Anyone in business covets the benefit of everyone knowing your name. Remember the song from Cheers?
You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.
Ah, how often song lyrics just seem to get it right! When it comes to doing business, the biggest obstacle is building up the clientele that will catapult you into the ecosphere of success. This is at least doubly true for those fortunate souls operating an online business. Although the internet is a great world in which to work, it is a vast space full of competitors. When consumers cannot tell your site from any other, they have no real reason to stop on yours…unless they feel they know you.
With the bounce rate from internet sites at such a high rate across the board, bringing a face to your business is a priority for any business owner. Ok, so you want to increase web traffic and decrease the bounce rate from the site pages you are linking to. How does Twitter have anything at all to do with those aspects of building a solid web business? Well, here’s a simple answer: using the social aspect of Twitter, a business owner or company can learn what makes the consumers tick. While this does not happen overnight, there really is no better way to get in touch with the heart and soul of the average consumer than through social media.
Not only can you learn what consumers are chatting about on Twitter, but you can determine if they are chatting about YOU! That’s right! For instance, just today I learned that Home Depot is opening a store in Valdosta, GA. I also learned, through a link to a news article, that my weekly indulgence in Pinkberry yogurt is not all that bad for me. This is getting us to a point, really. Whatever your business is, you can search Twitter to see what’s being said. You can even search your actual business name and see if anyone has “Tweeted” about you! Invaluable information can be obtained through searching posts on this rapidly growing site.
One thing you can do with Twitter is to post video links. Therefore, as you create new tutorials or product reviews, you can post a “Tweet” with the link to that video for users to see. It’s important to remember that Twitter, like Facebook, IS indeed a social site. That means that not all users are there to hear about your business and they certainly are not there to be sold on a product or service. Using social media marketing is completely different than your typical forms of hard sell marketing techniques. Using social media, you are actually getting to know the public, and they are getting to know you.
Keeping in mind that Twitter is a social site, you can go a lot farther by posting things that are not solely about you and your business. You can do this while still maintaining a professional vibe. Make comments about other posts, post about recent events or what you are learning about. Instead of posting an update geared towards “What are you doing right now?, post more along the lines of “What’s got your attention right now?” What are you reading? What are you learning or teaching? What did you hear in the media this morning that made you think? What sale or promotion is your company running at the moment? These are all questions that can get you started posting relevant content to Twitter.
Twitter, with over 3 million posts blasting out each and ever day, is here to stay. Grab hold of the tools Twitter has to offer and your marketing efforts can be much more effective! With millions of members worldwide, just think of how many customers could know your name!
Twitter can be a great tool for updating your customers on your brand, and finding new fans and business partners. Like you said though, putting personality behind the brand and not always pitching goes a long way!