As a user of Twitter and business owner myself, I believe that any business general should be actively using Twitter and other social networking sites to promote their business. In a word…”it’s just good business”. Here is a FREE source of advertising that does not only reach people in your city, or town, or state, but gives you the ability to market your product or service worldwide. Not only can you reach current customers and seek out new ones, you also open yourself up to a huge source of customer feedback, and free ideas. This is a great chance for customers to give their opinions on current services or products, and let you know what they would like to see. And it is much cheaper than market research group.
Big Business Tweets…
Tweet To Success
Twitter-watching site Gigatweet has recorded that the popular Micro-blogging site Twitter has already sent out over 10 billion tweets! But a new research found that only 16 of the top 100 companies in UK actively use their twitter accounts. It shows that most businesses aren’t taking advantage of this supposedly great advertising medium. One out of every five tweets refer to some sort of brand or products. That’s 1 billion product tweets already, and only 16 companies have used this new advertising trend. Although about 50 of the top 100 companies have already signed up for twitter, it was only to prevent cyber-squatting.
White House using Twitter?
I am all for technology, but for the White House to use Twitter to get word out about important decisions is going a bit too far. Let’s see the good old black and white print in our newspapers, I say. Put more time into the decisions at hand, less time tweeting about it. We aren’t allowed to use cell phones while we drive, so let’s forbid tweeting while important decisions are made that concern all Americans! It’s bad enough we can’t hold a decent conversation with our teens because of that infernal tweeting, you would think our Senator’s and public officials would be able to tune it out long enough to make sound decisions.
Insipid Tweeting
I cannot help but feel confirmed that tweeting is for the insipid, after reading about the crowds around the world who texted-while-watching during the live Oscars program. There was much ado about nothing as thousands of users sent broken stream-of-consciousness reactions over the internet instead of focusing their attention and thoughts on the live event. We are told what people thought, but not why they formed their opinion. We are given a slice of “insider” gossip but no background on why it would be of interest. And, we are meant to understand that a variant spelling of a nominee’s name is noteworthy and of more interest than the movie with which it was associated. Twittering is a great study on the fractured and highly idiosyncratic nature of the inner thought processes of the brain. But, it is of very little interest to those outside of the texting community itself. The Oscar events were riveting. The thousands of uninformed and un-informing thoughts about those Oscar events were not.
TweetPhoto is all set!
TweetPhoto is a fun place to be, it has all kinds of options available to share the memories across all the major networking sites. What can be more fun if it has also launched an application on iPhone that would enhance the experience right there in hand itself and everywhere with features like public streaming. With more and more new features, APIs and applications in its kitty and the re-branding exercise that it is planning, site is all set to be leader in future and can give good competition to TwitPic.
Are they real?
Yes, it is true that 10 billion tweets have been sent by Twitter but how many of them are real. How many users are serious and real? Businesses may not like to miss the potential so many tweets has and the users behind it but why are they not using it? If only 16% of the companies use Twitter to reach customer or for other purpose, it is a big question whether there exists the real potential. This is competitive world and if 16% gain out of this tweet network, 84% would definitely like to explore this option. End users are the major concern.
The Business of Twitter
Twitter is a great tool now implemented by businesses to extend their brand into the social media world. Although Twitter can be an effective means to keep in touch with your followers, it simply cannot replace the company website contact forms and numbers. Additionally, Twitter is great for feedback and to keep abreast of the current needs and trends of your network as well as the world. Value is not always a concern on Twitter as much as it is on Facebook. Twitter can be short anecdotes of whimsical phrases and happenings which don’t always have to be about value. Sometimes, these are more likely to give your business a humanistic and personal touch. Although, I would say that reaching out to your followers on Twitter is beneficial overall, it takes a specific and Twitterific personality that would actually benefit your business.
Addendum to the logo idea
Ms. Brooke posts some interesting tips for using Twitter to draw traffic to your website. As it is though, Twitter is inundated with ‘tweets’ from people just like you, looking to increase their traffic. A custom logo is an excellent first step towards getting noticed, as suggested. I would even add onto that and state it should be eye grabbing and centered on the theme of your site. Following and contributing to well known ‘Tweets”, especially those popular in your target audience/age group is a sure fire way to gain interest. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a subject in your genre, but if you are venturing outside of what you are familiar with, make sure you know what you are talking about before you post.
Social Media 101
Chris Brogan’s Social Media 101 article which was just published on the internet, teaches both the beginner and the more advance users technicalities of using social media to develop their online business. The difference in Chris Brogan’s article as compared to other social media how-to websites is that Chris also writes blogs which allows the reader to utilize what he has learned through active participation. Although this article might be extremely helpful to the beginner who needs a crash course in social media, an advanced user will find the bulk of this article common knowledge.
Beware of Phishing, even for Twitter
I always think it’s internet newbie or folks like my grandpa are the group who might get victimized by those phising scams but I need to think it again. After all we all get very curious or amused when we see DM mentioning we are written by someone else. The key is your curiosity will be the first step for them to compromise your account and make you become their new scam victim. My two cents is you should always check the address bar to be 100% sure you are in the right place before you enter your login information. Better yet, never be enticed to be redirected to such a place just because you were told your name is just be talked about. You won’t miss a thing.