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07/05/2010

 

(P-O-P-S) If you are not using Twitter to listen in on conversations about what people are saying about your brand or small business than you are missing out on an important source of customer information. Not just a fad, but an important place to listen to what your customer thinks and his best ideas for your category, you should not formulate an articles marketing strategy online until you know what is being discussed in this 140 character micro-blogging site. People are looking for companies like themselves that they can trust. And companies, not the media or an individual, are becoming the most trusted source of information.
At the June 28th and 29th PR Summit 2010 in New York, every panel and Sally Falkow’s workshop “Advanced Social Media Strategies for PR” all included Twitter tips for business, identifying this platform as one that has outgrown fad status. Sixteen percent of people hear news on Twitter first, then visit company websites. Further, companies that engage with the customer have been shown to do 16% better than those that do not, even in a down economy.
Fact:   With 600 million searches per day on Twitter, the platform has become a major real-time search engine. SEO is as important in your tweets as it is in your website for marketers. Include keywords in tweets that your prospective customers are searching for and do searches on your own to find keywords of competitors.
Fact: More than 50 newspapers have Twitter accounts, and bloggers are no stranger to this platform. Ask a question on Twitter and responses are quick and plentiful. Journalists and citizen journalists come here for stories.
Fact: If you do not have a company account, your brand can be hijacked with awfully negative consequences. Witness BP Global PR. This  fake twitter account  shamed the real company into making public announcements and taking more responsibility for the catastrophe in the Gulf. Lesson learned: Better to face up to criticism than hide your head in the sand. 
Fact: It has been shown that “Twitter is Fastest Growing Social Media Channel Among Fortune 500 according to a new study done in 2009 that is considered statistically sound.(“The Fortune 500 and Social Media:…,” by Barnes and Mattson.)  Still, only 16 percent of Fortune 500 companies engage in Twitter.   The remaining 84% need to be engaged if they want to remain significant five years from now.
Twitter has endless business potential. Listening in on Twitter you can find: potential allies, fans, advocates, influencers of every type; problems you were not aware of and reputation issues; gaps in communication efforts, content ideas and even new markets.
Twitter makes news a more participatory experience than ever before and 74% said, “After interacting with companies or brands via new media, I generally have a more positive impression of the brand.” Lastly, if you want to know how you can influence the conversation, you have first got to be listening to develop an online articles marketing strategy that can make a difference.
 
 

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