simplify, edition #13

 

Tweet. Tweet. What is Twitter all about? Twitter For The Small Business.

 

Twitter was born about three years ago in South Park, San Francisco. With everybody from Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry or Barack Obama on Twitter, it is safe to say the social networking platform has gone mainstream. What is this 'next big thing' all about? Twitter is about person-to-person communication. It is a 'micro blogging' platform which allows you to publish short messages or posts which are called 'Tweets' of less than 140 characters through different mediums like instant messenger, mobile phones, desktop applications and the web.

 

Basically, there are three types of public 'Tweets' you can make on Twitter. The first is a normal Tweet (where you simply publish something, share an idea, ask a question). The second is a 'reply' to something that someone else has said (an answer to a question, provide feedback, etc); this takes Twittering to a more personal and conversational level. The third one is whereby you can re-post a Tweet (RT); something someone else has posted to spread the word. You can also send 'direct messages' which is directed at a particular person and not the public. You can easily follow hundreds of users and 'listen in' and enter into conversations conducted among users anywhere in the world at any time.

 

UK Internet traffic to Twitter has increased tenfold over the last 12 months, according to Hitwise. For the week ending 17/01/09 Twitter ranked as the 291st most visited website in the UK. On average, the amount of time that people spend on Twitter has more than trebled from less than 10 minutes a year ago to half an hour now, what sounds about right for us at Simplicity. Twitter initially gained popularity amongst the younger generation, however, the fastest growing age group of users is 35-44 year olds, who now account for 17.3% of UK visitors.

 

So what's in it for you as a small business? Well, Twitter gives you an experience of opinions stated, events, news, ideas or feedback. Twitter also allows you to learn how people think and feel. At Simplicity (@SimplicityTweet), we started using Twitter a while ago and over time gained a friendly flock of followers who take an interest in what we do, think or write about, and even provide invaluable feedback to questions we may pose out there into the Twitterverse. We believe that Twitter is a manageable process that can be adopted by any small or start-up business. You just need to integrate it within your normal workflow. It can be addictive but once you understand how to use it, Twitter can be a very effective tool indeed.

 

Here is a list of ways how you can use Twitter as a small business:

 

• Humanise your brand. Twitter is a social media platform. It allows your followers to get a sense of your company's people, culture, and vision. Twitter is an ideal opportunity to provide a less 'corporate' view of your company and makes your brand more 'personal'.
• Get feedback or engage in a conversation. Need advice, feedback or an alternative opinion? Send out a 'tweet' asking for advice or express your opinion and you'll receive replies or feedback from other users. It builds trust, loyalty and engagement. It encourages repeat traffic and word-of-mouth recommendation.
• Find prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on Twitter Search and then follow users.
• Direct traffic. There is a viral nature to Twitter to get traffic to your website.
• Read news. Twitter users often link to useful sites, articles or resources. It can be a source of very useful information.
• Meet new contacts and make friends. Twitter has a built-in function for you to befriend and track the messages of other users. This is an excellent way for you connect with people outside of your usual circle.
• Business collaboration. Twitter can be used to connect employees to one another and can be particularly useful for business on the go.
• Notify your customers. Set up a Twitter feed to notify your customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification.
• Event updates and live coverage. A business can use Twitter as a means to promote an event or inform event participants about latest event happenings. Twitter allows you to provide real-time commentary on an event that may help to spark further discussion or interest on the event as other Twitter users spread the word.

 

How to get started? Well, first of all, you need a Twitter user name. Choosing your Twitter name pretty much depends on what you plan to do in the Twittersphere.

 

It is important to get a good Twitter desktop client. There are lots of applications out there which run on a Mac, Windows and Linux. Here are some Twitter apps we can recommend: TweetDeck, twhirl, twitterific, Twittervision. You can also install a Firefox plugin, Twitterfox.

 

Simplicity also tweets 'on the go' via the iPhone. We have tested almost every Twitter iPhone app out there, but our winner is Tweetie which handles multiple accounts, allows to perform custom searches, find users nearby, allows to access complete user profiles and has a very clean and simple interface.

 

Pimping out your Twitter profile background can help your personal branding and marketing efforts. Your Twitter home page is the first thing people see when they access your Twitter profile. Make it memorable by differentiating yourself. Twitter allows you to customise your Twitter profile design; or you could custom design a background yourself. There are a number of sites that will create a custom background for you like Twitbacks, or TweetStyle.

 

When using Twitter for business, remember, it needs to be integrated in the rest of your marketing strategy. That means it needs to link to your other online activity, including your website and other social networks such as Facebook.

 

Always remember that Twitter is a two-way conversation. A big part of successful tweeting is replying to those who 'tweet' you. At the end of the day, Twitter is not just about who follows you, it is also about who you follow. There's a lot of conversation buzzing around the Twittersphere; Twitter is about adding value to the conversations that are happening. Remember, every time you Tweet you can potentially improve or even hurt your reputation or brand. So mind your language. You can check your Twitter 'curse factor' on Cursebird.

 

Of course, Twitter can be used as a marketing tool for a small business, but that doesn't mean it cannot be fun too.

 

Enjoy your Tweets! What are we up to? Follow Simplicity on Twitter (@SimplicityTweet).

 

 

Some useful tools we recommend:

 

Measure the power of your Twitter profile: TwitterGrader

Shorten, track and share URLs: tr.im

Graph your Twitter stats: Tweetstats

See a 'tag cloud' from the 'bios' of your Twitter Flock: Twittersheep

Find, follow and interact with businesses on Twitter: twibs

Create a quick Twitter poll and post it to your Twitter status: polldaddy

The top 100 Twitterholics based on followers: Twitterholics

Yellow Pages for Twitter: Twellow

100 Twitter Tools to Help You Achieve All Your Goals: click here

 

If you are interested in 'How Twitter was Born', click here to read the story.

 

Who? Simplicity is a small web design and creative marketing company. For whom? We specialise in working with small, medium and start-up businesses. Why? Small feet, big shoes; just because you’re a small business does not mean you don’t need to get your message out there in a big way. What’s it all about? We help make your marketing and design matter, be known, be heard, be found; and make the pieces fit. It's not just about your products and sevices, it's about the whole experience. What’s the difference? Personal. We strongly believe in the personal approach to doing business. Creative. We fuse strategy & creativity into one compelling voice. No fuzz. We are practical & hands-on; passionate about what we do; and practice what we preach. Focus. We specialise in working with small companies and start-ups. Ideas. Ideas are the currency of our business. Ideas can have the power to change minds, transform brands and even make a difference to the bottom line. How much? Because we’re a small company without the high set-up costs of larger marketing firms and the fancy London postcode, we don’t charge London rates and are able to pass on some cost savings to our clients. What’s in the mix? [The Roadmap] Marketing Planning & Strategy: Get your marketing up and running. [Image Works] Branding & Brand Identity: Define who you are, what you can see, touch, feel, hear and watch. [A Box Of Chocolates] Demand Generation & Integrated Marketing Campaigns: Integrated marketing in harmony & style. The ideal blend of marketing initiatives. [The Bigger Picture] Website Design: Every website tells a story. Let your website do the work for you. [A Refreshing Change] Website Re-Design: Give your website an inspiring facelift. [The Perfect Pitch] Collateral Design: You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. What is the concept? Simplexity. The concept behind Simplicity is to simplify complex matters and make the pieces fit. Simplicity, where ideas come to life.

special feature - small business start-up kits

Kick-start your business by selecting one of our small business starter packages ranging from S, M, L and XL in size... Find out more, click here.

About Simplicity

Simplicity is a small creative marketing & web design company. The concept behind Simplicity is to provide hands-on, practical and creative marketing support for your business to get you up and running; give you a competitive edge, and let you concentrate on your business.

 

Simplicity Web Design

Every website we design is bespoke and unique based on your specific requirements and brand personality. We can design and develop your website from scratch, redesign your existing website, help you promote your website, attract attention, get discovered and get your message out there as well as manage your website to keep it fresh and up to date.

To find out more about us, please click here; or call us to discuss how we can help.

 

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