Twitter for Business: How To Know Whether To Incorporate Twitter Into Your Marketing Strategy
With the great variety of social media platforms available today, it can be necessary for a business, particularly a smaller business, to pick and choose which platforms to incorporate into their marketing strategy. Your business will likely be better served if you choose a couple of social media platforms and become proficient in their use, rather than dabbling in all of the available platforms.
In order to determine which social media platforms will most benefit your business, you need to analyze the features of each and decide which features will help you meet your goals. Twitter has certain unique features that may make it more useful for some businesses than for others.
Twitter allows its users to engage in public conversations by posting short (140 characters) messages, which may include a link to Internet content, a photo or a video. A user can reply to a message or pass it along to all of his or her followers. More than any other form of social media, Twitter allows for the rapid spread of information.
The short nature of the messages sent through Twitter encourages the development of informal personal relationships between users. This is a useful feature for professional service-providers and those in sales, for whom it is important to develop personal relationships with customers and clients. For this reason, a Twitter account should be a must-have for professionals like a mortgage and insurance brokers, real estate agents and investment advisers.
Consultants, for whom it is important to develop their own personal brand, can also benefit greatly from Twitter. Twitter is a great way to let your personality show while providing potential clients with useful or interesting tidbits of information. Many consultants depend on their online presence to attract new clients and Twitter can be a great way to direct traffic to your website or blog.
Twitter was designed for use on mobile devices. It is therefore a must-have for any business whose customer base is using a mobile device, rather than sitting at home on their computer. For example, certain car and bicycle-share businesses may benefit from the use of Twitter, which would easily allow customers to locate the closest available car or bicycle on their mobile device. Public transit, restaurants and bars may also find that Twitter is a useful way to attract and communicate with customers who are already out on the town.
While Twitter may be particularly key for certain types of business, it is sure to have something to offer to most businesses. Twitter is worth considering no matter your business or your marketing strategy.