Twitter has hit the mainstream and you can’t ignore it. Your prospects and customers are on Twitter and they’re talking about you. Your competitors are using Twitter to prospect for new customers, to support their current customers, and to build stronger relationships with their current customers.
Most experts expected Twitter to fade away because of the 140- character limitation but businesses are constantly finding new ways to leverage the power of Twitter to spread the word about their brand. If you don’t use Twitter for your business, you are missing out on some significant opportunities. Twitter is being incorporated into every aspect of our lives and is becoming a common communication channel for business, media, and for personal communication.
When Twitter started in 2006, nobody could have known that it would have such a dramatic impact on our lives. Who could have imagined that giving someone the ability to send 140- character messages, would help organize revolutions and protests in countries around the world and even help win the U.S. Presidency?
Twitter played a significant role in world events like the Egyptian revolution in 2011, the Tunisian protests in 2010 -– 2011, and the Iranian election protests in 2009 -– 2010. Barack Obama used Twitter and social media to engage 18 to 25 year-olds in the United States to win the presidential election. Never before had a presidential candidate used social media to engage an audience, yet it turned out to be a brilliant strategic move
Twitter’s active users are estimated to be at about 150 million according to many social media experts. Twitter is growing at a faster rate than Facebook, though it has not yet caught up to Facebook’s estimate 1 billion accounts (a number of those accounts are fraudulent or abandoned, which is common with all social media platforms).
I believe Twitter isn’t as popular as Facebook or other social media websites because most people don’t get Twitter. They don’t understand the power of short, timely messages, that catch our attention like powerful media headlines or interesting email subject lines.
Also, Tweeting for business is different than Tweeting from your personal account, which is why I recommend setting up one Twitter account for your business and another account for personal use. Keep your business Tweeting professional so you project a professional image.
It’s okay to add a little humor or even a little controversy to your business Tweets, but don’t go overboard. You want to make your business Tweets interesting and compelling, so people will want to follow you and click on the links you add to your Tweets, yet being careful to not offend people with unprofessional behavior. Think about the time you spend on Twitter as part of your business marketing.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, do you know the difference between a mention and a reply? (For starters, the first just tags someone with @name in the midst of the Tweet, the second puts the @name at the beginning of the Tweet.)
That’s why I wrote my book, which will help you learn how Twitter is changing our social behavior and then learn how to use Twitter like a pro. It also will help you learn how to create a comprehensive Twitter strategy for you and your company.
Enjoy the ride!
