How does something go from obscurity to mainstream in a matter of hour? Better yet how do you get your website, product, or service to go from obscurity to mainstream? Apple is not only successful because it manufactures great products, it is successful because it manufactures great products that we don’t know we need yet. Apple has a “cult like following” around their products, I didn’t need an IPAD, I wanted an IPAD. I think my need stemmed more from what the people were saying than the actual product itself. If companies like Apple can create a buzz around their products why cant you? You can if your social.
Back in the day I could sell you a product by telling you about the product, you would listen, and then hopefully go and buy my product. The problem was I would have no idea if you liked my product, no way of getting your feed back on my product, and no way of being connected with you other than traditional means of dinosaur advertising.Word of mouth is your best form of advertising and social media allows your voice to be heard by millions of people at once!
Two years ago I thought twitter was a goofy sounding word and now it has been ingrained in our culture as a call to action. Hey you follow me! and in return I will follow you.
The 411 on the 101
Twitter is what as known as a micro-blogging site. It allows you to to tell the world what you are doing in 140 characters or less and not a character more. (Just an FYI, that last sentence was 140 characters.) When you write a post it is referred to as a tweet.
In order for me to know what you are tweeting (posting) I need to follow you, by doing so every time you feel compelled to let all your followers know what you are thinking, I will receive your thoughts on my home page in real time starting with your most recent. If you would like to respond to a specific post or person that you see on twitter simply use the @ followed by the persons user name. My Twitter name is marcreece and if you would like to respond to or comment on one of my tweets you would simply tweet this; @marcreece, your new post kicks ass. Just remember that this is public. If you would like to be more discrete you can send a direct message to a particular user. You can only direct message someone you are following. If someone sends you a direct message you can view that message in your direct message inbox.
There are a few ways to connect with people on Twitter. From your home page click on the top right link that says find people, once that link opens up you will you will have the option to find accounts to follow. You can browse suggestions which gives you a list of general topics or categories that you find interesting. If you click on business you will find a list of companies that twitter about their business and then all you have to do is click on the link that says follow and anytime that particular business tweets you will be in the know; This is a great way for you and your customers to communicate to each other!
You can also find people to follow by clicking on the link that says Find Friends, once you click this link Twitter will search your email contact list and list all your contacts that have a twitter account, once the list populates you then have the option to follow them. You also have the option to invite people to twitter via email if it turns out they don’t have a twitter account associated with an email address that you have on file. Don’t feel that you need to follow somebody even if they follow you, in business if people are interested in the product or service you offer they will follow and since you know who your followers are you could reward them with special incentives and communicate with them directly.
The other method of finding people on twitter is by username search. If someone was searching for me on Twitter they could search by my name, marcreece, Twitter will then search for all people with on twitter that use of have a combination of my name Marc and Reece. once the results are in every Marc Reece will appear. It helps if your Twitter page has either a profile image or logo attached to it, this way it makes it easier for people to find and follow you.
If you own a business, you should really consider Twitter as an extension of your business and incorporate it as a best practice to tell clients, customers and the general public on what your doing.