Twitter is a great way to reach out to your target audience for conversation, marketing, and customer service. But social media outlets require a big time investment, and with ROI still not certain, many businesses choose to invest their time elsewhere.

Here are some of the key points for business owners who want to use Twitter to their advantage but are short on time:

Determine a strategy.

Twitter allows users to follow information in real time. That means instant access to your customers to listen to what they’re saying about your brand, share information with them, and offer instant customer service. Decide which of these objectives you want to accomplish, and develop a strategy to achieve it.

Choose your audience.

Build a network of customers, competitors, strategic partners, experts, colleagues, and other people within your industry circle. Start following them to get their attention, and maintain constant conversation.

Choose your tone.

While traditional marketing is formal, Twitter allows you to converse with your network casually and personally. Don’t just focus on marketing and PR, and don’t automate your conversation. Automated direct messages and tweets make followers think you’re a robot. Social media works best when it involves people connecting with people. Talk to your customers, listen closely to what they’re saying, and keep it casual.

Decide who will represent your brand online.

Twitter and all social media is an online representation of your brand. Be careful when choosing who will represent your business and how. Whether it’s the CEO, an employee, or an in-house community manager, be sure they’re putting the right face on your company.

Start talking.

Initiate conversation about your brand, listen to what people are saying, and be proactive in responding to @ replies and direct messages. Offer information that customers and other people in your network will find interesting — not just marketing and PR messages. Don’t toot your own horn too much, and don’t bombard users with links or repetitive marketing messages. Just like any conversation, these common mistakes will make you boring or annoying to followers.

Twitter tools

Build your network:

Twitter Search (search.twitter.com) – Search for your brand name and key phrases associated with your industry to find users who are interested in you and your products.

We Follow (wefollow.com) – User powered Twitter directory helps you find users that may fit in your network.

Just Tweet It (justtweetit.com) – Another Twitter directory where you can find followers.

Mr. Tweet (mrtweet.net) – A Twitter networking client that helps you discover new people in your industry, find relevant followers, and track usage stats.

Use Twitter:

Tinyurl.com, bit.ly, is.gd and countless other URL shortening services shrink long URLs to Twitter-friendly sizes.

Monitor your conversation & brand:

TweetDeck (tweetdeck.com) – The Twitter client of choice for many busy users, this free program allows you to track your feed, specific searches, and replies in one window.

TweetScan (tweetscan.com) – Alerts you when users mention your brand and related keywords.

TweetBeep (tweetbeep.com) – Google alerts for Twitter. Set it up to tell you when people are talking about your brand or industry.

Twollow (twollow.com) – Auto-follow users who mention your brand or products to build your network.

Qwitter (useqwitter.com) – Notifies you of the last tweet you sent before losing followers. Great tool to find out what you could be doing to turn off followers.

Twitterless (twitterless.com) – Graphs your followers and tells you who stops following you.

Engage your users:

TwtQpon (twtqpon.com) – Create coupons for Twitter to give users incentive to follow you.

StrawPoll (strawpollnow.com) – Poll your followers to find out what they think about your brand and pertinent questions related to your industry.

TwitPic (twitpic.com) – Share photos of new products, office antics, and other cool stuff they may find interesting.

Social media is an easy way to connect with people on a personal level. If your website serves as your online business card, then social media can be a form of online greeting card, providing you with a more personal presence on the Internet and allowing you to interact with clients individually.

When done properly, social media is a fun, targeted way to reach your audience on a personal level with a wide range of positive results for marketing, search engine rankings, and traffic. Here’s a basic overview of the most popular methods and how to use them.

Blogging

Adding a blog to your website provides a personal voice to your business and allows you offer your audience useful information. It can even help your website rank better in search engines. It’s also the most time consuming method of social media and the most difficult.

Before starting a blog, come up with a plan. What kind of information do you want to provide to your visitors? Will you have time to write original content for your blog several times a week? Are you or someone on your staff comfortable enough writing to develop quality content? If the answer to these questions is yes, then a blog is a perfect start for your social media campaign.

If you’re ready to build your blog, keep these guidelines in mind: don’t blog from an outside website like WordPress or Blogger. Your blog should be a part of your website (http://www.yourdomain.com/blog), not part of an outside website (http://yourdomain.blogspot.com). Write fresh, original content regularly (at least three times a week), and keep blog posts under 500 words each.

Facebook

Facebook is the largest social network on the Web. The website boasts more than 200 million active users with more than half of them logging on at least once a day. And it’s not just kids, either. More than two-thirds of users are out of college, and the fastest demographic is 35 years and older. If you’re not already a part of this huge community, now is the time to join.

The way Facebook differentiates between people and businesses can be confusing. Facebook does not allow businesses to build personal profiles. You have two options for promoting your business: building a business profile page and creating a group for your business. Use the page as a central hub for information about your business on Facebook, and use the group as a forum where fans and friends can interact with you and each other.

Remember, profiles are for people; pages are for businesses. Your business page will need to be connected to a personal profile if you want to reap all of the benefits of Facebook. Build your personal profile first, and keep it business appropriate. Then connect a business page to your profile.

Facebook is people oriented. The only way it’s going to work is if you’re willing to get involved in the conversation. Build a personal profile, seek out friends in your target audience, and participate in groups related to your industry.

For more information on Facebook pages, read Facebook’s help section for businesses at http://www.facebook.com/advertising/#/advertising/?pages.

Twitter

Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) has quickly grown to become one of the most powerful social networking tools on the Web. According to data compiled by Neilson Online, Twitter reaches more than 13 million people in the United States each month. It’s also the social networking tool that many novices have the hardest time using. Twitter allows users to broadcast short, 140-word messages to other users who “follow” them.

It’s no use if your target demographic isn’t using Twitter. Do some research to determine if you can reach your audience through Twitter. Use the search tool (http://search.twitter.com) to search for terms related to your industry and find people who are talking it. Start following them and they’ll often follow you back. Use Twitter to share useful industry information, personal messages, and news about your business. If you have a blog, link it to your Twitter account so your followers will be automatically notified of new posts.

Initiate conversation about your brand, listen to what people are saying about your company, and be proactive in responding to @ replies and direct messages. Offer information that customers and other people in your network will find interesting — not just marketing and PR speak. Don’t toot your own horn too much, bombard users with links, or repetitive marketing messages. Just like any conversation, these common mistakes will make you boring or annoying to followers.

This is by no means a complete list of social media sites that can help promote business. There are hundreds of other sites and social networking tools. Social media marketing is like any other marketing: different tactics work for different businesses.

Spend some time exploring these websites to determine if they can work for you. Come up with a strategy for how to implement these tools and integrate them with your current marketing efforts. Be sure you’re using a network that your target audience is using.

If you’re unsure of where to begin, Internet marketing consultants can help you come up with a strategy, set up your profiles, and learn to use these tools effectively. Sage Island Interactive Marketing Agency offers a full range of social media consultation services from blog strategy and design to social networking training. Let us help you find the right social marketing approach for you!

Go Twit Yourself – How To Cut Through The Hype and Really Make a Difference Online

Sage Island CEO and Creative Director Mike Duncan will be speaking to industry insiders at the Transworld Snowboarding Industry Conference December 15-18. In his seminar, he’ll offer tips to improve your website’s promotional strategy, social marketing, blogging and Web 2.0 results. This may be the most valuable time you spend and learn specific tactics to get your hands dirty and improve your online  sales and overall bottom line. Learn top tools and marketing strategies that can strengthen your website online marketing efforts at little to no cost. You will leave the seminar with actionable tactics you can use to make money NOW.

TWITTER, SOCIAL MEDIA, SEO, PPC: WHO HAS TIME FOR ALL THIS GEEK STUFF?
Location: Meeting Room 5A
Just think if you could do market research, organize focus groups and build your customer base all without spending a dime? Thanks to social media and great internet tools, you can. Small businesses are acquiring loyal customers, gaining valuable insight and boosting their business by harnessing these tools. Learn the top tricks and tools in a changing internet environment to boost sales and your brand without needing an army.

With about 5,000 new accounts created each day, Twitter is the fastest growing social network on the Web and the third largest. It’s quickly gaining in popularity and may even overtake Facebook and MySpace for one of the top spots.

Last week at the Board Retailers Association Summit, I shared some Twitter tips with heavyweights in the surf, snow, skate, and wake retail industries. Here are some of the key points for business owners who want to use Twitter to their advantage but are short on time:

Find the best strategy for your business.

Twitter allows users to follow information in real time. That means instant access to your customers to listen to what they’re saying about your brand, share information with them, and offer instant customer service. Find the right balance of these uses for your company.

Choose your audience.

Build a network of customers, competitors, strategic partners, experts in your industry (including bloggers), colleagues, and other people within your industry circle. By following them (and being followed by them), you can maintain constant conversation.

Choose your tone.

Twitter allows you to converse with your network casually on a personal level. Try not to be too stuffy, and whatever you do, don’t just focus on marketing and PR and don’t automate your conversation. Automated direct messages and tweets make followers think you’re a robot. Talk to your customers, listen closely to what they’re saying, and keep it casual.

Decide who will represent your brand online.

Twitter and all social media is an online representation of your brand. Be careful when choosing who will represent your business and how. Whether it’s the CEO, an employee, or an in-house community manager, be sure they’re putting the right face on your company.

Start talking.

Initiate conversation about your brand, listen to what people are saying about your company, and be proactive in responding to @ replies and direct messages. Offer information that customers and other people in your network will find interesting — not just marketing and PR speak. Don’t toot your own horn too much, bombard users with links, or repetitive marketing messages. Just like any conversation, these common mistakes will make you boring or annoying to followers.

Twitter tools for building your network:

Twitter Search – Search for your brand name and key phrases associated with your industry to find users who are interested in you and your products.

We Follow – User powered Twitter directory helps you find users that may fit in your network.

Just Tweet It – Another Twitter directory where you can find followers.

Mr. Tweet – A Twitter networking client that helps you discover new people in your industry, find relevant followers, and track usage stats.

Tools for using Twitter:

tinyurl, bit.ly, is.gd and countless other URL shortening services shrink long URLs to Twitter-friendly sizes.

TweetDeck – The Twitter client of choice for many busy users, this free program allows you to track your feed, specific searches, and replies in one window.

Tools for monitoring your conversation & brand:

TweetScan – Alerts you when users mention your brand and related keywords.

TweetBeep – Google alerts for Twitter. Set it up to tell you when people are talking about your brand or industry.

Twollow – Auto-follow users who mention your brand or products to build your network.

Qwitter: Notifies you of the last tweet you sent before losing followers. Great tool to find out what you could be doing to turn off followers.

Twitterless: Graphs your followers and tells you who stops following you.

Tools for engaging your users:

TwtQpn: Create coupons for Twitter to give users incentive to follow you.

StrawPoll: Poll your followers to find out what they think about your brand and pertinent questions related to your industry.

TwitPic: Share photos of new products, office antics, and other cool stuff they may find interesting.

Follow me:

Sage Island
Mike Duncan