Many people think it sounds silly to tweet. While tweeting may sound silly, Twitter is a wildly popular communication channel for quick and easy exchange with mass audiences. This post gets down to the Twitter basics and explains why this channel needs to be included in your social media tools for professional services marketing.
Source: lostateminor.com
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a powerful communication channel that allows you to deliver messages to audiences all around the world in the following ways:
- Send a short message to Many people publicly
- Send a short message to a specific person publicly
- Send a short message to a specific person privately
Twitter is known as a "micro-blog",” meaning you post short messages limited to 140 characters or fewer. This character limitation was initially targeted for mobile phones and text messaging applications. However, these small messages are useful for people who like to rapidly receive and deliver concise messages to/from the masses.
Is Twitter Practical for Business?
If you grow your business by nurturing relationships, Twitter should be a part of your social media marketing strategy. Twitter is a channel that allows you to concisely and rapidly send messages to prospective clients - similar to a networking event.
Twitter is a communication channel for…
- Developing a social conversation about your unique brand
- Striking up an exchange with your client and prospective client base
- Monitoring the buzz about your firm and brand
- Generating excitement about upcoming events
- Giving your company talent a voice and acting as liaisons to mass audiences
- Promoting professional content, including press releases and blog posts
- Nurturing direct relationships with bloggers and journalists
- Generating project leads for your practice
What messages shall I tweet?
- A professional observation: Tweet about your current projects and let me know your thoughts.
- A great article or book you read: Post a link to a thought-provoking blog post or relevant industry news article.
- A compelling video you are watching: Post a link to an awesome video that relates to the industry while also capturing your unique qualities.
- You can share a link to the next networking and industry event you plan to attend.
- You can post a link to a recently authored company whitepaper or blog article.
- Share someone else's noteworthy article or resource: Post a link to someone else's blog article or a helpful resource.
- Strike a conversation with another person: Direct messages to Twitter users using an @ sign.
- Retweet a message someone else has tweeted: Retweet (using "RT" or "Retweet" at the beginning of the message or clicking Twitter's Retweet button) to repeat to your followers what another user has tweeted.
I want you to please realize that everything you say on Twitter becomes public knowledge. Don't say anything you wouldn't post on the community bulletin board at the local Starbucks. Even if you delete a tweet, it might still be archived on the Internet and has the potential to get found.
If you decide to tweet, also check out our checklist to "Strike Up A Conversation."
