Top 21 Twitter Tips
Posted: April 10, 2010
Social media isn't for kids anymore. Businesses are successfully using Twitter to generate sales and increase the the bottom line. Here's are 21 tips that can turn Twitter into a nest of customers, sales and exposure.
Last year, Forbes magazine assembled a visual list for its Top 21 Twitter Tips to showcase business examples on how to use Twitter for marketing, service, sales, and ideation. The original compilation served as inspiration for a new list, one that helps businesses of all shapes, sizes, and focus embrace not only Twitter, but all relevant social networks. While many examples and quotes remain the same, the list is modified based on my observations and personal experiences.
1. Special Offers
People are making decisions on what to read, view, purchase, visit, and sample based on the information that filters through their attention dashboards. At best, even the most qualified information sourced from the most trusted contacts will receive only a cursory overview. The trick is to concisely introduce the value up front. If the offer is compelling and affiliated with their interests, the consumer will make the connection to personal value and benefits and click-through to redeem the special or coupon when ready or so inclined.
For example, California Tortilla (@caltort), a chain of 39 casual Mexican restaurants based in Rockville, MD, sends coupon passwords via Twitter, which customers must say at checkout to redeem the offer.
2. Ordering
While the distance between introduction and action is only separated by a link, many businesses are using Twitter to log orders. Coffee Groundz (@coffeegroundz) uses the direct-message channel on Twitter to receive and prepare orders. Using Twitter as a promotion and marketing channel, Coffee Groundz reports a 20 to 30 percent increase in sales and market share.
3. Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Moonfruit offered 11 Macbook Pros and 10 iPod Touches to celebrate its 10th anniversary. In order to qualify, contestants had to send a tweet using the hashtag #moonfruit. One month later, Moonfruit site traffic was up 300 percent, and sales increased by 20 percent -- all because of a meager investment of $15,000. The company also realized SEO benefits by landing on the first results page on Google for “free website builder.”
4. Conversation Marketing
5. Customer Service
6. Focus Groups
7. Direct Sales
8. Business Development
9. Curation
10. Information Networks
11. Dedicated and Branded Channels
12. Mobile and Geo Location Marketing
13. Hosted Conversations That Generate Traffic and Referrers
14. User-Generated Change
15. Vendor-Relationship Management
16. Ideation
17. Employee Recruitment
18. Events
19. Research and Intelligence
20. Fundraising
21. Words of Wisdom
About the Author
Brian Solis
Brian Solis is the author of "Engage," a new book that helps businesses build, cultivate, and measure success in social media. You can follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
