5 Great Ways to Use Twitter as a Marketing Tool

A common misconception amongst people who are not on Twitter is that only a very small proportion of the population are actively using it. A further preconception is that these individuals are made up mainly of celebrities and their fans tweeting about trivial matters such as what they had for breakfast or where they took their dog for a walk.

This may have been the case five years ago when twitter first started. However, since then Twitter has grown into a great marketing tool. Hubspot’s 2010 Marketing report indicates that the majority of young, well educated business professionals are using Twitter.

What’s more, a self report survey by Edison Research in 2010 found that 42% of Twitter users use Twitter to learn about products and professional services, and that it plays an active role in their decision making process.

Here are 5 great ways to use twitter as a marketing tool:

• As an RSS feed for your blog.You may be creating killer content on your blog, but you also need to take the next step and publicise it. Each time your blog is posted to twitter, you will pick up a few followers who are interested in your content.This has many positive effects. Firstly, it drives traffic to your website when people click through to view your blog. It also helps with SEO because each followed back link to your website naturally boosts you up the Google rankings. You will also get more comments on your blog and may receive feedback on what kind of articles your reader base are interested in.
• To distribute E-Campaigns and E-CouponsIf you have built up your twitter followers organically i.e. by picking them up from posting regularly and engaging likeminded people in conversation then you should have a captive audience who are all interested in your products and services.These could be much better to target with special offers and e-campaigns than a cold data list. It is also free, which gives it a distinct edge over e-mail marketing.
• To listen to your customersTwitter users love to give their opinion on things. In fact it has been said that the recent decrease in people standing on soap boxes and preaching on street corners is a direct effect of them being able to vent their spleen via twitter.All businesses need to react to customer feedback, but you are especially at risk from bad feedback via Twitter if you are a large household name. Monitoring online comments about your brand using software such as tweet deck or hoot suite can allow you to listen to your customers and take the appropriate actions to remedy any negative comments.
• For Viral MarketingThe RT is a powerful tool, especially if you can get influential thought leaders in your area to RT your content, they will be putting in front of their own much larger captive audiences. For this reason, Twitter is a great way to publicise any viral content such as videos, online games or simple promotional vouchers and help it spread through your target population.
• As a networking toolTwitter is a great way to find influential thought leaders in your industry. It may be a place that you can start to nurture relationships online, with the intent of continuing them offline. This can be great as a PR tool to help get your content in relevant industry magazines or even as a sales tool to gain potential customers.

If you would like to talk to Serendipity 2 about running a full social media campaign or integrating social media into your current online presence then please get in touch with our head of digital would love to go through any of your social media or digital requirements.

T: 01926 887 555
E: info@serendipity2.com.
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