Twitter For TrafficHow you can use Twitter to bring traffic to your websites, blogs and other online ventures. Esther C Kane
January 27, 2009
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Okay, so you MUST have heard about Twitter by now. But, just in case you haven't, Twitter is a micro-blogging tool
that seems to have taken over the Internet. It's one of, if not THE
fastest growing social media type of program currently available.
Basically, the idea is you sign up for an account, you begin "micro
blogging" which means that your "post" can't be any longer than 140
characters. So basically, you're just shouting out a note. You add to
your account certain people that you want to follow on Twitter. And in
turn, people follow you. Why should you follow anyone? Maybe the CEO of
your competition is on Twitter. Don't you want to know what he's
saying? Why should anyone want to follow you? Well, if you have
important news, insights, advice, information on your "expertise"
within your industry, they'll follow you. Believe me.
One note to remember. If there are 100 people following you on Twitter,
those 100 people have people following THEM. Those additional people
can look to see who the people they are following, are following
(follow me?) and that's how your brand and exposure can continue to
grow - at least within Twitter.
Maybe you
have heard of Twitter and you know what it is and you actually have an
account there, maybe you're wondering, "What do I do with this thing?"
- well, there are many companies out there who are trying to figure out
the very same thing. You're not alone. So, let me share with you some
ideas and what others are doing to utilize this very interesting little
tool. First you must realize that in
order for Twitter to work (and really, in order for ANY social media
tool to work) you must participate. You can't just sign up for an
account on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn and expect that just because
you have a profile out there that people are going to just jump and
contact you. Well, maybe if your photo was of you in the nude and you
looked absolutely amazing nude - maybe then you would get alot of
contacts just for posting a profile. Otherwise, you're going to have to
use that program and the way you use it is to converse with other
members, provide information, share insights, etc. Think of your social
media program as your "watercooler". Everyone takes a few minutes each
day to take a break - go to the watercooler or the coffee pot and just
hang out for 5-10 minutes. Chat with others, get some news, gossip,
etc. Your social media account is the very same thing. Only you don't
have to get up and walk anywhere!
Okay, so with that being said, let's see what others are doing with this Twitter thing...
Quick Notices of Upcoming Sales, Events, Etc.
Companies like woot, southwestair, jetblue, best buy, american apparel, rubbermaid, whole foods, zappos, starbucks, dunkin donuts, dell, kodak, hoovers and so many more are using Twitter to increase / improve brand
recognition AND to advise their "followers" of specials, sales, events,
etc.
These companies have anywhere
from 2000 to 75,000 followers. Imagine planning a sale for Valentines
Day - you can use a program like TweetLater to create posts which then
run at the designated time you instruct. You create 5 posts about the
item(s) you are selling for Valentines Day and you post them onto your
TweetLater account so for 5 days straight, all your Tweet followers
will receive notice about what you're putting on sale for this upcoming
holiday. Imagine if you had 75,000 followers (like Woot).
Keep Up Communications With Your Customers
The RedCross uses Twitter to "provide information to the public during disasters".
But they also receive alot of "thank yous" from individuals that
they've helped. It allows them to keep in touch with those individuals,
whom they may otherwise have never heard from.
Dunkin Donuts is getting a great response from their Twitter account. As they say,
“We have been pleasantly pleased with the response volume we’ve
received — there’s clearly enthusiasm for the brand on Twitter. It’s
been exciting to see the conversation with our customers take off.”
WholeFoods has gained some insight into their own operations from their clients.
Imagine, no need for sample polls and focus groups. What they've
learned through Twitter is, ...“…A lot about the importance of
localized information. Whole Foods is a very decentralized…Because of
this we will be working to get more local information out to people
via accounts tailored to individual stores or cities, such as
@WholeFoodsLA.
HRBlock reports..."“Most
rewarding: interacting with consumers 1:1. Love that connection -
it’s great to help. Challenge: respond quickly in a 24/7 environment
Customer Service
Imagine
if every time someone mentioned your company name, you would get a
notification not only that a mention was made but what the mention was.
I know, we can't monitor EVERYTHING that's said, but if your company
name is mentioned in Twitter, you will see what was said and who said
it. If the mention is unfavorable or they spoke of a problem, you can
contact that Tweeter and try to resolve the issue. What great customer
service! The dis-satisfied customer didn't even have to get in touch
with you.
Some Interesting Other Uses
Kevin.Lexblog.com wrote in September 2008 - Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, a pretty good plaintiffs' firm here in Seattle, apparently has its PR person, Laura Young of Firmani + Associates Inc., out twittering to find putative class members for a possible class action law suit versus Verizon Wireless.
And from David Armano himself: - If you are interested about marketing, conversations and
the ways which we communicate with each other (and how this is
changing and evolving), you should at least investigate what the
hoopla is all about. My recent experiences with Twitter tell me that
the service is morphing due to how users want to use it. What was once
initially designed to answer the question “what are you doing?”, has
turned into a free-form communications service where people are having
burts of shorthand conversations, sharing links and information in
rapid-fire fashion…Personally, I think Twitter is a pretty powerful
tool for anything involving promotions, events and communities.
Botanicalls - do you forget to water your plants? Set up the Botanicalls kit in your plant and it will Tweet you when it's thirsty.
Commuter Feed - do your own traffic reporting for others in your area. No sense in EVERYONE getting stuck in that traffic jam!
There
are some folks who just love to listen to emergency broadcasts with
radio scanners and ham radios. For those folks, they can check out the LAFD twitter. The Los Angeles Fire Department tweets real time alerts in its jurisdiction.
So, have I convinced you yet? If you're not on Twitter - I have no idea
what you're waiting for. And if you are on Twitter, are there any
interesting ideas that you have on how to use this great program? Let
me know.
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