With an estimated 12.6 million UK-based users, Twitter may not be the biggest social media platform, but it is the platform where SME’s can connect with their audience in real time, and according to research by eMarketer ninety-three percent of the users who follow the account of SMBs (Small and Medium-sized business) have the plan to buy from them. That’s HUGE!
Who uses Twitter?
Research done by Twitter itself shows that users are evenly split by gender, and are aged between 18 – 35 years old
Research also shows that Twitter users are three-times more likely than Facebook users to follow a brand, with 69% of Twitter users purchasing from a SME after following them on Twitter.Twitter users are 3x more likely than Facebook users to follow a brand, 69% are more likely to buy after following them on Twitter. Click To Tweet
Katie Tovey-Grindlay from Business Wonderland was recently the Guest Expert on Digital Marketing Made Easy Masterclass. Katie runs a Twitter Chat Hour (more on that later) #woofwoofwednesday to promote her pet business, and actively reaches over 5 million users a week. In a recent poll she ran amongst the participants of the Twitter Chat Hour, sales were being made within 15 minutes of the chat session starting!
So if you’re a local business, are you actively using Twitter?
What to Tweet
As with all social media platforms, the idea is that you’re social so engaging in conversations is the priority. Ask questions, create polls, use Twitter video are some of the ways you can create content, but follow these guidelines and you’re sure to generate conversations.
- Use Twitter to get your message out, but don’t constantly sell
- Raise awareness of your brand by showing behind-the-scenes, day to day office activity, any charity or sporting events you’re taking part in.
- Be strategic about who you follow, talk about relevant issues to your industry and strike up conversations with leading influencers
- Actively use Twitter as a Customer Service platform (more on that below)
- Network as you would face to face – Twitter is an open platform, you can literally network with anyone!
Twitter as a Customer Service platform
Twitter is the ideal platform to handle Customer Service queries, your customers expect it! Click To Tweet
It’s in every businesses best interest to be active on Twitter in a customer service role. It’s where your audience expect you to be, and as it’s real time you can circumvent the traditional ways of dealing with customer complaints (or compliments).
Twitter Chat Hours
Think of these as networking opportunities. It’s simply a prescribed hour on Twitter where users follow a Hashtag (either by industry or location) and join in the conversation.
For example, Katie runs #woofwoofwednesday so anyone who is interested in the pet industry would search that hashtag and join in the conversation.
I’m based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire so I would search #wakefieldhour (every Thursday 8pm – 9pm in case you wondered!)
There’s also a more general one #UKBusinesshour which is for any UK business
One that’s been around since forever is #WeddingWednesday for any business related to the wedding industry, and this is great one for discovering businesses that would compliment each other. For example, a wedding dress designer could meet a wedding shoe supplier, a photographer or vintage car hire. By creating alliances in this way you can retweet each other, and potentially collaborate on business opportunities.
What next?
Go and create your profile! Even if you don’t intend to use it straight away it’s a good idea to secure your @username to stop anyone else from using it. Then select accounts to follow (@herdingcatsdigi is GREAT account to follow 😉)
Start tweeting, use hashtags to get discovered and join in your first Twitter chat hour – easy, right?
Resources
10 Minute Masterclass – How to use Twitter for Business
Business Wonderland Twitter Jargon 101
Digital Marketing Made Easy Facebook Group