for Business: 101

Twitter for Business: 101

• What is Twitter?• Why is it valuable?• How does it work?• How should a business get started?• What does it make possible?• Some examples• Your fears and concerns• Learning more…

What is Twitter?

What Are You Doing?

6 million unique monthly visitors

55 million visits(+25 million since Nov)

1000% growth

Jan 2008 - Jan 2009

20% of online adults 25-34

23% of social network users

27% of bloggers

December 2008

Why is it valuable?

http://twitpic.com/135xa

How does it work?

What Are You Doing?

The User Multiface

Browser • SMS • IM • RSS reader • FriendFeed •

Facebook • blogs • widgets • desktop, iPhone, Blackberry,

and SMS clients

Anyone

• Develop dynamic and engaging “behind the scenes” personalities, content, sneak-previews and other genuinely engaging content

Individuals

• Build your network, access better professional relationships, faster knowledge-sharing and leveraged problem-solving

• Particularly valuable for Executives, sales and marketing professionals, consultants, freelancers and celebrities.

Companies and Brands

• Engage more deeply with consumers and markets in strategic and powerful ways

• Drive productivity, value, innovation and human capital growth through better networking and idea-exchange

Externally

Customer service

Market awareness

News

Innovation

Understanding

Extending reach

Relationships

Branding

Direct sales

SEO

Driving traffic

Networking

Internally

Sales Teams

Event Planning

Project Status

News

Coordination

Interface

Decentralized teams

Employee Support

Mentoring

Problem-solving

Purely Social

VALUE.

visibility

relevance

relationships

social capital

community

ideas

trust

research

marketing

networking

customer

service

traffic

news

sales

SEO

How should a business get started?

Manners 101

• Dress nicely– Background graphic, avatar

• Introduce yourself– Fill out profile completely– Mention your Twitter on your site

• Be a good conversationalist– Listen, respond– Contribute relevant, useful material

How Best to Approach?

Cultivate standards of

• Excellence

• Authenticity

• Engagement

What will work for your organization?

Twitter Campaigns?

not so much.

Twitter literacy

Bearing in Mind…

• Twitter can be a great vehicle for a brand extension– if you are willing to produce feeds of cool, useful things

• Publish & subscribe environment– The self-serving will flounder. The useful will flourish.

• Brands need to work to not be rejected as spam

Influence (was)

Attracting attention to yourself

Influence (is)

Providing attention and value to others

Some Examples

Some Examples

• Influential individuals

• Customer service

• Branding and relationships

• Direct sales

• Consumer products

• Retail

Influential Individuals

Customer Service

Branding and Relationships

Direct Sales

Consumer Products

Retail

Questions and concerns

What’s the business use of Twitter?

What’s the business use of email?

How do we reach an audience?

Be useful.

Provide value.

Rethink audience.

Rethink message.

What about Twitter etiquette?

Listen first

Understand the territory

Be clear about why you’re there

Etiquette will drive effectiveness

How do we govern employees’ Twitter use?

You don’t.

You govern job performance.

How can we measure success?

Try things. See if they work. Try again.Engagement & analytics -- with caveatsBy the currency of success for your brand

Learning more…

Outlook

• Landscape for business use of Twitter and microsharing generally

• How to think about brand opportunities in microsharing

• What’s on the horizon? What trends should we watch for next?

for Business

March 11, 2009Wednesdays at 1:00 EST

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