Saturday, July 31, 2010

Who, What, Why of Twitter Marketing

Who, What, Why of Twitter Marketing

Gaining your audience’s attention on Twitter when your tweets are among thousands in a short time frame is a primary objective for many marketers. How often do we read tweets that appear to be nothing more than the last thousand seemingly pointless thought processes? How do you set your Twitter posts apart and help to build a foundation on which to place your marketing efforts?

Take time to think about what you are going to tweet so that your tweets are not counted among the simplistic multitudes.

Consider the Who, What, Why of your post. When you take into consideration the who’s, the what’s, and the why’s of your tweets and you answer these questions intelligently, you will keep your audience with you.

WHO?
WHAT?
WHY?

Very basically this asks, what are we selling to whom and why should they buy it? In marketing terms, this all boils down to a thoughtful offering and effective posting. Even the best intentioned social media campaign will fail if the “who, what and why” is not considered. This should apply in even the most basic of 140 character messages.

Here are a few questions to take into consideration:

Who do you think this tweet will benefit?

What is it that you hope to gain or hope your audience will gain from this tweet?

Why will it benefit your business or your clients, current and potential?

While sharing your lunch meeting with your followers may seem appropriate, which of the following will gain you a bit more leverage with your audience?

“I am just getting back from lunch at my favorite restaurant. I had a lovely Asian chicken salad and a glass of Chardonnay. I enjoyed myself.”

Or

“Enjoyed a lovely business lunch w @username today. We spoke of joint ventures and how my company X and their company Y can work together.”

While the first may get you a reply or two from those who are happy you enjoyed a nice lunch, the second will show that you are a go-getter, that take your business seriously and are looking to create viable business relationships with others.

There are many articles on the internet asking the question of how often to tweet. But the true question is not how often as much as it is about the quality of your posts. You can tweet every 5 minutes for hours on end if you are so inclined. However, if all you are posting about is about your day and the weather without any true insight into who you are, what your company is about and what you have to offer it does little more than keep your name in front of your followers.

Be thoughtful in your messages. Remember that you are using Twitter as part of your marketing campaign for your business. Waving in a friendly manner at passersby outside of your brick and mortar isn’t going to get them in the door any quicker than it will within the social networks. Offering your audience something with substance is what is going to get them in the front door and hopefully have them come back for more.

Cheers!
Dave