9 Reasons to adopt twitter to your Social Media Marketing

The question on many marketers lips is ‘what’s the big fuss about twitter and how on earth can it be useful to me’? Trust me, if you have asked the question you are certainly not alone!

To many, twitter is one of those fads that’s come along and will no doubt disappear as quickly as Peter Andre’s and Jordan’s divorce. I can completely see why you’d think this based on the sheer amount of widgets, gadgets and social networks that are out there… ‘what makes this one any different’ I hear you ask.

Then there’s also the time you have to dedicate to learning new marketing systems like twitter (which seem to pop up every single day), even when you don’t see the added value from the outset and no doubt you are juggling 300 other things anyway.

WELL… this article is for you. It’s our top 10 reasons to adopt twitter into your marketing strategy, but in plain simple English. Enjoy.

1 – Getting the most from Your Blog or Website content
You can use twitter to re-distribute the content you add to your blog ensuring you get more bang for your buck in terms of your time investment. People who may not read your blog may take an interest when they see the titles you are blogging about. You can use a blog plug in to do this automatically if you so wish.

2 – Pitching ideas for stories directly to bloggers and journalists
Anyone whose anyone in blogging and publishing circles seems to be on twitter. Take advantage of this and dig them out, then reach out to them and see if they are interested in your exclusives/stories. Follow them and if they like you they will follow you back. It’s the start of a beautiful friendship!

3 – Building a network of like minded people/businesses
Social media has pretty much destroyed many of the communication barriers we used to face. The world really is your oyster and it’s up to you to go out and grab it. Think laterally, team up with bloggers, other entrepreneurs/intrepreneurs and anyone who holds prominence in your market place. You’ll be surprised just how many opportunities pop into your mind when you start working within social media.

4 – Monitor your online reputation
Ever wondered what people really think about your brand? Thanks to the likes of twitter we can now keep very close tabs on this. The importance of doing this is threefold: 1) So as you can respond to negative criticism, 2) To understand who exactly your supporters/assassins are, 3) So as you can get feedback to help you improve your product or service. I suggest you visit http://www.whostalkin.com and plug your brand name in as a start… see who’s saying what about you.

5 – Monitor your competition
In the same way as above, tools such as tweetdeck.com can become a very powerful resource in tracking what the competition are saying and doing. Have they got a promotion running? Have they teamed up with another brand? Twitter is a fantastic way to keep tabs on them as no doubt they will be tweeting!

6 – Finding staff
Didn’t expect to see this here did you? Well, I am utterly convinced that twitter remains the most cost effective staff sourcing tool available. Don’t believe me… just tweet something like ‘Looking for a savvy marketing manager to join our office in London’ and get ready to be bombarded with prospective staff. No rip off fees from recruitment agencies.

7 – Sharing information is easy
When you’re cruising the net and discover an interesting article you can very easily share it with your audience of followers. If the blog or web post that you are reading has a ‘t’ sign next to it, it means that you can tweet it to your followers.

8 – Connect with your team
If your company is split up and operates from different offices, twitter can be a very useful means of communication with all. It’s instant, bite sized, secure (if you want it to be) and is recorded so you can always refer back to it.

9 – Humanise your brand and build loyalty
Your followers may well be your customers or suppliers and they may appreciate getting to know you better. Twitter allows you to do this very well as your tweets will reflect your personality. Thanks to social media, personality is playing a key part in breaking down the cold, heartless barriers many corporations have today.