5 Ways Twitter Can Help Your Business

Perhaps you’ve wondered why everyone is all a-twitter over Twitter. The microblogging service has experienced amazing growth since its inception in 2006. As of the first quarter of 2011, there are over 200 million Twitter users and according to statistics, an average 750 tweets are sent out each second.

Aside from letting people what you had for lunch, or showing off your new hairstyle, does Twitter have any real life value? Can you use it for your business? Many big companies think so – Dell, Ford, Samsung, Starbucks – these are just some of the big names out there have their own (or several) official Twitter accounts. Depending on your type of business, it might make sense for you to create your own account. Not sure? Check out the five things Twitter can do for your business

1) Acquire leads and new customers

There’s just something about Twitter and tweeting – maybe it’s the ease, the share-ability or the fact that as humans, we just all want everyone to know what we’re doing. But whatever it is, it’s hard to deny that there’s a viral quality about it, mostly through re-tweeting (RT). From London, to Paris, New York and Timbuktu, you literally can have a tweet that’s heard from ‘round the world. RTs are the most powerful thing about Twitter – when your customers re-tweet something you said, their friends and contacts hear and find out about you – then they re-tweet it and THEIR colleagues find out about you. With just the click of a button, you’ve spread the word about your company, and those RTs can be turned into leads, and eventually into customers.

2) Keep current customers happy

One unique quality of social media is that it feels human and personable to customers. Unlike traditional advertising and marketing, social media gives your company a human face – like they are talking to people, not a company. Your current customers, who were happy enough to buy your product or service, will feel like they get extra value from feeling that you are only a tweet away. Larger corporations take advantage of this and directly interact with their customers, to answer questions or solve problems. This keeps the customers happy and will mostly be customers for life.

3) Let everyone know what you’re doing

Got a new product coming up? Tweet it to followers? Are you having an event tomorrow? Invite your tweeps. Being on Twitter means you can let your customers and potential customers know what’s going on, in real time. Letting people in on what’s going on spreads the good will and positive press – it shows you don’t have anything to hide.

4) Find out what everyone else is doing

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, you have seen the Untouchables? Twitter is a great way to keep up with your competitors, see what they’re up to, but, more importantly, what people are saying about them. Are people complaining about their service? Or raving about certain products? You’ll want to keep on top of that and see how you can use that information to improve your business and maybe acquire your competitor’s customers.

5) Solidify your brand

It’s all about personalisation. Having your own Twitter account gives your brand a voice, literally. What you tweet gives other people an impression of your company’s personality. Use it to your advantage to help reinforce your brand and help people identify you.

Twitter can be a great asset to your company, if you know how to use it. If you can use it to your advantage, it can be another tool in your social media campaign that can bring success to your business.