More Ways to Grow Twitter Value

So everybody knows Twitter, but how do you get maximum value from it if you sell B2B

1. We must still follow the rules of Communities

It’s normal in fact essential to follow people you’ve never met. Find people with interests similar to yours. Searching hashtags to pick up conversations about your product or service is usually a great way to start—the conversations help with what people are looking for regarding the product or service, as well as trending news surrounding it. Using #hashtags for particular topics may give the search more depth.

There are three ‘Must Haves’ for communities:

• Shared Interest: A large majority of the profiles you are following should share the same interests as you. The people following you should also have the same criteria otherwise they will be seeing information that isn’t useful in their streams.
• Methods of Communication: There is a karmic relationship between you and your followers. Give plenty and you will receive plenty in return. Respond to @ replies, post interesting things and Retweet what your followers might find interesting.
• Leveraging the community to grow: Having organic followers is the best way of growing a community. It’s OK to follow more profiles than you have following you; at the end of the day, all that matters is how many people actually see your tweets. A high rate of following can make potential followers sceptical of your intentions. Many purists argue that profiles with a 1:1 or near ratio of followers are those who are well engaged with their audience. The best way to do this involves getting rid of the inefficient. Sales people and inactive accounts should be unfollowed.

2. Synergise with your online Marketing Campaigns

There are different ways to position yourself depending on the size and the type of your business. Twitterers love small businesses and will gladly follow them for the promise of deals, bargains or news about the company.

Large companies will often create accounts that are individualised to a particular employee to assist in problem resolution as well as maintain staff involvement with clients. This is a cost-effective way of delivering fast and good customer service.

Twitter should be used as a stream for directing traffic for Blog posts. Twitter posts can also be combined into LinkedIn and Facebook accounts (though I don’t link Twitter to my LinkedIn as there would just be too many updates and many would see it as spam).

Plug-ins allows WordPress websites to have the capability to stream Twitter feeds along the side of the website. This gives the impression that business owners are engaging, current and available for chat on Twitter. Furthermore, tweeting current industry related trends show users that they are up-to-date and are experts in the field. It’s called micro blogging for a reason! There are also plug-ins for other platforms like Squarespace.

Have you missed the first article on this subject? Learn three ways to increase the value of Twitter here.

Cheers, Toby    [B612]

Toby leads a team of young, international B2B marketers at Lead Creation  www.leadcreation.com.au