Google AdWords
Mashable have (yet another) interesting article on Twitter: Inside the Minds of Twitter Users by Ann Handley from MarketingProfs.
The article explains the results of a fascinating survey of 432 “highly involved Twitter users“. And how is a highly involved Twitter addict defined? Someone who spends an average of 2 and three quarter hours per day on Twitter.
An average of two hours and 45 minutes a day. Average. 165 minutes.
That’s around a third of their working day on Twitter. Assuming they work.
I’m starting to get the feeling that Twitter is a virus. It infects people (not computers) with a range of mind-altering symptoms.
When initially exposed to the Twitter Virus, people are disinterested. “What’s the point?” and “What do I do now?” are the first reactions while their immune systems are still working, and at this point, around 50% of the people exposed to the virus become infected. The severity of the infection and symptoms vary from person to person, and may range from a person posting and reading too many mundane comments to a person spending 165 minutes a day in the Twittersphere.
Back to the survey. The closing paragraph:
“Twitter may be used as just another lead-generation tool. Or it may be about connecting with new friends. But above all, people on Twitter are truly motivated by learning new things and getting information real-time, as it’s developing.”
I’ve had enough of this. I’ve been asking the question so long that my throat’s getting sore. So this time I’m going to throw in a reward.
Background: At the time of writing this I have just under 4,000 people following my Twitter account (hello), and have posted 400 updates. That’s ten people for every post.
My updates are mainly about Google AdWords, online marketing with a little SEO and some updates on my need for caffeine. But it’s 99% work related.
We get some traffic from Twitter, but if you’re a Twaddict, you’ll already know what that means. You click on the link just to get a feel for who they are, but you don’t really explore the site. It’s usually a one-click thing.
My question: How do I use Twitter for my business? I’m not interested in abstract ideas and theories, so please don’t bother with things like “generating leads”, “finding people with similar interests” or “finding people interested in your services”. I need real, concrete ideas that I can actually use. And I need evidence that your ideas could actually work.
The person whose answer impresses me the most will get a $100 Amazon Gift Voucher, and will inspire me beyond words. Please add your comments below, and please remember to leave your email address so that I can tell you you’ve won! The email address will not be published, and you can trust me. I’ll select a winner on Monday the 27th.
So how can I use Twitter for my business?
Here’s my ideas on using Twitter for your business:
http://www.alwinhoogerdijk.com/2009/04/06/is-twitter-the-ultimate-way-to-stay-top-of-mind/
Well, exactly the same as you are doing right now. Give an incentive! Tweet about special offers (“get 20% off if you are a twitter follower”) and limited time offers (“only today: 25% off”).
1. One of my competitors uses Twitter for direct marketing. He searches for people who have posted comments about a specific problem that we solve, and then he sends them a tweet informing about his product.
2. I use twitter to search for my product name. Look for people who are complaining about it. Find out why do they complain, and then try to fix it in the next release.
Hi Dave,
I’m not an expert but I thought I would give this a crack and see if its of any help. I’m quite keen on social media and its possibilities. Simply you could use twitter to create a personality for your business.
Tweeting about ad words is ok but I think a lot of twitter addicts would tend to ignore those updates (personally I do). By having a single person post updates (this is key as it help with consistency and style and building the personality) about what your working on, troubles your facing with it, good stuff and silly stuff, twitterers respond to that a lot more. You’ll tend to find you’ll be able to garner a bit of buzz about your business and people will often reply with help and suggestions and they’ll become involved in what you are doing.
Anyway I don’t know if this has helped but thought I’d give it a go.
Thanks
Jamie (@grunt121)
There’s great list of articles (not necessarily a list of great articles) on Twitter for business here: http://pistachioconsulting.com/featured-articles/twitter-for-business/
Dave,
you are doing most of the things needed to succeed. You may want to take a look at the contest namecheap.com had on twitter recently. They even posted about the change in registrations and traffic that resulted. Why not turn this around and offer a contest for your business’ goods and services on twitter. You could even use it as a sort of scavenger hunt so that by playing they would have to learn about your site and business.
HTH
Steve
I’m not convinced twitter has any real business value.
I have been following the tweets of a few successful bloggers. These are smart people who write well, but their tweets are a stream of inane drivel.
I find it hard to believe that twitter is the best use of your time from a business point of view. Only a stalker needs to know what you are doing in real time.
But what does an old git like me know about social websites?
Hi Dave,
I have the same dilemma. I tried using twitter for the company I work for. We sell products to consumers (~$35). I tried tweeting only tips related to the problems that cause people to buy our products. For clarity, let’s say I sell GMAT Prep material. Everyday I would post a tip about the GMAT. I would link to useful GMAT sites, give math tricks and common grammar errors.
It didn’t work. Occasionally I would post a tip with a link to my site, NO ONE followed the link. I think most of my followers were marketers in the same field or marketers of a band.
We stopped tweeting, it was a waste of time to sell our type of products. (Our target audience is 45+ women, so we didn’t expect much.) We tried it because we were starting a social media plan and one person in the company was a huge twitter fan and wanted to test it.
We kept our brand name twitter account, b/c we don’t want someone else tweeting from it. I did get a direct message from a potential business partnership (affiliate like). I could see potential in twitter to drum up affiliate business. I could even see it as being an effective way to communicate with current affiliates.
After the failure of the company twitter, I began using my personal account. I only follow SEM/SEO/PPC or personal friends. If people start writing too much personal stuff I quit following them. I don’t care if you are in Germany, and I don’t care what you are eating for lunch. I understand some personal tweet will happen, but a majority of them must be business related or it is a waste of my time.
I might follow a company that tweets special & coupons, but not if they are tweeting multiple times a day. I want useful information. If you can tweet PPC tips in 140 characters that aren’t the same ‘split-test’, ‘use negatives’, and ‘targeted landing pages’ dribble then I would follow you and I would follow your links. If I decided that I wanted someone else to manage my campaigns, you would be the first person I would think of. Since it is my job, I doubt that would happen. BUT after I get my MBA and I am in charge of a company’s marketing plan I might decide to use your company for SEM rather than hiring in-house.
I guess using twitter is a long-term plan. It is branding. It is networking.
I hope all of my competitors get caught up in this “social network marketing” nonsense. I’d love to see them wasting as much of their time as possible.
It helps me to eat their lunch.
@MR,
I am using Twitter to keep my customers up to date with progress on our development.
My followers love the updates and it takes only a few minutes each day.
Nobody will be eating my lunch
I use Twitter to increase fear, anxiety and paralysis. I worry that if I don’t use Twitter or don’t use it well, I’ll be left behind, out of touch with the modern world, and labelled as a oh-so-2006 software developer, an outcast and a pariah.
I fear that looking at the Twitter client and not knowing what next to write, or wondering why my number of followers isn’t increasing fast enough all point to inevitable death for my business. I read the blogs and follow the media, and know that my constant Twittering will have more to do with my success than anything I could do with my software, or the irrelevant marketing and communications activities of yesteryear.
I know the importance of measuring and metrics for success, and I know how important choosing the right metrics are. Twitter followers and updates are the metrics I must follow and optimize to be a successful and savvy entrepreneur in 2009; those who follow outdates measures I know will be left behind in my dust.
I find myself sometimes drifting back towards improving my software, answering email (email! can you believe it?) from customers, or other arcane activities, but I know these are just procrastination techniques, dragging me away from the truly important work of Twittering. Oh, if only it came to me as naturally as for some people, life would be so much simpler! But I know if I work at it hard enough, my business success is assured.
I don’t spend time entering things into Twitter. I use Twitterfeed to automatically post links to my blog posts on my Twitter account. So far I have only five followers on Twitter, and I think only three of them are real people. But I don’t need people to follow me on Twitter (since I’m not posting real time updates anyway). I need them to read (and subscribe to) my blog. So if Twitter gets me a few more readers, that’s good. Especially since it’s being done without any additional effort on my part.
I’m of the opinion that in most cases Twitter is a waste of time. The best use of Twitter for your business is to follow these steps:
1. Set up a Twitter account for your product.
2. Mention Twitter somewhere on your site (such as a “Follow us on Twitter” link).
3. Done. You’ve created the impression that you are hip to the latest trend by mentioning it on your site. Now ignore Twitter as it is a complete waste of your company’s time.
VOUCHER PLEASE!
Roseman, that’s the funniest post I’ve read in some time.
> Nobody will be eating my lunch
Some people’s lunch is more appetizing that others.
[...] It didn’t take long for Twitter to move from hype to backlash (although blaming Twitter for the current recession is perhaps a little unfair). Dave Collins offered a $100 Amazon voucher to anyone who could convince him there was a business case for spending his time on Twitter. None of the responses convinced me it was a good use of my time. My favourite was from Mark Roseman: I find myself sometimes drifting back towards improving my software, answering email (email! can you believe it?) from customers, or other arcane activities, but I know these are just procrastination techniques, dragging me away from the truly important work of Twittering. [...]