People who attend our SEO and Social Media Marketing seminar who are not yet using Twitter, frequently ask us whether they should start to use Twitter in their marketing. There is a little doubt that Twitter provides another way to engage with your audience and it allows you to initiate a relationship with people who you might not otherwise be able to contact. Growing numbers of people are also seeing some of those relationships develop into business.
One thing I will say if you are still on the fence, take a look at this social media white paper produced by Michael A. Stelzner. The chart above is reproduced from the report (which is chock full of great analysis) shows how Twitter is still a strong player for marketers using Social Media in their marketing mix.
You will most probably need to dedicate a few hours a week to Twitter to get some payback. Use mobile phones and down time to tune in with your followers.
Some feedback that we are regularly receiving from Twitter users is as follows:
- Most Twitter users we ask do not enjoy receiving automated series of tips and will often un-follow people who send them.
- When you start out, use a client like TweetDeck or HootSuite.
- Use a strong password and change it regularly. If your account gets hacked go to the Twitter support page.
- If you are worried about opening a particular shortened url you can use expandmyurl.com to reveal the content before opening.
- Most people experience better results when they tweet to (@) another person on Twitter rather than just out into the ether.
Share you pate Twitter hates in the comments box below.