5 Tips on How to Develop a Twitter Marketing Strategy

You'll find as you make plans to start or grow your business you'll need to have a strategy for each tool you use. Twitter especially, needs to have a strategy all of its own as it is a unique micro-blogging platform.

As all the social media platforms are different - you'll find it almost impossible to use them in the same way. This is due to the different audiences who want different results from using individual social media sites like, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Tip #1
Your first step should be deciding on why you want to use Twitter in the first place.

You'll find it's a BIG mistake to try to use Twitter to just promote your products and services as it really is a 'tool of engagement' so it should be a mixture of promotion and social chit-chat with some useful tips and information.

In fact, Twitter users normally feel they are actually connecting with a 'real' person and not an automated 'bot' or mechanical tool.

Tip #2
If you have employees (or plan to in the future... think big!) encourage them to Tweet during the day, providing they are showing your company in a positive light and are also engaging and interacting with followers.

They can do this by answering customers queries or by sending out coupons, or monitoring competitions, etc. Let's face it, we're all human beings and we like talking to other people before we make our buying decisions.

It's fine for them to add some personal Tweets, as long as they show themselves (and your company) in a positive light, of course.

Tip #3
Twitter etiquette usually assumes that you always follow those who follow you right back. However, you may want to monitor your followers as often the spammers are active too.

It's also important that you are proactive in searching for people who are in your target market, so you can follow them and hopefully they will follow you right back. If they do, remember to always be respectful and post relevant content if you want them to keep following you.

Don't be tempted to become bland and use Twitter as just a promotional tool, as people will soon stop caring about your Tweets and unfollow you.

Tip #4
You always want to be monitoring anyone who is talking about your products or services - this is a great way for FREE marketing research. Understanding their expectations and what they desire will help you build a strong relationship with them.

Once you know them well enough you'll know what keywords will get more response from them.

Tip #5
Once you have made up your mind to use Twitter then you really do have to commit to using it regularly. Plan your strategy carefully and aim for a happy medium, sharing good useful information and a little about what you are doing in your personal life (without going overboard).

You'll soon find your rhythm once you get started. Remember to always evaluate how you're doing with your strategies and tactics on a regular basis by studying the responses you get.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7897189

How Will The Update To Twitter Conversations Affect Businesses?

On Wednesday, Twitter made changes to how conversations are displayed on its apps and website. Tweets which are part of a conversation now show up in chronological order. Up to three tweets can be displayed, with a blue line connecting each tweet through the profile picture. Users can tap the tweet to see all the replies it has received. Twitter announced the update on its blog:

Today we're updating out iPhone and Android apps, as well as Twitter.com, to make it easier to discover and follow conversations in your home timeline. From buzz about the VMAs to debates around upcoming football games, people come to Twitter to take part in these real-time, global, public conversations.

In addition to this update, Twitter has made it easier for users to share conversations off the site. Users can now send tweets via email, as well as via direct message on Android devices. Also, Android users can now report individual tweets for spam.

The update, which is slowly rolling out to all users, has already received some flack, mostly from Twitter users who don't like the new look. Business Insider has gone as far to say that “some people are freaking out” about the new update, despite how small a change it is.

So, despite the immediate backlash, how can the changes help your company? Firstly, it will be a lot easier for you to find and engage with relevant conversations on Twitter. Instead of having to expand tweets to see replies, you’ll be able to read each tweet in chronological order. Finding conversations which are relevant to your business and getting involved is a great way to get new followers and promote your brand.

Secondly, if you reply to any tweets, your replies will be immediately visible beneath them. If you respond to a popular tweet, one that has been retweeted often but maybe doesn’t have that many responses, commenting with a funny or intuitive comment can gain you a lot of publicity.

Thirdly, companies can take advantage of the new email sharing options. If one of your tweets goes viral, or you have a really great conversation on Twitter, you can share it with your customers via email. You can also share important tweets with your colleagues so that you have a record of them that’s easy to recover.

Finally, companies need to be aware of the new reporting options available to Android users. Spamming on Twitter is always a bad idea, so if your company tweets appear to be spam, then you need to change your strategy. It’s so easy to report spam on the service now that you might get your account blocked at any point.

What do you think of the new Twitter conversations update?