25 Business Uses for Twitter

This post is a summary of a chapter by the same name, taken from Dennis L. Prince’s Get Rich with Twitter, 2010. If you want to know more, get your hands on the book.

The top 25 uses of twitter for your business are:

1. Brand proliferation You need only a well-thought-out tweeting plan to get your brand name out there. All you need to do is become an active and present tweeter, but avoid aggressive marketing tweets.

Not only can you build up your audience and their awareness of your brand, but you can also monitor what the twitterverse is saying about you and your brand. From there you can plan how to bolster or correct the public conversation about your brand.

2. Real-time feedback With twitter, you can tweet your news and get feedback almost immediately. Even no response is “feedback” in its own way in that the twitterverse neither noticed nor cared about your news enough to retweet or respond to it.

From reactions to your news you can react quickly, and determine if there’s a trend forming.

3. Talent scouting and acquisitionNow you can take the public’s pulse on who’s who in any given field of service. You can access recommendations and reviews of providers in an area. You can also post a request for assistance or referral. This can lead to either direct contact with the prospective service provider or a recommendation from fellow tweeps.

So tweet your request to the twitterverse and see who answers your call.

4. Industry news and trends This is my favourite part of twitter. Other people in your industry post interesting links to articles, videos and blogs, yielding a wealth of information. So you can stay up-to-the-minute in latest developments in your industry, as well as on top of which trends are emerging and what people’s attitudes to them are.

So get on twitter and find out what you and your business should be focusing on for success.

5. Collaboration Twitter easily enables business people to engage in “collective thinking” to brainstorm business ideas, solve problems or seize opportunities. It can be used privately between colleagues. Alternatively it can reach out to the general public to solicit ideas and feedback.

By allowing the public to interact, a business is actively engaging its customer base and gathering its support for new initiatives.

6. Customer Service Twitter is a great way to monitor customer dissatisfaction. From there you can easily step in and fix the problem. Hopefully, due to your rapid and personalised response you will gain a life-long follower.

Better still, you can post advice and updates that will assist your customers in resolving any problems that are yet to show themselves.

7. Lead generation With twitter you are able to get an understanding of what your target market needs or wants, and then present yourself as a respected and trustworthy provider.

By scanning the twitterverse for your keywords, you freely find people talking about what you offer. Some people even openly state that they are looking for a provider of your product or service. Approach gently, engage calmly, and you might end up with a sale.

8. Lost and found If someone loses something in your store or at your booth, why not tweet it. It’s altruistic and genuine.

9. Directing traffic If you’re launching a product, offering a special or some other promotion, send the word out to your followers. Ask them to “tell friends who may not have received this news”. But don’t over-do it or you’ll be marked as spam.

10. Limited-time offers As in point 9, be careful how you do this. You can post online coupon codes, tweet that today’s offer won’t be available tomorrow. Twitter gives fast delivery and fast response to your messages. Perfect for time-sensitive offers.

11. Event updates and pre-alerts Great for conferences and expos. Tweets like “I’m in building C. The first to find me wins…” This sort of fun engagement works.

12. Meeting organization Tweets like “Hey, quick meeting at Coffee Beanz in 10 mins”. Team members can acknowledge they’re coming, while those that can’t make it can keep abreast of what’s going on with real-time tweets.

13. Note to self Something I should have used the other night! Keep details of contacts you make, or build tomorrow’s to-do list.

14. Consultation Use twitter to dispense useful advice and information to followers. You can do this either publicly or by direct messaging.

15. Test marketing Savvy businesses are polling their followers to find out if their ideas for new products have “legs”. If there’s excitement about your ideas, you can then follow up with daily tweets on its development, and let them know when the official launch is.

16. Rumour control Watch for rumours swirling in the twitterverse, quickly join in and steer the conversation in the appropriate direction. You can also, with care, start your own rumours about your business.

17. Casual interaction Engage in “water cooler” chit chat with friends and followers. This gives your customers an opportunity to ask questions, and for you to address any wants, need and concerns they have about your company or products.

Offering this level of access allows your audience to become more deeply engaged with your company, brand and products.

18. Identity development Your tweets help round out your persona in the public eye. Make sure it’s consistent with your brand or company image. Don’t just sell. I also think that this makes you less intimidating and more approachable.

19. Fact checking Twitter is great for tracking industry developments, customer attitudes, your competitors. And if you need some facts, just ask.

20. Listen to – and learn from – your customers Pace your tweets, then monitor the response from your followers. When you listen, you can find out if you’re engaging them, and if they’re satisfied.

21. Launch opinion polls or informal surveys Tweet a question of the day to find out what your customers think of your products, company developments and related news. Polls and surveys let you know about your customers’ likes, dislikes and methods of engagement.

22. Product safety and customer security Use twitter to spread the word about any safety issues that have arisen. Also to provide corrective advice or cautionary guidance. Great for fast delivery of your message.

23. Internal communications and product development Use direct messaging between members of a team.

24. Augment other online presences Release breaking news to those on the go.

25. Enjoy the interaction Let your enjoyment shine through. This will boost your business, reputation and keep people engaged.

These points are a summary of a chapter in Get Rich with Twitter by Dennis L. Prince. I recommend this book. It’s full of interesting ways to get the most out of your twitter experience.