How to Explain Twitter to a Business Owner

by    |   4th Oct 10 11:15 am   |   2
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Twitter to Business Owners1 e1286212440748 How to Explain Twitter to a Business OwnerWhat is Twitter? Is it a micro-blogging site, a social network or a hybrid of both? Either way, how does it help from a business perspective?

These are perhaps some of the most common questions that business owners tend to ask before they join the Twitter revolution. I personally believe that Twitter thrives on simplicity so it’s no rocket science to explain to people how it can help boost their business.

Why Twitter?

We may be living in the modern-age of Web 2.0 and smartphones but not all business owners understand social media. However, the two things all business owners understand for sure are – Cutting down costs and Boosting profits.

And Twitter is equally effective on both fronts – it’s free so it provides you a cost-effective medium for marketing, advertising and customer service. To add to that, it’s a great platform for launching targeted advertising and marketing campaigns to boost your product sales and spread the word to a mass audience.

Innovative Advertising

I believe that advertising is all about getting your message across with a wow factor, so what better than a revolutionary tool like Twitter to do it. Many critics often point out that 140 characters are hardly enough to build an advertising campaign. I treat that as a lame excuse and my advice to business owners is to respect Twitter’s character limit to build an informative yet interesting message that is likely to appeal to prospect customers.

From a business owner’s perspective, the biggest roadblock to launching an advertising campaign is the hefty cost associated with it. With Twitter, you get a fantastic web-based advertising tool literally for free so why not opt for it?

Product Marketing

It’s often said that “Extraordinary marketing can make an ordinary product look extraordinary and vice-versa”. IMO, Twitter is a fantastic platform for product marketing as it provides a simple, easy to use and real-time means of publishing information to your followers.

Several businesses have boosted their revenues by using Twitter to promote their products through announcements, discounts and special offers. To add to that, there are tons of cool plug-ins and third-party tools which make the product marketing experience on Twitter all the more effective.

How to go about it?

For a start, I’d recommend creating a Twitter account and familiarizing yourself. Though Twitter is fairly simple and easy to use, some newbies can get overwhelmed with new terminologies such as tweets, retweets, direct messages and profiles.

Build an interesting and informational profile. Once you are comfortable, use the search feature to look out for your targeted audience – be it based on location or interests. Follow these people and build a community of your prospect customers. Make sure to follow a regular tweeting routine with tweets that are fun yet informative.

Size Matters. Or does it?

While the “One size fits all” approach does not work when using social media for Business, the USP of Twitter is that it can be used across a large number of company sizes. Whether it’s a small business, SOHO, SME, mid-sized company or a large enterprise corporation, Twitter is a handy business tool for one and all.

Douglas Idugboe, Digital and New Media Marketing Strategist. Founder and Chief Editor of Smedio! A Canadian Bestselling Author, Marketing Strategist, Speaker and Trainer, Who Loves Technology
  • http://www.DonnaWilsonsWorld.com DLWilsonsWorld

    Thanks for this post that very effectively summarizes why business owners need to stop, & give serious attention to learning how to engage on Twitter & other social media! Many still have not realized how it can maximize & engage their current client base, as well as promote & educate how their business service or product can help solve a problem or fill a need to new prospective customers.

  • http://twitter.com/mkircher Matt Kircher

    I think you’re looking in the right direction with your post here. However, if you’re trying to sell a business owner on the concept of interactive marketing via twitter, you’re probably going to need a better pitch than “it’s gonna be great.” Discussing relevant examples from someone else in their industry or a related industry will frame it in terms they’re already comfortable with. Also, part of the intimidation factor for these folks is time – breaking things down to a number of hours per week or minutes per day will help a business owner decide if they’re ready to make the plunge.

    You should also remember that it’s not a good idea to sell marketing on twitter as a panacea or “magic bullet” that will cure everything. Like any other marketing medium, it only makes sense to go there if you can draw an audience – just because all of us hip trend-setters are on there doesn’t mean everyone is! You should always advise clients that social media is just another piece of a larger puzzle, not a strategy in and of itself.