As a cool way to communicate and share information, Twitter almost seems like an old staple by now. In fact, it's hard to remember how we ever lived without it! As a tool for online marketing, however, things are still a little bit murky. Even Dell, a massive company with an extensive social media department and enormous resources, recently admitted that they essentially had to guess how much money they were (or weren’t) making from their Twitter activities.
Because that kind of confusion can make it hard for small business owners to know how, when, and how often to take advantage of Twitter, we would like to offer you three great ways to take advantage of the platform:
To share breaking news and announcements. Because tweets can travel so quickly, and be spread with a minimum of effort or input, it makes sense to share new developments through Twitter. In fact, Twitter can even be a faster way to spread the word than e-mail can, so make sure to make it is the backbone of your announcement strategy.
To answer common questions from customers and colleagues. Yes, there should be an FAQ section on your website, but if you seem to find yourself responding to the same issues over and over, why not turn it into a tweet? Not only will you get some exposure, but it could help your explanation to be indexed by search engines, too.
To announce sales and specials. This is probably the most popular use, and one you should definitely take advantage of. Notice that we put it last, however; constantly broadcasting offers to buy something is perhaps the quickest way to lose followers and turn happy customers into uninterested strangers. Twitter can be a great tool for promoting your business, but only if you have other things to say once in a while, too.