In a prior post, we explained how any small business, firm, or private consultant can create a Twitter account to access the marketing opportunities provided by the social-media network. Here, we wanted to detail some of the Twitter strategies and tactics that companies can use.
First, it is important to understand the difference between Twitter and Facebook. (See our previous posts on creating and using Facebook pages in a marketing context.) Facebook is often for uploading and sharing various types of multimedia content including photos, videos, and links as well as informing interested parties about your company's news in a way that adds value (blog posts on your sector, notices of product sales, and so on). Through likes, shares, and comments, Facebook is a complex medium that incorporates both the social and the professional.
Twitter, however, is more simple and direct - think of a laser beam as opposed to a shotgun. After all, you only get 140 characters (including spaces) per tweet. Whereas Facebook allows you to be more creative, Twitter does not. A tweet will allow for a link with the headline of a blog post, a press release, or news article. People use Facebook to see what their friends and family members (along with the company pages they like) are saying sharing. People scan their Twitter feeds to get an immediate, concise, and quick summary of whatever people, organizations, and companies interest them.
With this in mind, here are three features of Twitter and related ways to use the social-media network:
- 1. Hashtags. If you are a lawyer who has a private practice or small firm, you may want to send tweets commenting on legal issues in the news or with company news. If you add #law to the end of your tweets, then anyone searching Twitter for tweets about "law" will see the tweet. Something like:
@palawfirm We are pleased to announce that Heinz is our new client! palawfirm.com/news #law
A note: If you use the targeted word in the tweet, you do not need to add the hashtag to be found in the search (and you'll not waste one of your 140 characters!):
@palawfirm We are pleased to announce that Heinz is our new law client! palawfirm.com/news
Just be careful: if you add too many hashtags, you will be viewed as a spammer. Avoid things like this:
@palawfirm We are pleased to announce that #Heinz is our new #law client! palawfirm.com/news #legal #philly #news #ketchup #pennsylvania
- 2. Mentions. When you are in your Twitter account, you will see this:
Click at "@[your Twitter name]" to see a list of tweets (and users) that have mentioned you by writing a tweet like this from Heinz in our hypothetical example:
@palawfirm Thanks for taking us on board! We're excited to work with you!
If you tweet about news or link to your press release, you may want to mention a relevant reporter in the tweet as well. You might want to mention one of your clients or partners. The possibilities in social media, of course, are limited only by your creativity.
- 3. Lists. You can create lists of specific Twitter users here:
In our account, for example, we have Twitter users segmented into lists:
- Business experts whose tweeted advice we pass on
- Our clients whose tweets we often promote
- Local Philadelphia accounts (like the Phillies!)
- Our partners and friends in the office-space industry
Depending on your business and situation, you may want to create lists of current clients, potential clients, prospects, competitors, and so on so that you can focus individual marketing efforts that much more easily.
Twitter, unlike Facebook, is a concise method to market yourself and/or your company directly to the targeted users you have identified. By using tactics and features like the ones we have described, a few tweets a day will go a long way.