A few months back, I wrote a blog post that discussed rules businesses should follow when using Twitter. The post featured suggestions from sales blogger Eric Rudolf, and now Rudolf is back with five more “do’s” that can help you more successfully navigate the world of Twitter. After writing his first set of suggestions, Rudolf spent more time researching the social network and felt compelled to share his findings. He writes, “after investing close to 500 more hours in the research and use of Twitter, I have come up with five additional rules that should never be broken when attempting to use Twitter as a business tool.” Below are the first two rules, and click here to read the rest.
Rule #6: Allow Your Twitter Account to Develop a Personality
By virtue of being a social technology, Twitter is a wonderful place to show your clients and prospects a different and more personal side of your business. Does that mean employees should be allowed to tweet about upcoming vacations and family milestones? Of course not. But tweeting in a more informal voice can go a long way toward building loyalty among Twitter followers. This is especially important at virtual companies, where clients and prospects need to be constantly reminded that there are real people behind all of the webinars, mass emails, and online newsletters.
Rule #7: Follow Your Industry’s Support System
Not surprisingly, a critical component of building a successful Twitter presence for business is the actual “networking” part—extending your company’s reach by finding people to follow and identifying potential clients who are interested in following your business. Most marketers do a great job of choosing Twitter members who have a high probability of being clients some day. But experienced Twitter marketers will also follow people and organizations who keep their clients educated and employed. Does your industry landscape include professional associations, educational portals, consulting companies ,and placement firms? If so, you might want to follow them. Not only will they be tempted to promote you to their followers, but they will also retweet your news, offers, and white papers once in awhile.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Jessica Helinski