Twitter is not a fad. Since it’s debut in 2007 (and 500,000 tweets per quarter), Twitter now boasts 4 billion tweets. According to Hub Spot’s “State of the Twittersphere 2010“, Houston, Texas ranks in the top 20 global places listing Twitter profiles.
If you haven’t set up a Twitter account for your Houston area small business, you are missing out on multiple opportunities to increase sales and develop relationships with new and existing customers.
Assuming you are already on the Twitter bandwagon and have set up a professional looking Twitter profile, here are 5 ways you can use this micro-blogging platform to support your micro business:
1. Track what people are saying about you.
People are talking. They could be talking about you or your business. You can monitor those conversations in real time using a Twitter feed or the Twitter search tool. If the talk is negative, this provides you an opportunity to speak to the issue before the molehill blows up into a big ugly mountain of negative publicity. This can be accomplished through blog posts or press releases. No matter what strategy you decide to use, the important thing is being able to react in real-time.
2. Interact with your customers.
By communicating with you customers you build trust. Twitter allows you to send or broadcast information that can improve your customer’s quality of life or offer a tip that can save them money. This fosters trust and generates positive word of mouth for you and your business.
3. Create excitement and buzz around promotions and events.
Twitter allows you to get the word out on upcoming events or special promotions. You can also drive traffic to an event in real-time. For example, if your church group or Girl Scout Troop is holding a car wash today, send out tweets with the address to drive traffic to the location.
4. Promote new products or services.
But be careful – you don’t want your tweets sounding like a blatant sales pitch. Take a conversational tone and inform without the hard sell.
5. Drive traffic to your website and get fresh leads.
If you have a blog that’s a part of your website, your tweets can direct traffic to your site every time you post fresh material.
Tools to Help You Monitor Twitter
Echofon (Formerly TwitterFox): This nifty tool notifies you of your friends’ tweets on Twitter. Syncs with iPhone. This is a Firefox web browser plugin that will allow you to view your tweets within your browser’s popup menu. This saves a lot of time because it eliminates the need to have to go to the Twitter website.
Twitter for Facebook: This application automatically forwards your Twitter updates directly to Facebook as status updates.
SocialOomph (Formerly TweetLater): The focus is now on productivity solutions for users of Twitter.com. SocialOomph has broadened its scope to the users of other social networking services. They offer tools that boost your social media productivity.
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