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Startups…Use Twitter As a Business Strategy Tool!  

Article by Donna Denil

This article is based on excerpts from an interview with Tom Clifford, @tommytrc, Manager of Digital Development, HC Miller.

Successfully starting an internet marketing business today requires more than desire, it requires using some social media tools as a part of your overall strategy. The hardest part for most online entrepreneurs is choosing which of the social media tools is right for them and then implementing the tool within their online strategy. Using Twitter as a business strategy tool is definitely something to consider.

Clifford says, “social media today is nothing different than the way grandpa used to meet up with his friends, have coffee, communicate, have some fun, and add some business to the mix. Twitter and the other social media tools are just a different medium to bring people together. Social media is about having access to people all over the world in real time. Your message can go from small to huge instantaneously because of the technology and your following.

People are using social media to build their personal brand (think internet or online business) or building the brand of a brick and mortar business. The biggest mistake is trying to use every social media tool available in the beginning and becoming overwhelmed with the mechanics or what they don’t know about using the tools.”

Advice: “Start small, pick one or two tools and learn how to use them well, stick with it, evaluate how they are working, give it a little time, then reevaluate before subtracting or adding tools. Put it out there and you may be amazed by what happens.”

He asks:• Are you monitoring your brand through twitter?• Where and who is your audience?• Are your tweets relevant to your target audience?• Is your audience involved in social media?• How are they responding to you?

Monitoring your brand through twitter can be as simple as looking at the number of your followers, tweets and retweets. Failure to monitor and adjust for your brand’s success will give you less than stellar results.

If you’ve done your homework and know where and who your target audience is, make sure your tweets have value for that audience.

Tweeting just for the sake of tweeting will not build your brand and your successful online business. Twitter does the conversion work to a tiny URL for you, so when you tweet something valuable and relevant about an article, blog post or video, you don’t have to worry about the tweet exceeding the 140 character limit.

Knowing if your audience is involved in social media is also critical to the success of your brand and online business. If they are not involved in social media, you can tweet all the relevant and valuable content in the world and you are still not connected to who you want to connect to! If you are not getting the response you anticipated, it is time to invite them to your twitter world through other social media networks.

It is rare in today’s world to find anyone who spends time online, for whatever reasons, to not be connected to some form of social media. Your challenge is to move your nonresponsive audience from the mindset of social media as being purely a social platform to social media as a combination of business and social.

To quote Peter Shankman: “90% of your sales are lost because you don’t send the right message to your audience the way they want it.”

To your success!Donna Denil, Online Entrepreneur

About the Author

After years of traditional marketing I wanted to leverage the power of the internet for my home-based business. It’s been a blast learning and growing my business in new and exciting ways.

These steps will show you how to engage your clients and prospects better using Twitter and other Social Media Networks