A guest blog from Bryony Thomas
I run Clear Thought Consulting, a management consultancy specialising in marketing transformation programmes for small businesses. In the last six months, through Twitter, we have:
- Hooked up three people we hadn’t previously known with new paying clients.
- Met up with somewhere in the region of 20 local experts who are now on our referral list.
- Received two good quality leads, with a combined value in five figures.
It is a fantastic tool for doing business. And should definitely be on the list of marketing techniques to try in 2010 for every small business. Our top three activities on Twitter are:
1. Promoting ourselves
Now, this has to be done in a really open, honest and authentic way. After all, Twitter is an opt-in medium, and if people don’t like what you’re saying the ‘un-follow’ button is only a click away. We use Twitter to drive traffic to our website, with high quality free content, like Blogs and presentations. We know that the majority of people will simply read, nod and leave. That’s fine. Over time this builds up into a bank of goodwill, full of people who drop us into conversation with their friends and contacts, or drop us a line when a need arises. Twitter is our third highest source of traffic to our website. I recently received an email from a contact at a local agency, “Wow, keep doing what you’re doing, I only ever hear good things about you.” Delighted, I asked who had mentioned me – three people with whom I have regular contact on Twitter, but have never met in person, had mentioned Clear Thought on totally separate occasions. One had also forwarded him one of our Blog articles relevant to their conversation they’d found via the site. The key here is the content you make available – it needs to be interesting and useful.
2. Market Research
Twitter is totally brilliant for a bit of research. We’ve used it in a few different ways. You can use various monitoring tools to search names and phrases to see what is being said ‘out there’. This is a great starting point for preparing more detailed research for client projects looking at sales messages, customer service or brand perception. We’ve also used Twitter to find people to interview for more detailed research projects. You can also drop people a link to an open survey, if it is appropriate.
3. Office Banter
There are three of us in the business. We often work from home, or out and about with clients. In this setting, Twitter is great for a bit of human contact. People send each other playlists on Spotify, or vent their frustrations with the weather, or simply chat about something they saw on TV. It’s the home-worker’s equivalent of the water cooler. We do have a few rules on this one. We never say anything on Twitter that we wouldn’t say at a professional networking event. So, typically no swearing, bitching or moaning. But a bit of friendly conversation can keep the synapses firing nicely.
All in all, Twitter has become a key tool for our business. It also finds itself in the mix for most of our clients these days. One of whom recently doubled inbound enquiries through smarter use of social media and digital marketing, including Twitter. So, give it a go. And, remember that it is a conversation, not a bulletin board.
And of course, you can follow me on Twitter, or find out more about us from the following links:
- Client social media marketing case study
- Blog on B2B social media
- 30 minute presentation on ‘online word of mouth‘
I joined twitter just over a year ago with my prime focus being research; research about twitter (SN in general), what it was, how it was being used, could be used for business and market research & anything else. Obviously in order to do this I needed to participate, and not superficially but authentically. I recreated my infrequent Newsletters (since 2006) into a monthly blog using my email database for past & existing clients (none on twitter) and used it as a tool to expand new horizons on SN.
After a year my blog (+ 6800 tweets) are giving me credibility, and many varied, new and interesting conversations & contacts, which very likely could turn into new business opportunities. My monthly posts are underlining whom I am and what I do to those who know me and work with me already.
The “water cooler” analogy (and I am into analogies:-) is very apt. I am getting a real sense of this and how it is and can be used between people working together in various global locations to maintain the daily personal interactions no longer an option.
Good post, it really makes sense to me:) @CASUDI
Bryony,
Didn’t want to leave without saying thank you for this Informative & concise article
I caught the Twitter “bug” soon after I started tweeting 5 months ago, and it is one of my favorite things to do online.
Twitter is about learning how to say what you mean & mean what you say.
Authenticity and good content make for good tweeting.
Regards,
Lynn Fishman RN
I was thinking about putting some kind of comment section in my blog when I realized that I already have an amazing one. It is linked above and it is called Twitter. I realize that Twitter wasn’t made for this, but it seems to me that Twitter wasn’t made for any specific task at all. Twitter is given meaning by how people use it,
I also like the http://tinyurl.com/ybtalex/ at the end, like you have it