Revolutionizing Social Media
By now you’ve probably heard plenty about social networking...
You may have your own company MySpace or Facebook account, you probably use LinkedIn to network with colleagues, and you’ve seen the articles NetSeachDirect has written highlighting the importance of social media marketing. But – do you Twitter?
Twitter is the latest social media platform to hit it big with students, professionals, and business-owners alike. Everyone is Tweeting about this or that, “following” fellow Twitter users, and using the new social networking trend like the marketing industry has never before seen. It’s widely reported that Twitter followers were the first on the scene to the famous Hudson River plane crash, sending photos and spreading news of one of the greatest landings in aviation history.
Businesses are also hopping on board with the new trend and using the tools Twitter offers to catapult their business popularity. Not only are they getting Twitter users to subscribe to their business profile (known in Twitter as a “follower”), but they are harnessing the platform in ways like performing free market research on new products with “followers” and adding Twitter as a presentation aid by polling followers and sharing their responses. In these two manners companies are able to obtain live research data and instant feedback on any given topic or question – for free.
If instant new feeds, free market research, and live presentation aids don’t sell you on the importance of Twitter, consider other ways you can utilize Twitter to your business advantage:
- BETA Testing – Users can try out new products and services and report on any bug issues that need to be resolved.
- Competitor Tracking – You can get wind of a new product being launched by your biggest competitors before they even issue their press release by creating an anonymous account and “following” your competition. Offering a service similar to Google Alerts, Twitter will send you regular emails when any discussions pop up from your competitors or that contain your topic.
- Live Webinars/Tutorials – Maximize on Twitter’s invitation-only account setup feature and ask your webinar participants to “follow” you. Using the Twitter platform, your webinar can be conducted using live chat and adding video, photos, audio files and text files without the need for expensive web meeting software.
- Tech Help Desk / Live Support – Post your most recent computer conundrum or any other “How Do I?” question and get instant support from your followers. You can even put feelers out for your latest business idea or development and get instant feedback from your “followers.”
- Online Reputation Management – Get to know and love TweetBeep, Twitter’s take on the Google Alert. By setting up this feature you’ll know as soon as discussions are circulating containing your business name, products or services.
You can also use Twitter to set appointments for yourself, and send reminders about meetings to others. As the platform grows in popularity, new widgets and features are sure to be added in the name of community idea sharing, professional networking, and good, old social media fun. Twitter is proving daily that it’s not just another social network.