Getting Started: Social Media For Your Small Business (2 of 3)
This is the second week of three, in a blog series laying out 5 compelling reasons your business should be using at least one, if not all, of the three most popular B2B and B2C social platforms…as well as some useful examples and resources on each.
This Week:
Twitter started out as place to simply update your friends (in 140 characters or less) on what you were doing. Over time this question has been ignored more often than not, to answer the question: what do you find interesting? Or, what do you think your followers should know about?
So why should your business be using this service to connect with your customers and business partners?
1. Current stats put twitter users at 13-18 million, with the data generated per tweet reaching an exponentially larger audience through various services that pipe in twitter feeds. That’s a pretty big audience…and it’s growing rapidly.
2. It’s real time. Why is that a big deal? What other service allows you to simultaneously send a link to your website (or pay-wall) to thousands – potentially millions – at the same time? Answer? No one.
3. Twitter allows you to monitor and manage customer issues and feedback in real time.
4. The immediate access and drastic transparency of twitter makes it easy to send messages and helpful content to your followers that gains trust and loyalty before problems arise.
5. And finally, influence. If you’re a start-up or small business, twitter just gave you a huge step towards leveling the playing field. What your company may lack in size or spend, it can make up in influence. Social media (and particularly twitter) gives you the opportunity to rapidly share ideas, which in turn, could result in you – out-teaching your competition.
There are a number of different platforms you can use to make the most of your social media efforts. Rather than give you a run-down of all your options, I’m just going to recommend one. It’s free, and it’s the best client I’ve used so far. Hootsuit.com
For more resources I recommend heading over to Mashable. They have a number of great lists, tips, and guides. For a more in-depth experience, try catching some webinars via Hubspot, BrightTalk, or Marketing123.
NEXT WEEK: LINKEDIN
