subject: How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Twitter (Part 1) [print this page] How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Twitter (Part 1)
A couple of weeks back we looked athow Facebook can be integrated into today's businesses as an effective engagement platform. This time round, we'll be looking at a famous micro-blogging tool calledTwitter. Bear in mind that neither Facebook nor Twitter can cancel each other out - they each have their own unique advantages in which you may want to use toYOUR advantage.
Why Twitter?
Though Twitter only allows 140 characters per update (called a Tweet),Twitter is now second to Facebook in terms of it's usage. People seem to get along with Twitter pretty well as it is simple and straight to the point, unlike Facebook where distractions are aplenty. If you haven't heard, Twitter is said to have about 2.1 million new users per week - ahuge pool of potential opportunities you wouldnot want to miss (click for interesting stats).
Now that you've grasp the concept of Twitter,let's look at 3 areas on how Twitter can benefit you and your business:
1. Collaboration and Networking
Twitter is a great way ofkeeping in touch with contacts andobtaining new contacts. This is simply because you (and others) can easily look up fellow users that have the same interest / industry by searching keywords that relates to you and your business. Do it right and these networkscan eventually lead to new ideas,collaborations and evenpartnerships that can be beneficial to both you and your business!
2. Personality and Connectivity
For some reason, Twitter is seen to be a more human approach as compared to blogs and Facebook pages. It adds ahuman touch to your brand and a face to your business. With Twitter, businesses can now engage in conversations directly with their followers and listen to their tweets - which is priceless to a business.You'll now get to hear what your followers (if you follow back) are doing, what are they talking about, where they are heading to and etc, allowing you to get to know your followers better.
Remember on Facebook pages, you won't know what's happening to your followers if you don't add them as a friend on your personal account(which you may not want to do so).
3. Research Tool
I must say that Twitter is an excellent research tool for your business and equally informative as Google. How so? Twitter is able to show results of conversations (Tweets) regarding your keyword from all over the world! You can alsogain insights to trending topics globally to see what the world is Tweeting about.
Imagine looking up keywords that relates to your business - you may find interesting Tweets talking about their needs, their wishes, feedbacks, rants, competitor's product and etc. Yes, you've gained access to voices from real people across the globe!
What's Next?
We will once again be looking at someexamples on how Twitter is implemented in businesses worldwidealong with some realtips on how you can do it too!
