Five tips on Twittering for business

If, like me, you have avoided Twitter like the plague, now might be the time to take a peek. It's fast becoming a valuable marketing tool and big brands such as Ford, Dunkin' Donuts and Delta Airlines have hopped onboard and are using it to great effect.

How? Here are five basic ways in which Twitter can be used by marketers of large and small businesses alike.

1. Drive traffic to blogs

Let your followers on Twitter know when you've posted a new blog entry. This can be refined by tweeting not the blog post title itself, but by posing a question relating to the post or drawing attention to comment activity. For instance, instead of posting "I have just written a blog post titled Twitter ye not?" the Tweet could read "Can Twitter be used by marketers?" followed by a link to the blog entry. This is far more likely to pique interest. Posts with high comment activity can also be tweeted to the same effect by highlighting a particular comment, for instance, "Bill Smith believes that...". The best results when promoting blog posts come from being selective about which blog entries you broadcast and not spam Twitter each and every time you post an entry.

2. Build a targeted list

Do you have a report or a giveaway that might interest others? Try tweeting about it and providing a link to a squeeze page - a page that collects visitor information before allowing them access to the report or giveaway request.

3. Enhance customer service

Expand customer service operations by being available to answer direct questions from consumers, in a public arena. To be seen to be online and being willing and able to help consumers answer product or service questions, handle complaints or promote customer service routes and procedures can only add credibility to your undertaking.

4. Collect competitor intelligence

Not only can you use Twitter to give out information you can also use it to garner information on competitors. By monitoring your competitors' tweets and conversations you might discover new products they are working on, watch their customer service interactions or the sort of promotions they are running.

5. Eavesdropping and trend-spotting

Monitoring Twitter can reveal interesting snippets about what your consumers are thinking, what they are looking for from a product or service and any current trends in your industry.

You'll notice I haven't mentioned anything about selling your product or service on Twitter. This sort of direct, in-your-face marketing via the micro-blogging tool is frowned upon. It's far better to sell yourself, your knowledge and build relationships while experimenting with unique ways in which to utilize the tool.

Tags: blogs, competitor, customer service, list building, micro-blogging, traffic, trendspotting, tweet, Twitter