Pope Benedict is set to make his Twitter debut on 12th December. It just goes to show that social channels like Twitter can help organisations of any type, size, purpose and stature connect with people from all walks of life. If the 85-year old Pope can embrace such a medium, there’s no reason why business centres shouldn’t be doing it. And doing it well.
Twitter was only launched in 2006. Yet today, hundreds of millions of tweets are posted daily, and Twitter.com is ranked as one of the ten most-visited websites worldwide. It has over 500 million active users as of 2012 and handles over 1.6 billion search queries per day. It’s no surprise that the micro-messaging platform has become known as “the SMS of the Internet.”
However, many people and businesses are still failing to use social media to its full potential. A recent study from BusinessNext found that only 20% of CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) in Fortune 100 companies are active in social networks – that’s just one in five.
Just like those ‘missing’ CMOs, any flexible office space operator not actively using Twitter is missing out on a valuable marketing and communications channel. It’s not a difficult tool to use. But it does require a little time and regular, engaging updates to make it worthwhile. Do this, and it will certainly be time well spent.
To help you get onto the Twittersphere, ABCN has gathered five top tips on how to use Twitter effectively, with help from online social media experts:
Five Top Tips on How to Use Twitter
1) Learn the lingo
As Marketing Donut says, the lingo can be a little boggling at first. RT, @, #, or DM? But don’t let it put you off. You can quickly get up to speed with the lingo through the Twitter glossary – and a little practice.
2) Share valuable content in your own voice
When tweeting, replying or promoting, do so in a style that matches your personality or brand, says Mari Smith of Social Media Examiner. Add value but try not to do the hard sell. You want people to read your tweets and be compelled to respond, so “be human”.
3) Engage and give
James Blute says “Give freely and they will follow (and tell their friends).” He recommends engaging with followers and answering questions both publicly and privately. He also gives professional advice freely to show users that he can be trusted – meaning they are more likely to becoming paying customers later on.
4) Get organised
ThingsIdigg.com recommends using a programme such as TweetDeck or Hootsuite to organise your tweets. These programmes also let you schedule tweets to go live at specific times – perfect if you’re going to be out of the office.
5) Add keywords
If you’re already familiar with the concept of using keywords in your blogs and web content, Twitter is a natural extension of this. Shannon Willoby of Scott’s Marketplace recommends one keyword per tweet to get more SEO ‘juice’. However she advises not to go overboard – after all, Twitter is a conversation and should be focused on engaging content, rather than keyword-stuffed messages.
Armed with these simple tips, when will your business centre join Pope Benedict on Twitter?
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