Part Three: Using Twitter for Business

Use Twitter for Marketing

1) Use Twitter to drive people to your company’s website. Tweet about interesting resources your employees have posted on your blog or website. Have you recently published a white paper that people can download for free? Tweet about it, linking back to the download page on your website. If the content on your site is truly remarkable, people may start tweeting about it on their own! They can share your resource to their friends on Twitter.

2) Monitor your brand on Twitter. Using the aforementioned Twitter Search tool (http://search.twitter.com), you can search and track what people are saying about your company, products, competitors or any other hot words in your industry. Set up an RSS feed to receive all search results in Google Reader. If you find someone tweeting about your products or a person who is looking for a solution that your product provides, let them know!

3) Use the Twitter “Favorites” feature as a list of company testimonials. To the left of each
tweet in your Twitter stream, there is a little star. When you click the little star, that tweet gets added to your Favorites Tab. As you track what people are saying about your company in Twitter Search, favorite all of the positive tweets. Third‐party testimonials are valuable by showing the public what other people think of your company. The next time someone asks about your company, send them the link to your Favorites page. The URL for this page will be http://twitter.com/USERNAME/favorites.

4) Use Twitter to promote events. Tweet‐ups are a great way to get to know your Twitter community offline. The next time your company holds an event, fundraiser or open house, tweet about it! Best practice is to send people directly to an event sign‐up page.

Think of a hashtag for your event before you start tweeting about it. Earlier in the eBook, we mentioned how HubSpot used #IMS08 for the Inbound Marketing Summit. Selecting a hashtag for your own event will be beneficial in a few ways:

a) During the event, people often use the hashtag while live‐tweeting, or tweeting what they see/hear in real‐time. The hashtag will aggregate the event tweets, building an online conversation around the event.


5) Use Twitter to promote new tools. Twitter users love new toys, especially if they create some sort of outcome, grade or analysis of the person using the tool. Make the results of your tool/grader as easy to Tweet as possible. Perhaps you could add a “Tweet this grade” function. Make sure your tool is as easy to share as possible!

6) Establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. By tweeting about useful resources and thoughtful tips, you and your company will eventually develop thought leadership, and people will consider you an expert in that particular subject. Be sure to link to your own resources as well as others.  People who are not at the event will see your hashtag and perhaps use it too. A popular #hashtag often sparks curiosity, and people will go to http://search.twitter.com to follow the conversation around the event.


Use Twitter for Public Relations

1) Develop relationships with reporters, bloggers and other media people through Twitter.
Reporters and big‐time bloggers are incredibly active in social networks, especially when gathering information for stories. Two resources that have a great list of the media people on Twitter are:
Media Outlets:
• https://twitteringjournalists.pbwiki.com/Media+Outlets+Using+Twitter
Media People:
• https://twitteringjournalists.pbwiki.com/Media+People+Using+Twitter
• http://mediaontwitter.pbwiki.com

2) Watch for tweets about editorial opportunities. Because the nature of Twitter is very quick‐response, it’s a great place for media people to look for last‐minute, additional resources for their stories. When following bloggers and reporters on Twitter, keep close track of their tweets and scan for any opportunities.
It’s also a great idea to send reporters tips to other links and resources simply to be helpful and
improve your relationship with the media person, even if it’s in regard to another company. The
media person will be thankful for your help and more likely use you as a reference when the
subject is applicable to you!

3) Direct Message reporters instead of sending them an email. By sending a direct message, you
are forced to create a short concise pitch that a reporter is more likely to read. Also, direct messages are very casual, and some media folks prefer DMs to email pitches. Also, it saves you the time it would normally take to write a lengthy pitch. Remember, you can only DM people if they follow you back. However, don’t pitch too much; they could easily unfollow you making it much more difficult to connect.

4) Use Twitter to check in on your media person before PR pitching. Check to see what the person
you’re about to pitch is up to before contacting them. In the event that the person is sick, having a bad day or away on travel—it may be best to contact him or her at another time.


Use Twitter for Customer Service

1) Respond to concerns people tweet about your company or products. Designate a specific person in your company to track your company name and products in Twitter Search. That person can address any negative comments, give feedback and help customers solve their products in real time. The speedy response will impress the customer! Comcast at http://twitter.com/ComcastCares does a great job tracking and addressing customer concern.

2) Use your company account to update customers with any temporary down‐time. If you work for a company that offers an online service, let your followers know if you anticipate down‐time or if there is a glitch you are working to fix. Your customers will be less upset and more appreciative that your company is
trying its best to relieve the problem.

3) Be sure to follow back everyone who follows your Company Account. Although it’s acceptable
to pick and choose whom you want to follow back in your personal account, there’s no reason to limit who your company follows. If you want, set up an auto‐follow account with a third‐party tool like Tweetlater (http://www.tweetlater.com – note, this is not affiliated with HubSpot). Also, the added benefit of following back everyone who follows your company account is the ability to DM you.

4) Do not send an auto direct message whenever someone new follows you or your company.
It’s easy to get into the trap of automating your Twitter activity. Many people will set up an auto direct message (or auto DM) to be sent to every new follower. This looks artificial, and could make you appear
apathetic about building true relationships with your customers.


Track and Analyze Your Campaigns

Now that you’ve integrated Twitter into different elements of your campaign, it’s important to find
components that you can track to judge its effectiveness. We recommend tracking the following metrics
in your campaign.

1) Reach: Total number of followers. This number is your raw distribution power.

2) Response Rate: Average number of @replies per tweet. When you sent out a link or a question, how many people respond?

3) Branding and Awareness: How often people reference your company or products. Use Twitter
Search to track.

4) Twitter Grade: Your overall effectiveness of your Twitter account. Calculates the number of
followers and the influence of their followers. (http://Twitter.Grader.com)

5) Sales Funnel: Number of visitors from Twitter who visit your company website that convert to leads.
Using the data from these elements and tracking it over time, you should be able to make smart decisions about how to further utilize Twitter in your campaigns.


Conclusion and Additional Resources

After reading this eBook, you should have the baseline knowledge to get your Twitter account started
and begin growing your network. Remember that the Twitter community is dynamic and rapidly developing space. Be creative and think of other methods to apply Twitter to your campaigns!

Want to learn more about using Twitter for Marketing and PR? Download the free webinar for lots of tips and tricks to drive your inbound marketing to increase traffic and leads using Twitter. (http://hubspot.me/?Twitter)


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