How can Twitter work for my brand?
Yesterday I reached the 1000 mark, the milestone, the centurion of Twitter followers for our brand. It took a few months to get there, a lot of research, a lot of listening and a lot of learning. My strategy was to listen first, engage second and listen again. Tweeting for a brand has given me considerable insight into what others get right, get wrong and just quite frankly don’t do at all. More so an initial branding exercise we never thought we’d generate business through Twitter, but we have. I’ve also formed some great friendships and found some wonderful people, brands and products I never knew existed.
I have been asked many questions along the way so thought I’d share some of my insights and how it worked for me.
When I’m on Twitter I like to imagine I’m at a cocktail party. I physically visualise myself standing in a room full of people I don’t know, all talking about things that interest them. I see my Twitter lists as groups of people who either know each other or more often who turned up to the party and realised they shared a similar interest. Using lists is a great way to easily find a group of people with similar interests – which you also share. Sure the search function is a way to tap into the invite list, but it doesn’t necessarily mean a bond will be formed.
Would you walk up to a group of people you don’t know and say “We sell widgets, they are $5 and the best in Australia.” Uhh, didn’t think so.
That’s not to say you couldn’t end up selling those same widgets, at that same function, you’d just have to be a bit more clever about it. So this begs the next question…
How do I promote my brand?
People don’t use Twitter to find products or brands, but they do. They find the products and brands through word of mouth, positive branding or targeted marketing. Just like you would at a cocktail party, overhearing somebody talking about their frustrations with a product might be a suitable time for you to listen allowing you the chance to mention your better product in a personalised way.
Generate positive word of mouth. If somebody mentions your brand (positively) re-tweet it. Talk to them, show that you appreciate their loyalty and most importantly that they are actively telling people about it. Seek feedback. What did they love? What could you do better? Ensure this gets passed to a decision making team however or there’s no point.
I discussed the simple way to calculate customer satisfaction in an earlier post, if you are running a Net Promoter Score you’ll have a heads up as to what to expect in Social Media. If you have more promoters than detractors, then that should reflect in any channel including Twitter. Sometimes you’ll see promoters jumping in and doing the job for you! This is most common in forums but can also be seen on Twitter if your fans are passionate about you.
After all if 78% of people trust recommendations while only 14% trust advertising, shouldn’t generating positive word of mouth be your biggest concern? Why would you waste a medium perfect for generating word of mouth as a simple information-serving billboard?
How do I start? Management is scared
I hear this a lot. There is no simple answer to this one. Each company is different and each industry needs a different approach for all channels, including Social Media. My answer to this however is pretty simple. If people don’t like your brand or product, guess what, they are speaking badly about you anyway. Wouldn’t you rather know what they are saying? I sure would. I’d also love the chance to be able to rectify the issue or explain the situation. The smart companies are monitoring Social Media for bad word of mouth – and actually doing something about it. This comes back to generating positive word of mouth and whilst this is a bigger issue than Social Media itself, it is a great platform to do it.
Be Human
Put a face to your brand or at the very least a name. That is unless you enjoy turning up to parties in Masquerade. The mystery factor fortunately doesn’t hold up on Twitter, we want to know what you’re about, especially if you’re pushing a brand. What position or department are you from? Why are you the face of Twitter? Will I always be speaking to you when I write? I would certainly expect the same person to continue the conversation I had at the beginning of the function, it would seem odd to chat to a 40 year old male about something only to have a 19 year old female continue the conversation at the end of the night.
Twitter is no different to a normal conversation in a normal environment. Forget all the tech talk and treat it like it was meant to be treated, to join the conversation.
Give back
Whilst listening is important, you aren’t going to engage your followers if you do nothing. Be bold and confident! We’ve all turned up somewhere before without knowing a soul, so make the decision whether you’ll be the one to turn the night into a success or grab some free nibbles, sit in the corner and then tiptoe out.
Provide interesting content and importantly, track it. What you find interesting may not be to others. I’m constantly surprised at the things I post that people open – it began as those things that I would have never expected, so try a variety of different styles and content and track to test what works, and what doesn’t. Photos are always a winner, after all a picture speaks a thousand words – and you’ve only got 140 characters to burn!
Make it work for your brand
Above all else, join the conversation. It sounds simple, but it’s rarely done. Brands jump on and shout specials, proclaim products and don’t listen to their customers. After all they might end up being those sitting there right in front of you, that’s if you play your cards right.
Twitter 1000
