Hyperlaunch DMG

Top 10 Twitter Tips

02-06-2009

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Top 10 Twitter Tips

Everyone’s twittering, or so it seems. But according to Harri Owen, Head of Noize at HyperlaunchDMG, many businesses haven’t fully grasped the opportunity. Twitter can, as part of a wider social media strategy, be a highly valuable tool in making a personal connection.  What should your approach be and how can you harness its full potential?


1. Let people know who you are

Use your Twitter page to its full potential by making sure you have added a bio that makes the best use of the 140 characters you have.

You also have the option to display a custom background, which you can use to feature your contact details and other key information.  Try Twitbacks for a step-by-step branded background service.


2. Personalise your Twitter account

…and most importantly, don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t!

As opposed to Facebook or Myspace, which are based around a multi-faceted profile, Twitter is purely designed for conversation, rather than a mixture of socialising and personal billboards. 

People use Twitter because they want to talk to other people.  The best corporate Twitter accounts are run by an appointed advocate, who conform to a consistent brand voice, yet with their own personality.

Case study:

Twitter name: RichardatDELL

Dell official tweeter:  Richard Binhammer, who tweets on behalf of Dell without an official title.

Richard is quick to respond, straight to the point, and a great advocate for Dell & their other Twitterers. When asked to describe his role with Dell, Richard explained: “I have no title.  For the past two years I have been focused on listening, learning and engaging with blogs and others in social media.”

On why Dell tweets: “We have multiple accounts.  Content subscriptions, deals and offers and then people-connecting.  All with one purpose: so people can connect with Dell in ways they want and are meaningful for them.

On the best Direct Messages: “The best DMs are always the ones looking for help figuring out what’s the best new Dell system for someone, or people who share links about their Dell pics.”

Concerning senior staff’s awareness of Twitter: “Yes the most senior people are well aware of the various accounts and our active work on Twitter from all perspectives.”

Source: mashable.com

3. Don’t be a lurker, join the conversation

The more you give, the more you get back.

When adding the ‘@’ symbol in front of a username (such as @stephenfry), your tweet can be viewed by that user in the ‘@reply’ section on their account page. 

The @username that you include in your tweet will also be hyperlinked, which allows others to view the @user’s profile page. 

Using the @reply function is a useful way of:

a.    Having a conversation with another user.
b.    Promoting a certain user account to others - remember that the social currency of Twitter is recommendation!


4. Add value to your network, not just followers

Many new Twitter enthusiasts make the mistake of thinking that 250, 000 followers on Twitter translates into instant kudos and influence. 

I recently stumbled across a blog that touted ‘tricks’ on how to get thousands of followers instantly through various automated applications.

Someone had posted a response comment which said something to the effect of:

‘…what do you intend to do with all these followers?  Take 2000 robots to lunch?’

One person that has a genuine interest in your brand, a common interest, or something to offer is worth 3000 randoms. 

Your network should grow through targeted searching, based on well-thought out objectives. After all, once you have followers you are going to need to engage with them.

Try searching for relevant keywords on Twitter Search to find people who are already talking on key topics relevant to your brand.


5. Include links - drive traffic

Links are the bread and butter of social media.  They provide recommendation and viral kudos. 

Make use of each tweet by ensuring you have a consistent strategy for linking which drives traffic towards the pages you want them to see the most. 

Remember that the holy grail of social media is sharing.  Aim for that elusive ‘Re-tweet’ effect by offering links to attractive content or incentivising.

‘I had baked beans for lunch then I cleaned the fridge’ probably won’t stick in anyone’s head for too long and certainly won’t have Twitterers reaching for the ‘R’ & ‘T’ keys in a hurry.


6. Add multimedia and make things more attractive

The beauty of Twitter is its ‘open app’ nature.  Any developer can create a new application based around the platform.  This has led to an endless stream of Twitter add-ons. 

Social media is a multi-format beast and people love sharing their latest hilarious ‘cat falling off the TV’ pics & videos with the world.

To enhance the opportunity for sharing and viral content – make full use of the formats on offer.  The most popular photo-sharing application for Twitter at the moment is Twitpic.

You may also want to check out the ‘Twitter for video’ service 12seconds.tv


7. Make a trail, start a movement, use hashtags

Whoever invented the massively popular #followfriday is probably quietly gutted that no-one will ever know they did.  ‘Many-to-many’ conversations can be a blessing and a curse.

Twitter have made it very easy for anyone to follow a worldwide conversation on a certain topic by building in their #hashtag’ function.

Putting a ‘#’ in front of any word (or phrase without spaces) will automatically link it to a search results page on Twitter Search that aggregates ALL posts using that particular hashtag.

Creating hashtags can be a very effective way of aggregating a conversation on the topic of your choosing.  #followfriday made best use of this by creating a way to recommend other Twitter users to the world and in turn promoting your own Twitter username.

But beware the Telegraph effect.  Use the hashtag wisely, remember once it’s out there – it’s out there!


8. Enhance your customer service

People love a good moan, especially the English.  In the age of the automated telephone service, customers are generally itching to speak to an ‘actual person’. 

Twitter offers the nearest social media alternative, which means generally any Twitter strategy will need some level of CRM built in.

The most successful brands in social media have embraced this public display of ‘putting the customer first’ by adding a dedicated customer service Twitter account.

Offering a Twitter channel gives the customer a voice and allows the brand to show off its expertise in handling customer queries.   

Case study:

Twitter Name: americanapparel

American Apparel official tweeter: Lisa Kim is website manager for American Apparel.  She using the account to reach out to dissatisfied customers, but she’s also crowd-sourcing for ways to improve and including pics from customers on the official American Apparel blog.

On why American Apparel tweets: “We don’t have an official goal but we’d like to give our customers a way to get in touch with us and give us feedback and ideas for products.”

How they use Twitter for customer service: “We saw a tweet from someone who received less than stellar customer service at a store in Canada & we got in touch with them to sort it out.”

Source: mashable.com

9. Embrace a grass-roots strategy

Many brands have gone a step further and used customer feedback through social media to drive strategy and product development.  Think of it as the ultimate focus group!

Remember that people will talk about your brand whether you are party to their conversation or not.

This online chatter provides a golden opportunity to produce insight into their needs.


10. Keep things organised

The fast-moving, constantly updating nature of Twitter can make it a bit daunting for the newly initiated.  Especially when looking at managing several accounts, each with a network of 1000’s. 

There are many free tools that can help make things easier, here are the best of the bunch:

Tweetdeck – display tweets ‘grouped’ into certain followers of your choosing across several columns.  You can also create filters based on keyword searches.

Hootsuite – similar functionality to Tweetdeck, but across several user accounts.  You can also set up ‘scheduled’ tweets for automated posting.

Tweetlater – much the same as Hootsuite, with better scheduling and integration options.  Although you need to pay a monthly fee to add multi-user functionality.

Case study:

Twitter Name: Starbucks

Starbucks Official Tweeter:  Brad Nelson, who puts great value in @replies as opposed to Direct Messages.  A former barista, Brad is now managing the Twitter account responding to DMs, replying to mentions of Starbucks, trying to help customers find resolutions to their problems and responding to bad sentiment.

On keeping things organised: “Tweetdeck. It’s great. Everything you need to see at once: DM’s, Replies, Searches, and Trending topics. Also I spend time on it.  The more you keep up, the more manageable it is.”

Source: Mashable.com