You are what you tweet - Getting your technology company to tweet effectively
When your technology company is considering its online marketing strategy, Twitter will always be a big part of any discussion. Using Twitter in a way that effectively communicates your company’s values to an audience of curious followers is a vital ingredient to any online marketing recipe that should never be overlooked.
The reach of a tweet...
As it now has over 600m registered users Twitter has firmly established itself as one of the most popular social networks available today and its potential reach is truly astounding.
Tweets have the ability to travel far and wide, influencing many people along the way and now it’s even possible to see how far your tweets have travelled by using a tool like TweetReach
However, the ability to be in contact with and to put your opinions across to such a huge number of people should be considered carefully - especially when the reputation of your business is at stake.
What should you be thinking about?
Tweeting should be about the customer... Don’t tweet and run.
If you decide that Twitter is the right social network for your company - and it definitely should be one of them - you need to know that it’s not as simple as tweeting and forgetting about it.
If twitter is to be used to its full potential it ought to be treated as an additional channel for effective customer service.
A technology company that does a particularly good job of making their customers feel wanted and appreciated is Rockstar Games. They retweet their followers’ in-game achievements, reply to questions and also acknowledge any praise that they receive.
This kind of attention is exactly what your ‘tweeps’ (twitter peeps) are looking for and it’s up to you to make sure that they get it.
Don’t be strict, be clever.
Although you should always have a strategy in place for the type of content that is appropriate to be shared on Twitter, your tweets should also have some personality. Try not to over-complicate things and get bogged down in the bureaucracy of the whole thing.
Hire someone that you know will be able to do the job and that already has an interest in the type of work your company produces. Let them take command and trust them to make the decisions.
People have come to expect almost instant responses to their tweets and if you’re unable to provide this because you’re too busy worrying about the implications of what you say then you really aren’t making the most of it. Use your common sense.
Get your teams involved and willing to contribute.
Even if you hire a social media specialist to take care of your Twitter accounts, they probably won’t have an immediate understanding of your business. It’s up to you and your teams to ensure that they are brought up to speed on all activities and projects you’re working on.
Your new specialist should be exactly that, a specialist. They should be able to respond to any customer queries without having to run around the office trying to find someone that knows what they’re talking about. They should also be able to share interesting and insightful information about your company.
To achieve this each of your teams must be willing to share what they’re doing. If everyone within your business accepts that Twitter is a useful tool that can be used to generate interest and ultimately increase the amount of new and repeat customers you get then it will make it a more effective marketing channel.
Twitter as a customer relationship manager (CRM).
As we’ve already said, the potential reach of Twitter is pretty amazing and its ability to be used as another channel for customer service is very interesting. However, with this reach you have to be ready to cope with both the good and the bad tweets that will undoubtedly come your way.
These tweets can have a positive or negative impact on your company, depending on how you choose to deal with them. If you get a negative comment make sure you respond to it, don’t simply ignore it. This will show people that you care and are willing to take the time to resolve the problem. Alternatively, if you get a good tweet say thank you.
An example of a company that does this very well indeed is Vodafone. They have a Twitter account that is used almost entirely for customer service and a dedicated team of real people to look after it.
What’s Twitter Success
Using Twitter effectively is by no means a guarantee that your company will be a success. However, when used as part of a carefully thought out online marketing strategy it can allow you to greatly improve the relationship you have with your customer, as well as increasing your brand exposure in a positive way.
