Top Ten Ways To Use Twitter For Business
Top Ten Ways To Use Twitter For Business
There are hundreds of ways for businesses to use Twitter, but I have narrowed them down to the top ten uses that all businesses should be focusing on. The businesses who execute best on Twitter are the ones who set themselves apart on one or more of these key business uses. I hope you can find one or two tidbits that help you grow your business on Twitter. Good luck!
Improve Your Customer Service
People who are trying to find simple answers to simple questions often will go to Twitter to look for the answers. If your account is set up so that you are monitoring it for questions like these, you can use Twitter as a very valuable part of your customer service strategy. Best Buy’s customer service tweeting team (@Twelpforce) gave me an answer that I didn’t particularly like, but it was awesome that I could get an answer that fast without making a 1-800 call, and I will use them again in the future because of it.
Customer Retention
Similar to the first use of Twitter, it can also be an extremely valuable way to retain or regain customers who have had a bad experience. While there are not many examples of accounts who do this really well, I believe that it will be a growing trend going forward. Not every customer is going to call the complaint hotline, some are just going to go right to the internet to vent their frustrations. Reaching out and proactively fixing issues that your customers are complaining about is an excellent way of regaining those customers and potentially turning them into evangelists.
Public Relations
Twitter can be an excellent way to get positive news stories out about a company. Whether you just link positive press releases to your followers, or shoot off one-liners about the XYZ promotion where X% of the proceeds go to a charity, thousands of people will potentially see the message who would not have seen it under any other circumstances. In addition, getting Brand Evangelists to ReTweet these messages will make them twice as effective.
Research Your Market
Twitter is a great place to do real-time market research. Develop, and save, several twitter searches that have to do with issues in your market. Constantly comb through the twitter posts in those searches and compile a collection of research. Many times, you will be able to find a missing consumer need in your market segment based on what people are complaining about or wishing for.
Understand Key Trends
Similar to the last use, the search function on Twitter can be used to identify consumer trends. Look for things that your customers are buying to see if they are new areas that your company could branch out into. Look for how your customers are talking about your industry to see if you can identify a change in the trends before your competitors get to it with their high-cost market research firms.
Build Your Customer Lists
This is the most obvious use on the list, but Twitter is fantastic at letting you build customer lists. You should have several different lists and add customers to all of them regularly. This is effective for many reasons, but the main two are: 1) You can easily segment and contact your customers with offers or additional personal “touches”. 2) People love to be added to lists, and by doing so you will make them a more devoted customer going forward.
Test Your Messages Before Investing In Them
Twitter is a great place to test-drive new marketing messages before you go out and spend millions of dollars buying television ads that backfire. A tweet that backfires can always be deleted, and you are unlikely to set off the firestorm of controversy that a poorly tested television ad could bring (See Burger King’s “Whopper Virgins” campaign for a good example of how this can get out of hand in a hurry). Test a variety of messages and see what ones your customers respond to the most.
Business Development
Twitter is also awesome for making new business contacts. Whether you are looking for new customers, partners, suppliers, retailers, or even investors, they are all over the Twittersphere. You should regularly browse through Twitter to make new contacts that could lead to further business in the future.
Research Your Competitors
This is clearly the most under-utilized business use of Twitter. If you don’t already have a list of your competitor’s accounts, you need to get one. NOTE: You probably should do this under a different account so that you are not helping your competitors by giving people a list they can follow. By following a list of your competitor’s Twitter accounts, you can keep track of exactly what they are doing on Twitter. Make a list of best practices of your competitors, then implement them as quickly as you can. This will make you a force to be reckoned with on Twitter.
Promote Your Other Social Media Accounts
Twitter is the one social network where your followers seem to multiply quicker than all of the other ones. Because of this, it is natural to use Twitter to promote all of your other sites. First of all, you will have more twitter followers than Facebook friends, so it makes sense to push them to your Facebook and YouTube accounts. Second of all, people constantly use Twitter for searches, so your posts pushing people to your other accounts will be seen by far more than just your followers.
I hope you found this article helpful. As always, try to grab just one or two ideas that you think you want to execute and put them in place quickly. Fast learning and fast implementation makes the difference between the winners and the losers on Twitter. Please feel free to follow @MrEmergingMedia for more tips and tricks on Social Media and Branding. Thanks!
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Should You Consider Refinancing Your Mortgage Before Retirement?
Should You Consider Refinancing Your Mortgage Before Retirement?
This is a question that is almost never asked during retirement planning, but it definitely should be. For many of us, we will not ever pay off our home in full, nor are we willing to downsize due to our ego and/or our unwillingness to give up the lifestyle we have come accustomed to throughout our working years. For those of us in those scenarios, we should be looking at what the right time is to refinance shortly before retirement. For example, if you are currently in the 5th year of a 15-year mortgage, you may be paying $2,000/month. If you retired right then, that would be your payment for the next 8 years while you have a severely-reduced income. On the other hand, if you were to go and refinance your mortgage into a 30-year mortgage right before retirement, you might lower your payment to $1,200/month. While you would be paying longer, you would free up $800/month in cash flow during retirement. This will, again, give you much more financial flexibility during retirement. In addition, you will still be gaining equity in your home as you make the payments, so you will likely be able to sell the house in the future if you need to resort to downsizing. More importantly, if you refinance, you can continue to pay the $2,000/month if you want to, and pay off your mortgage just as fast as you would have in your current scenario. The best part about the refinance option is that if something goes terribly wrong, or something unexpected happens, you can immediately lower your payment from the inflated $2,000/month down to the required $1,200/month. If you were to try to do that under your old arrangement, you would be foreclosed on almost instantly. In addition, if you were to try to refinance your mortgage during retirement right after something unexpected happened, when you have little or no income, you are very unlikely to get approved for a loan. The bottom line is that refinancing gives you more flexibility, more cash flow, protects you from unexpected surprises, and still allows you to pay off your mortgage just as fast if you decide to continue to make the $2,000/month payment. Please consider this option in the few years before you retire.
Retirement Junkie is a website that the Hagopian Institute put together as a source for free information to help people prepare for retirement. Please visit retirementjunkie.com, and follow MrEmergingMedia on Twitter for more retirement tips, along with other fun offerings from Todd Hagopian and the Hagopian Institute.
Aesop & Business: Whatever You Do, Do With All Your Might
The Boy and the Nettles
A BOY was stung by a Nettle. He ran home and told his Mother,
saying, “Although it hurts me very much, I only touched it
gently.” “That was just why it stung you,” said his Mother. “The
next time you touch a Nettle, grasp it boldly, and it will be
soft as silk to your hand, and not in the least hurt you.”
“Whatever you do, do with all your might.”
In the business world, dipping your toe into an idea or a new effort will very rarely yield extraordinary results. You must go after every project as if your overall career success depends on it…Because it does. Your reputation is built on a pattern of results, and quite frankly, you will be successful a higher percentage of time if you put 100% into everything. Make up your mind, develop a strategy, execute, and reap the rewards.
Aesop & Business: A Man Is Known By The Company He Keeps
The Ass and his Purchaser
A man who wanted to buy an Ass went to market, and, coming across
a likely-looking beast, arranged with the owner that he should be
allowed to take him home on trial to see what he was like. When he
reached home, he put him into his stable along with the other asses.
The newcomer took a look round, and immediately went and chose a place
next to the laziest and greediest beast in the stable. When the master
saw this he put a halter on him at once, and led him off and handed
him over to his owner again. The latter was a good deal surprised to
seem him back so soon, and said, “Why, do you mean to say you have
tested him already?” “I don’t want to put him through any more tests,”
replied the other. “I could see what sort of beast he is from the
companion he chose for himself.”
“A man is known by the company he keeps.”
This fable represents one of the most fatal mistakes that people make in the business world. How many times have we run across an Employee and instantly made snap judgments about him/her based on who they surround themselves with. Managers are certainly judged based on who they recruit for their teams, or who actively pursues a job underneath them. But even for the average employee, this fable represents an important lesson that will stunt your business growth if it is not adhered to strictly. For people who do not already know you well, you will be judged harshly if you keep company who is not of the caliber level that you wish to be aligned with. More simply, don’t hang out with “Louie the Loser” if you want to be viewed as a winner. Don’t hang out with “Sally the Slacker” if you want to be viewed as a hard worker. Don’t hang out with “Carl the Complainer” if you want to be viewed as a Company Man. Believe it or not, upper management spends a whole lot less time thinking about you as an individual as you might want to believe, therefore the company you keep can have a drastic effect on your reputation among the management of the company. Please take this advice, evaluate your workplace friendships, and make adjustments as needed.
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Aesop & Business: Little By Little Does The Trick
The Crow and the Pitcher
A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had
once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the
mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left
in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it.
He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair.
Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it
into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into
the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near
him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench
his thirst and save his life.
“Little by little does the trick.”
Many of Aesop’s fables have a similar theme to this story. This story can easily be applied to the business world in a very meaningful way. Basically, the story says that if you work just a little harder each day, get just a little more done each week, make just a few better decisions each month, you will drive drastically different year-end results. Constantly work to improve yourself little by little, begin with the end in mind, and you will find yourself exactly where you want to be in the future.
