dell team. How about taking the initiative to reach out to customers and solve their connection problems? Frank Eliason @ComcastCares did just that. See the NYT story.

2. Try new ideas in a space where you will likely receive feedback.

The concept of being in beta is great to test whether there would be resistance to offerings and why. Although the number of Twitter users is relatively small, it is a much bigger crowd than just the one customer who bought something custom from you and thought it was a good product. Before you go ahead and make that a product, find more than one way to test its marketability.

3. Give the community of other users a way to see your business personality.

There are few tools out there that are more humanizing than Twitter. When actual people do not compose the messages and post them to the stream, the community will know. You probably noticed the use of terminology. You send direct Tweets only to individuals who have accepted you as a member of their stream. In other words, those people give you permission to talk with them by adding you. On Twitter they "follow you" and you can "follow them" back.

There is a lot you can learn about the dynamics of conversation and what people are interested in by observing and participating. When it comes to figuring out how social media fits you and where you fit in there, doing it or trying it, is the best way. Twitter is not for everyone, but it is perfect for many. You decide.

Twitter can be very useful for staying in touch about and at regional events, for example. It is an extemporaneous tool to find out where people might be at a conference or what they are learning. The first time I used it, I was sitting in my office seeing three of my friends sending messages from the same event. I ended up connecting them to each other without even being there. All from using Twitter. How about communicating with your customers at a trade show about a demo you are running at your booth?

What other ideas have you implemented while using Twitter? How about sending your customers links to product and service updates on your Web site? This would greatly reduce the need for printed copies and mailings as well as emails filling their in box.

[image of my Twitter home page, click to enlarge - see short profile on the right, photo, and diversity of messages in the stream]

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Related posts:

Comcast Cares on Twitter
The Other Story on Twitter Tuesday: Best Buy and Laughing Squid
Is it Time for Corporations to Get a Twitter Presence?
Get Out of my Phone! 5 Ways to Add Value

Comments

[Albert Maruggi]

This is a funny issue for me. At first I would talk to business about Twitter and try to explain it.

After the blank stares, I thought there must be a better way. There is.

I then switched and did keyword searches on www.tweetscan.com and back then www.summize.com - Then I pulled relevant posts and profiles of Twitterers. If I could avoid showing a real time Twitter timeline I did.

The result was some clients using it for a variety of business objectives. Twitter sometimes can be its own worse enemy if trying to showcase it in real time. The key is freezing that relevant point in time for the appropriate business use in order to show its value.

Hope all is well Valeria

[Ricardo Bueno]

Re: "A brief aside for eager marketers - Twitter is not another channel for pushing messages or ads. Please go back and reread this line, twice."

You can say that again!

Personally, I've made several on-line connections that I've established personal off-line relationships with through the use of mediums like Twitter (we call our gatherings local Tweetups). It's definitely a great way to interact personally with colleagues and potential consumer contacts. So long as your connections have an air of genuineness of course because in today's information age it's easy to see past someone who's being disingenuous and move on..

[Warren Sukernek]

I love how you stress the conversational dynamics and humanizing aspects of the Twitter community. Those are the attributes that make the community so great. I've written a few posts about best practices for brands on Twitter and would appreciate your feedback.

http://twittermaven.blogspot.com/2008/08/few-questions-for-companies-to-consider.html

http://twittermaven.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-on-brands-that-get-it.html

[frank]

Great tips ...

Practically speaking the challenge for large org's it get get buy in at the upper levels. The guy at comcast was pretty slick and definitely gives us a great case to use to show how businesses can make true impact.

At the end of the day it comes down to actually caring. If we are human and we care about our customers then we can succeed on Twitter (or any other medium for that matter)

--
http://twitter.com/franswaa

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Albert - I resort to showing and telling as well. I was skeptical myself before I signed up and there are definitely times when I prefer to be off line. It really does depend in large part on the user and what they make of it.

@Ricardo - it one tool that makes sense to meet new people and be open to interaction. I have had the same experience of meeting great people, especially in my geographic area, and then finding the opportunity to link up in person.

@Warren - thank you for stopping in and for the links. Good topics. I am heading over to read now.

@Frank - yes, Frank from Comcast is a good example of how one person can make a big difference. Many large organizations have a Twitter presence through their employees. Yes, some companies do get hung up on the officialness of being there. Once they get past it, though, they can reap big benefits.