Twitter: The New Water Cooler

Everyone from Barack Obama to your local pizzeria has a Twitter account these days.  But what are the benefits of having a Twitter account, and how do you actually use Twitter?

A little background: Twitter started as a means for an individual to communicate with a small group using SMS (Short Message Service) in 2006.  It became popular in 2007 at a South by Southwest (SXSW) festival when the conference streamed the conference attendees’ twitter messages (tweets) on television screens in the lobby.  It has continued to grow to 200 million users, attracting everyone including celebrities, Fortune 500 companies, news publications, local businesses and probably your next neighbor.  It’s a quick means of communication, letting you share 140 characters at a time.

One of the biggest benefits of Twitter is that it puts you ahead of the news curve.  It only takes seconds for someone to tweet breaking news, and then that message can be re-tweeted by others, and so on, until the news has spread faster than it has actually happened. This is great for things like natural disasters, like the Japan earthquakes, where you can create a call to action within minutes of the disaster happening.

Twitter users (Tweeters?) also post news about what they are currently doing.  NASA used Twitter to inform the public of its missions and even tweeted from space! A local bakery might post that they just took cookies out of the oven and to come get them while they are hot.  Twitter, which handles 14 billion tweets per week,  allows you to connect with your audience the second you need to tell them something.

Twitter for Business

Twitter is now a huge tool for your company as well:

• Twitter can help create, reinforce and expand your brand.
• Use Twitter to engage your audience, it can help expand your clientele and create customer loyalty.
• Announce special deals , sales that are going on, contests to drive customers in, or promote interesting news or blogs by posting links that can connect them to your website.
• Network with business professionals who are like-minded.  Twitter can open up great, new relationships.
• Find your next employee or future business prospects.
• Use Twitter as a discussion forum; it allows you to get feedback from your followers that can help improve your business or tell you what you are doing right.
• Twitter has become the new “water cooler”.  It lets you stay connected to co-workers who work from home or in another state by allowing you to bounce around ideas or share a joke.

Jump In!

How to start using Twitter:

1. Sign up for an account- its free!
2. Make a profile. Personalize it. Include a short bio, picture, and your location. Make sure it follows your identity and brand.  Make your company logo the background and include a link to your website.
3. Start making updates. Tweet a recent news article, post a famous quote, your just tell the world what you are doing.  Remember to tweet consistently and to tweet what you know. Be careful not to be boring, you will be ignored!
4. Make friends!  Follow people you know and people you want to know.  Friend coworkers, people in the same type of business, news publications, etc.
5. Uses the Twitter search to find subjects that are of interest to you-this really helps you target your audience.
6. Start “chatting” with your friends.  Use the @ symbol to get them involved in a conversation or re-tweet what they posted. The more engagement with your followers, the better.
7. Stay up on the current Twitter trends and applications.

By creating a Twitter account and capitalizing on all its benefits, it can be your best tool to target your website’s traffic, improve your business image, boost sales, create customer loyalty and help mold your brand.  Just be careful what you tweet!

Check back later this week for my post about the dangers of using Twitter for business.

Posted by: Liz Dempsey

You can find JCPR on Twitter @jcpr.

Tags: Social Media, Twitter, Microblogging