A Quick Guide To Twitter

Twitter started in 2006 and now has 500 million users around the world; half of whom are considered active tweeters. Many celebrities have followers in the millions and large companies actively tweet to engage with customers and get their message out.

Companies like the fact that they can have a conversation with customers and are able to communicate directly to drive traffic to their websites.

Customers feel they are talking to a company that cares and that they are being listened to rather than invisible and ignored.

There is no correct way to use twitter as some users tweet a lot, some a little and some not at all.
Some people on twitter simply use it to follow others and as a quick source of information, breaking news and celebrity gossip.

Even though there are no hard and fast rules about using twitter, there are some guidelines that may be helpful if you are starting out. They include:

  • sign up even if you don’t want to tweet right away, as others may take your name
  • when you start to tweet keep it up, as followers will lose interest if your tweets are dated or infrequent
  • use your tweets to start conversations and keep them fresh
  • make your tweets relevant to the audience to get engagement
  • link your tweets to events, TV programmes, news or original content
  • if you get a complaint respond and deal with it quickly
  • decide who you want to follow and review every few months
  • once you start to tweet make sure you give it enough time
  • link your tweets to your website to drive traffic
  • decide if you want to set up automated tweets
  • put twitter on your phone, so it is easy to use and respond
  • find a voice that suits your business before getting others to tweet
  • put the right security in place to protect your account
  • make it fun and enjoyable so people will want to follow you
  • experiment to find the right number of tweets and time of day
  • change you tweets and don’t just repeat the same message, as it becomes irrelevant and worst of all boring

SO, twitter may still be new to many people but for companies it can play an important role in reaching new customers.

What do you think?

Do you use Twitter?

Look forward to seeing your comments below.