Twitter, love or hate it its here to stay. So, we either shy away from it or we understand it, embrace it and maximise its business potential.

The three main reasons we find why people do not use Twitter are:
1.    They don’t know how to use it
2.    It sounds silly and they don’t understand the concept
3.    They don’t think anyone in their organisation will have time to use it or embrace it

The concept of Twitter is simple, it’s a place to chat, share information, check the latest news, let people know what you’re doing, highlight latest achievements, promotions and to demonstrate why people should come and talk to you. If you think about Twitter from a ‘business perspective’, this is what most businesses are trying to achieve every day.  Twitter represents a great online vehicle to be able to build a community and reach out with a click of a button.

The trick to Twitter is to work out the best ways to maximise its potential and to integrate it into your everyday business processes. Once you have a number of followers you can communicate to an audience on an instantaneous basis and you’ll wonder why you didn’t start tweeting earlier!

Below is a whistle stop tour of how and why Twitter should be used as a Marketing tool.

Why consider Twitter?
A few quick reasons why you should seriously think about Twitter:
1.    The sheer volume of users - Twitter has over 75 million users you could connect with
2.    Its speed - Twitter is a real time social media platform
3.    Networking facilitation - The ability to network with people and companies within the same industry as you
4.    Mobile Marketing usage - Twitter is accessible on mobile phones meaning you get your message to them at all times

Use it to increase your traffic.
Twitter is a great way to drive traffic to your website.  Twitter is a fantastic environment to make people aware of your brand, share their thoughts, understand your products and services which in turn will drive targeted traffic. You can constantly update, change and post new services and products you offer and drive those who are interested to your website through promotions and quality literature. If you are aware of link building, then twitter provides a very strong reputable link for your site, if you are not aware of link building please have a quick read of our older posts link building.

Increase your reputation.
Twitter is a platform where you as a business can demonstrate your knowledge and expertise to a large audience. By posting interesting tweets, posting links to news articles and even links to your blog, you can show your target audience as well as other businesses in your industry that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re an expert in your field, increasing your reputation online.

Live News Feed.
Twitter is a real time social media platform. So what does this mean? This means that every tweet is immediately posted to your followers. This means that you can get your company’s news into the public eye in a matter of seconds. It has recently been seen that large news stories have been posted on Twitter before reaching respectable news sites such as the BBC. This means instead of having to plan weeks in advance to for you to appear in magazines and papers through press releases, product reviews or feature articles, through Twitter you can post immediately to access customer reaction and feedback.

Networking.
Twitter also has a sophisticated networking facility. This means that you can directly communicate with other businesses or suppliers. You’ll find that a lot of people have a business Twitter account as well as a personal one, giving you the opportunity to directly communicate with CEO’s or Directors of companies. This also means that people will be able to contact you. A business searching for related services can read your profile then message you to register their interest.

These are but only a few reasons of how and why twitter can be a powerful marketing tool. In 2010 it has almost become a necessity for a business to be on twitter, but it’s up to you as a business to maximise the opportunities the platform offers.