Small Business Social Media Logistics: Twitter Round II

1 Comment(s) | Posted Feb 9, 2010 by Pat Morrell

Patrick Morrell

Last week I offered a very basic primer on getting started with Twitter, from set-up to log-in to "Who do I follow?"  This was in response to what we've found is often the biggest hurdle for small business owners i.e. knowing how to get started.

The second biggest hurdle?  Maintaining activity.  As promised last week, here's a deep logistical dive on ways to keep activity fresh and efficient.

To find more interesting people to follow and speak to - and to hopefully accrue more followers yourself - two simple approaches include following "Hashtags" and "Twitter Lists."  A hashtag is just a way of indentifying and linking similar messages to create one coherent conversation reflective of the Twittersphere at large.  For example, during the Brown-Coakley Senate race last month, popular hashtags included #MASenate, #Brown, and #Coakely.  Users incorporated those hashtags into any comment or question they felt pertinent to the race, adding their voice to the choir.  For someone interested in following public opinion online, or for finding other politicos or active voters with whom they'd like to connect, clicking those hashtags and following the conversation was a smart move.

Twitter Lists are also a fine resource as they aggregate like-minded people operating in a similar industry or holding similar opinions into one easy-to-follow list.  For example, I appear on six lists created by other people - those lists range in focus from "former colleages" to "social media marketers in NC" to "Sewanee graduates."  Anyone interested in following those verticals would simply have to click "Follow List," and he or she would automatically be exposed to a new group

Depending on your goal for your Twitter feed, the logistics of communication may vary:

If your goal is "Thought leadership" – to postion yourself as a resource in a given field - really anything you think pertinent to share (articles, RTs, your own sporadic musings) is fair game.  My advice is to over-share – do more than you think is necessary.  First, because Twitter is so foreign to you at the outset, it will be a struggle to find the right words and rhythm. So, posting more than you think is appropriate is a far closer to what everyone else would recognize as a healthy level of engagement.  There are some folks and companies who tweet 40+ daily.  Three Ships Media hovers in the 10+ range.  Decide what’s best for you and/or your business.

Lead generation – a bit trickier.  It’s important not to be explicitly salesy in your outreach i.e. “Hey, want to save $5 on mops – here’s how."  That will feel like spam, and you'll see very little benefit and a quickly deteriorating reputation.  However, it’s perfectly acceptable to be promotional and genuinely engage potential customers around their expressed interests. If you sell cleaning supplies, follow hashtags like “cleaning supplies,” “spring cleaning,” and monitor other users and businesses like @Clorox.  To see what people are saying, what they are complaining about, what they are interested in.  It’s perfectly acceptable – and quite savvy – to approach a dissatisfied customer - @bounty, your mop keeps falling apart! – and offer them an alternative.

Quelling complaints – in the same way you monitor other brands, monitor your own.  It would be foolish to engage potential customers when existing customers are operating in the same platform expressing dissatisfaction and the potential of dropping your brand.  Be the first to respond to issues, and offer solutions ASAP.  Twitter is often overlooked as a customer retention tool.  Use it.

Logistically, how can you efficiently monitor all of these interactions.  I strongly recommend the Twitter Clients Tweetdeck and HootSuite.  First, Twitter.com is notorious for becoming overloaded and is unpredictable to the point where you can lose serious productivity waiting on page reloads.  Tweetdeck and Hootsuite allow you to synthesize and simplify your interactions into intuitive, easy-to-manage columns (see below).  Simultaneously, you can track your tweets, your following’s tweets, your hashtags, @mentions, and Retweets, as well as potential competitors.  If you are serious about engaging across Twitter, it would be very wise to enlist the support of a twitter client.

Mobile is equally important.  For Blackberry, I recommend UberTwitter.  Having juggled previously unsatisfactory applications in the past, UberTwitter is by far the most efficient, quick-to-load Twitterstream I’ve encountered.  Easy to download and easy to manage, it’s ideal for keeping tabs when you’re away from your laptop.  For your iPhone, there are literally dozens of applications available - take a look, and experiment in the App Store.  I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on which is the best, and for what purposes.

Filed under: 3Ships Helpful Hints, Twitter-related