Many companies these days are trying to come to grips with how they can make use of the 
many social networking sites that are sprouting up. Which ones can help improve your marketing goals, and which ones are a waste of time? In this segment, I am going to discuss one of the newer social networking sites, ‘Twitter’ and how it can fit in your own companies corporate marketing scheme.
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social networking site developed in late 2006 as a micro blogging site that allows its user base to list status updates or ‘tweets’ in 140 characters or less. As of February 2009, Twitter was listed by Compete.com as the third largest social network site. (behind only Facebook and MySpace.) As I write this, Twitter is estimated to have a user base of more than 6 million users a monthly traffic of more than 55 million visitors.
Every user is able to build their own customizable page. You can also do searches on Twitter and see what other people are writing about. In many cases, you will find that like minded people will begin “following” you based upon what you ‘Tweet’ about. In other words, like-minded people will tend to follow your updates to see what you are writing about.
Similarly, if you like what someone else has to say, you can ‘follow’ them. When you follow someone their status updates begin to show up in your feeds when you login to Twitter.
Have a look at the TechWyse Twitter page to see an example of Twitter in action!
What Is The Business Application For Twitter?
How social network sites like Twitter fit into the overall marketing plan is one of the most asked questions business owners and management teams are asking today. Is there a practical business use for Twitter? The answer is – Yes!
Here is how to best think of Twitter.
As many people know content and articles, (usually by way of blogging) are instrumental vehicles in developing a unique base of loyal website visitors. Previously, the only way to get a great article traffic was to get people to notice it. A well respected publication may have referenced it, or perhaps someone well known in the industry would tell people about it. The article would get some buzz and would become popular!
In decades past, (and for those of you that like reading) there was a book that discussed this phenomenon called, “The Tipping Point”. The basic premise was that certain ‘connectors’ in society would reference something and the market for it would suddenly explode.
From a business perspective, Twitter can work in a very similar fashion. For those individuals that have a large ‘following’ on Twitter, they have the ability to reference anything they like online, and have people click and read whatever is referenced. Very powerful.
A Working Example of Twitter in Action
To give a live example of how Twitter can help your company lets look at the TechWyse, Rise To The Top Blog. There is lots of great content and helpful hints on this blog which refer to the internet marketing industry. Previously, the only way people would ever find out about this content is if a search engine happened to display something that someone was searching for. In short – it was difficult to get noticed.
Now, if someone has a large following on Twitter, they have the power to be a traffic director and funnel a large portion of their visitors to sites that they reference. In many ways, a dedicated ‘Tweeter’ can act as a promotion specialist or even a search engine themselves!
How Should Your Company Use Twitter?
There are lots of ways your company can use Twitter. What TechWyse does is reference blogs that we like. This includes many of our own articles that appear on our blog, and also other articles, tools, gadgets or anything else that may be helpful for people following our ‘Tweets’.
By supplying relevant and helpful information, people that are interested in what we have to say eventually find us and begin to ‘follow’ us. The result? We have a niche group of followers, Increased brand recognition, and respect as a contributor to information in the internet marketing industry to our followers. Nothing wrong with that huh?
Think Twitter Is Going Anywhere?
Consider that just two weeks ago Matt Cutt’s (perhaps Google’s most celebrated social marketer has gone from 7000 followers to now more than 14000). The upward trend continuing for many.
Its Easy To Twitter
One of the biggest benefits of Twitter is how easy it is to use. Currently, it is possible to quickly go in to Twitter itself and post a quick update in less than 30 seconds. For users in most US networks they can post updates using their mobile phones as well. (wish they would get it going in Canada too!)
Which Internet Marketing Twitters We Recommend?
Here are a few people that we recommend on Twitter!
http://twitter.com/techwyse
http://twitter.com/mattcutts
http://twitter.com/avinashkaushik
http://twitter.com/dannysullivan
If you know of anyone else doing a great job with Twitter comment below and we will add to this list!
Give Us Your Comments!
We hope you have found this information helpful. If you think have any other input or feel we have missed anything then please feel free to comment below. If you want to hear more about what we have to say then guess what you can do? Follow us on Twitter! :)
on
I think Twitter will continue to grow very fast and It will change the way we market on the internet
on
Just found this really cool article that shows how a local bakery business is using Twitter as part of their business process. Very cool! http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23673447-details/Bakery+tries+to+attract+customers+using+Twitter/article.do
on
Twitter is massive, I was initially hesitant to join, still am about updates, but it brings in the traffic to my companies site and press releases, so I am extremely pleased about it 😉
Twitter is becoming a mainstream in the social media and SEO world but slowly more and more bigger brands are becoming aware of the ways Twitter can get out the word of their products and services or what they’re selling. Seeing already Twitter’s limitless opportunities, I have been testing with other ways brands could use Twitter to optimize their product portfolios.
on
Yep, twitter search is a tremendous asset. The next big thing is definitely about collecting and analyzing the sentiment of crowds, twitter and facebook are the big consumer internet winning landscapes (not them only -almost all the social bookmarking sites), companies like Techwyse also look like good potential wins because of this trend.
on
Absolutely agree, Twitter allows us to contently keep in touch with our friends and colleagues with out the need to read allot of information – there is something magical in getting these snippets of information -yes instant messaging. This is why text messaging is also.
And corporates and companies use this facility to announce their latest activities through these short messages.
on
Defining Twitter as micro-blogging usually generates a lot of blank stares and doesn’t really do the platform justice. Twitter let’s you instant message the general public. Two features give it an addictive quality. 1) @replies, they let you have an IM session with someone but let the public in on the conversation. 2)#hashtags, they let you rally around a common purpose
The best corporate uses of Twitter seems to fall in one of the two camps.
1) @comcastcares, @RichardatDELL, has Comcast and Dell conducting customer service with radical transparency. The public conversations serve as incentives to either company to make sure their customer service is top notch
2) #skittles: No one talked about this brand since the 80’s and it faded from consumer consideration. Now they’re talking. Let’s see if it helps sales.
2) #twestival: Water conservation becomes a tier 1 cause and sparks a movement.
For a really good explanation of Twitter, look to Common Craft http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o
And once you start tweeting, Jon Stewart’s parody will be that much funnier
http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/correspondents/daily-show-samantha-bee/#clip145779
on
Twitter is getting more and more popular than any other social networking site. Its creating vibrations on the internet. You may find a lot of people worldwide including famous bloggers even celebrities tweeting to reach out their ardent fans. You’ve mentined a different aspect of tweeting, opportunity for companies and people.
on
That is a good point Jenny. It really depends on who is ‘Twittering’ though. In the case of a company, that is usually why people are following – to see company updates etc. I tend to think that people follow eachother because they are interested in previous updates and content written. Hence – why not continue along the same line of thought?!