In Part one of this series,  The Importance of Using Social Networking for Business; Part 1, I discussed the Social Networking site Facebook.  Although it is considered a ‘Play” site, most notable for games such as Farmville (which is my favorite) and Mafia Wars, it is also one that can be utilized by your business to reach out to new potential customers.  There are some however that do not wish to forego their personal Facebook pages for business so they look must seek out other alternatives for social networking.  One alternative that has taken America by storm and is widely used by politicians, most media outlets, authors and musicians alike is Twitter.  And Twitter is not just for fun, but it is an important business tool as well.  Twitter reports that Dell Outlet has generated more than $3 million in revenues as a result of Twitter posts.  While you might not be as big as Dell, if you have a product you can’t ignore free resources such as Twitter.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Twitter was originally inspired by the concept of the “Away Message” and began as an experiment in 2006.  It is because of Twitter’s ability to instantly communicate during such emergency situations as earthquakes and civil unrest (i.e., as in Iran), and shared events such as conferences and festivals, that gave way to Twitter as we know it today.  Twitter, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is currently a privately funded company based out of San Francisco, CA.

WHAT’S WITH THE NAME

Twittering is the sound birds make when they communicate with each other  According to Twitter.com this is:

—an apt description of the conversations here. As it turns out, because Twitter provides people with real-time public information, it also helps groups of people mimic the effortless way a flock of birds move in unison.

SO HOW DOES TWITTER WORK?

Twitter allows users to post messages up to a total of 140 characters, which includes punctuation and spaces.  Not only can you tweet via your computer but also through your mobile telephone networks as well.  And given that most telephone services limits texting on your cell phones to 160 characters, Twitter opted to limit it to 140 leaving you with 20 characters for your username.  The messages that you post are public.  Because Twitter is a recipient driven information network, you get to decide what sort of messages you want to receive.  Twitter allows your business to partake in real-time communication, connecting you with your followers and other potential customers “Right now” which is of the utmost importance in today’s competitive driven business.  You know, the early bird (pun intended of course) gets the worm…

SO LET’S GET STARTED

1. Get to Know Twitter – Be sure to read through the Twitter Rules and Terms of Service so you’re sure to stay out of trouble.
2. Create a company profile – Go to twitter.com and click sign up now.  Type your company name as you want it to appear in the “Full Name” field.  This user name is your handle by which you are known on Twitter.  You want to use the shortest names that describes your company, preferably your company name if available.  For example, Gene’s twitter page is IPWatchdog and mine is IPWatchdog_Too, not Two as in the number 2, but Too as in Also.  Clever wouldn’t you say?
3. Learn the Lingo – Although Twitter seems easy enough, understanding what each of the terms mean will make your use of this social network that much more effective.  Check out Twitter 101 and learn about each of the terms used in conjunction with your Twitter account.
4. Personalize your profile - Go into Settings and give your company a face.  Upload a picture, such as your company logo, in settings and add the names of those who will be tweeting on the account. The bio is especially important to pay attention to.  It is limited to 160 characters so you need to determine the best sentence to describe your company and/or what you do.   Some people such as myself, choose to use key terms that best reflect what we do and who I am.  Because space is limited to one line in the bio section, you can go to the design tab and utilize the background image on your profile to post additional information about your company that is static no mater how many tweets you post.
5. Let the Tweeting  Begin- Twitter allows you to post messages up to 14o characters in length, including punctuation and spaces.  Use a casual, friendly tone and even some humor to keep your tweets from being too dry or boring.   Make your followers feel like insiders with behind the scenes looks at your company.  Write tweets about breaking business news, post links to your company blog or website, as well as to other sites or articles you think your followers may be interested in and finally retweet posts by others in your industry that you feel will be of interest to your followers.  And most important, make sure your tweets provide value.  This will help make you more visible to others who may not have found you otherwise and will keep them coming back for more.
6. Start Making Connections-  Don’t think of Twitter as just an advertising medium.  Use the search box on your homepage to search for other professionals in your field.  Use key terms, specific to your industry such as Patents and Intellectual Property to search for mentions of these key terms by other professionals, customers and potential customers.   When you find interesting tweets you can choose to follow those individuals who posted the tweets.  Don’t assume that people will know you are following them on Twitter, because although when you first set up your account you get emails to let you know when you have new followers, some folks will choose to turn their notifications off (In settings > notices).  So say hello to be personable.   Twitter also has a Find People section as well to help you search for specific people or companies by name.
7. Discover what people are saying about your company,  products or services - Type your company name, brand or products into the search box on your home page and look for instances where your company and products are mentioned.  Use this invaluable customer feedback as leverage to enhance your overall strategy and improve your products and services.  Monitor your @ mentions or public messages directed at you or company that are posted on the right side of your twitter home page.
8. Building and maintaining relationships – Respond immediately to any complaints posted and send thank you notes to those who offered praise, offer helpful hints and address concerns of those who have issues or concerns about purchasing your products or services.
9. Promote your account – Once you’ve begun tweeting, promote your twitter account wherever you can.  You can post a Twitter badge on your website, connect your Twitter,  Facebook and other social networking feeds and print your Twitter profile URL on your business cards and other stationary.  You can also add your Twitter URL to your signature line for your email.  Mine says: “Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/IPWatchdog_Too.”
10. Give your customers real value -Post exclusive Twitter coupon codes and info on sales and special events both online and at your Brick & Mortar locations.  Twitter helps you figure out what your customers want and how to give it to them.
11. Take note of what works and what doesn’t –  Evaluate customer feedback, interaction with your followers and pay attention to engagement levels. You can ask questions, brainstorm, float ideas and solicit feedback on Twitter in real-time.  Don’t be afraid to ask users what they think about your products, especially if the product offering is new.    Keep a tally of questions you’ve answered, problems that have been resolved and positive exchanges you’ve had through your Twitter account.  Use unique coupon codes if you offer deals via your Twitter account to track customers that are coming to you as a result of your twitter account.

Following are some helpful tips you can use to help you get the most out of your Twitter account.

1. Keep your posts interesting –  Just as easily as one can choose to follow you, they can also choose to un-follow you.
2. Follow others on Twitter – The more people you follow, the more people will find and follow you.
3. Know your goals – Are you seeking new customers or partners?  Are you looking to build new relationships or deepen those you already have?  Knowing your goals will help you determine what to post and when.
4. Shorten the URL’s in your posts - Given that you only have 140 characters, you are not given much room to include URL links.  In fact you can often use more than the allotted space for the URL alone.  There are sites available to you that will shorten URLs for you.  We use Bit.ly to shorten, share and track the links we post on Twitter.
5. Use @usernames to your benefit - Twitter let’s you exchange public messages with individual users.  If you are following a particular user and your start your messages with @username, your message will not only appear on your home page but will automatically become a link to that users profile and also appears directly on that users Twitter homepage.  If that user is not following you however, your post will show up in their @mention box.
6. DM’s or Direct Messages are used to send private messages to other Twitterers who are following you.  It’s a great way to personally address concerns of others.
7. Retweet! Retweeting is a common form of communicating on Twitter that is well received.
8. Use Hashtags (#) which is just the number symbol followed by a term describing or naming a topic.  Companies will often use hashtags as part of a product launch because anyone who searches for that particular hashtag will find your post in their search.  And if enough people use it, that hashtag will show up in the Trending topics.
9. Pay attention to the Trending topics on the right hand side of your Twitter search page.  These are the the most mentioned terms on Twitter at the moment and updated continually.  This shows you what most people are paying attention to right now!
10. Utilize Tweetups, or in-person gatherings organized via the Twitter forum, are often used as launching parties for new products, connecting with customers or for brainstorming.

To make the most of your Twitter account, here are a few things you will want to pay attention to and avoid:

1. Don’t spam people by sending unsolicited @messages or DM’s.  This will lead to people un-following you.
2. Do not report the same updates over and over.  It’s actually a violation of Twitter’s terms.
3. Do not post the same updates to a multitude of accounts, again it’s a violation of their terms as well.
4. Do not “follow churn” or follow and unfollow the same folks over and over.
5. Do not simply post links.  Give the reader some idea as to what the link is about.

We have now covered two of the more popular of Social Networking sites; Facebook and Twitter.  For the remainder of this series, I will expand on other forms of Social Networking covering some that are more commonly used (such as Linked In) and others that are more target specific.  In addition I will give you tips on how to create your own Social Network such as the IPWatchdog Social Network that we have recently added as just one more benefit to following IPWatchdog.com

To be continued…..

Renee C. Quinn is the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Marketing for IPWatchdog, Inc. Renee has been working with IPWatchdog, Inc. since April of 2006. Her primary responsibilities include interfacing with inventors, entrepreneurs and small businesses. She is also in charge of accounts receivable, work on developing marketing campaigns and is responsible for coordinating outside vendors in a project managing capacity. Renee acquired a Masters of Business Administration with her course work focusing on e-Commerce and e-Business, with an emphasis on marketing via the World Wide Web. Her particular career focus to date has been on business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing. You can follow Renee on Twitter at IPWatchdog_Too.

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