How do businesses use Twitter?

1. Would you like a way to connect and network with others in your industry or others who share your views?
2. Would you like a way to get instant access to what’s being said, this minute, about your organization, people, products, or brand?
3. Would you like a steady stream of ideas, content, links, resources, and tips focused on your area of expertise or interest?
4. Would you like to monitor what’s being said about your customers to help them protect their brands?
5. Would you like to extend the reach of your thought leadership-blog posts and other content?

Twitter is great for all of these reasons.

Other ideas…

What if you could find out what is most important to your clients or the day to day frustrations of your target market? Would that be helpful? Well, of course it would. Twitter is a social networking tool people use to post what they are currently doing. People also share thoughts, resources, and information.  Businesses can use this tool to find out seemingly trivial facts about people. These “seemingly trivial facts” could be very valuable. Here’s how: What if you knew your biggest client was drinking coffee right now and looking forward to the Twin’s game tonight? Well, then you know that she would appreciate you sending a bag of gourmet coffee beans on her birthday. The next time you talk to her on the phone, you could say, “What about the Twins game on Tuesday?”

Twitter allows businesses to observe behavior patterns, gather information, and pick up on frustrations. All of these things allow businesses to use the information to their advantage, make product/service adjustments, and create unique “value-add” opportunities. Twitter allows you to build your own network of people, or select a demographic to follow.

ONE ACTION ITEM: Go to www.twitter.com and create your account.  Remember to document your username and password.  Make some twitter posts to learn how this simple tool works. Then come back here and write a comment with your Twitter ID so I can follow you.

This is just a quick intro to Twitter.  There is so much more to make it a powerful tool to BUILD RELATIONSHIPS with customers, vendors and partners.  Stay tuned for some amazing uses of Twitter tomorrow!

I was spending time visiting with my connections on Twitter at about 10:00pm.

I have over seven hundred followers on Twitter, mainly comprised of my target market. My target market is mothers, mom bloggers, mom entrepreneurs, and women experienced in using social networking tools. I have to say these ladies are a fantastic wealth of information and some of the most helpful people I’ve ever met, or should I say tweeted.

About five minutes later I read a creatively titled tweet about actor Jack Black that enticed me to click on the included link.

The link brought me to a news release about Jack Black starring in an upcoming episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, a popular children’s television show. My familiarity with this show, coupled with my enjoyment of Jack Black’s goofy humor made me think that other mothers might enjoy this as well. I noticed that the press release stated the episode was scheduled to air in three days. Good! I had time to blog about it.

At 10:40pm I wrote a blog post on Yo Gabba Gabba and Jack Black

At 10:40 I logged into my WordPress blog, wrote a blog post, found a great picture from Flickr, ran spell check, and linked to the video clip. I published the blog post before the 11pm deadline, so that my blog would get emailed to my subscribers yet that night.

I returned to Twitter at about 10:55, created a humorously titled Tweet that included a link to my blog article, and shared it with my followers. I logged onto my Confessions of a Mom fan page on Facebook, and posted a link to the article too.

Yo Gabba Gabba contacts me at 11pm

By 11pm an email arrived from the Yo Gabba Gabba Friends website, stating they had already seen my blog post, read it, and wondering if I knew about a special contest they were running. They provided the link that described the giveaway of a phone call from one of the show’s characters to one lucky kid. I responded to their email, thanking them for the information. I immediately went back into my blog post, added the contest information and link, and published the changes.

What did I gain from this?

1. I got great story to blog and tweet about that is interesting to my readers.
2. My site was able to provide news that my readers care about, and I look professional and “on top of things” in the process.
3. I added value to my website with the relevant contest, for those mothers who enjoy that kind of thing.
4. I gain traffic from Google for the rich content and well searched keywords, especially as people start leaving comments to the blog post.
5. I gained several new subscribers to my website and new followers on Twitter, included Yo Gabba Gabba who is now interested in following a customer evangelist. (I guess that’s me)
6. I gained two more writers interested in writing for me, and a couple customer evangelists of my own (jump on Twitter and see for yourself all the people recommending me)
7. Oh, and I got a great compliment from one person comparing me to the next great Erma Bombeck. While she was at my site, she read one of my more creative pieces and felt the need to let me know what she thought and that she’s looking forward to reading more from me. Wow, thanks!
8. Most of all, I got motivated to keep at it. Affirmation goes a long way toward working hard to build a business.

What did others have to gain?

Yo Gabba Gabba is building brand, connecting with viewers and merchandise purchasers (moms make 85% of purchasing decisions), a content-rich blog post mentioning their keywords and linking back to them, indirect access to my entire subscriber base, and the ability to read subsequent comments left on my blog about their show/product (they probably paid Jack Black plenty to appear on the show and producers may have to prove ROI.)

What can you accomplish in the next 30 minutes?

Chances are you can do more than you think. If you are waiting to really dig into blogging, and other social marketing tools, it’s time to get started making a significant difference in your business or organization. Imagine what you can accomplish in a couple hours. Oh my!