Twitter for business the ultimate B2B guide

Marketing in Real Time®

Twitter for Business:The Ultimate B2B Guide

Twitter for Business: The Ultimate B2B Guide®

2© 2011 Optify, Inc. All rights reserved. www.optify.net 1-877-2-OPTIFY @optify

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Table of Contents:

3 Twitter in the Business World

4 Using Twitter as a B2B Marketing Channel

5 How B2B Companies Can Build Customer Relationships Using Twitter

8 The Six Steps to Building a Successful Twitter Strategy

13 Getting Started with Twitter

15 Seven Keys to a Successful Twitter Campaign

17 Conclusion

Twitter for Business:The Ultimate B2B Guide

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Twitter in the Business World

Every day millions of people and businesses use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with each other.

Twitter helps businesses stay connected to their customers, enabling them to quickly share information and valu-

able offers with existing customers or prospects, gather real-time marketing intelligence and feedback, and build

relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about the company.

If you are coming to Twitter as a businessperson, you are no doubt wondering how Twitter can generate more

leads.

This guide is designed to help Business to Business (B2B) companies use Twitter for lead generation by addressing:

» Key reasons your company should use Twitter

» Unique ways in which Twitter provides value to businesses

» Practical steps you can take to start driving leads and increasing

revenue through Twitter today.

Real-time communication is a groundbreaking new arena for customers

and businesses alike and Twitter is arguably the chief tool in the real-time

marketing universe. Twitter messages are brief, easy to read, viewable

by the public, and can be created and received on a variety of devices.

Moreover, Twitter messages are really every marketer’s dream because

they are opt-in by their very nature—users only receive tweets if they have

chosen to follow a certain Twitter account.

While many may dismiss Twitter as a passing fad or a communication

channel used primarily by adolescents (akin to the early stages of SMS or

text messages), Twitter is in fact a broad, proven communication medium that has been embraced by a range of

users. While teenagers and celebrities have flocked to Twitter, so have renowned corporations from JetBlue and

Starbucks to Intel and Boeing. Businesses have already begun to devote the time and resources to supporting

their social media efforts, including Twitter, and for good reason as we’ll see in the following sections.

What is Twitter?

Launched in 2007, Twitter started off with just a small following of die-hard users, but within just the past few years, its popularity has grown exponen-tially. Like other forms of social media, Twitter is comprised of user-generated content—in this case, short text messages limited to 140 characters. These messages or tweets are sent by Twitter users to a group of inter-ested recipients, called followers. A Twitter username, also known as a Twitter handle, is denoted by the @ symbol. For example, Optify is @optify.

Twitter in the Business World






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Using Twitter as a B2B Marketing Channel

No one can dispute the traction that Twitter has gained in the business world.

But, can it be a cost-effective marketing channel that actually generates rev-

enue for a B2B organization? The short answer is “yes,” and here’s why.

The unique characteristics of the Twitter platform enable B2B marketers to:

» Market to prospects and customers in innovative ways: As mentioned

earlier, Twitter is an opt-in communication channel by its very nature.

As such, companies can be sure that they’re only talking with people

that are interested in what they have to say. Moreover, the brevity,

frequent and conversational tone of Twitter updates let B2B companies

build relationships with prospects and customers in a unique way

» Drive more traffic to websites. URLs are still the primary calls to action

of Twitter updates. Thanks to URL shortening sites such as

bit.ly and ow.ly, it’s easy for marketers to include and track landing page

URLs in their Twitter updates just as they would in e-mail or paid search

campaigns.

» Measure the impact and effectiveness of social media as a marketing channel. Just as they do with any other channel, marketers can now

measure the effectiveness of Twitter as a marketing channel using a variety of technologies and tools that

we’ll discuss in more detail later on.

» Promote new products (even pre-product release) and receive immediate, real-time feedback from users;

Also, marketers can leverage their users’ suggestions for innovation and build new products based on these

ideas.

Twitter Lingo: Tweet

A tweet is a message sent via Twitter of up to 140 characters in length. SMS (i.e. texting on your phone) limits each message to 160 characters. Twitter takes that limit and reserves 20 char-acters for your username, leaving you 140 characters. Users refer to an individual message as a tweet, as in, “I just sent out a tweet about our new weekend promo-tion.” People use it as a verb, too, as in, “I tweeted about the stimulus package this morning.” Alternatives include “post,” “message” and “update.”

Twitter has: 370,000 new sign ups daily | 95,000,000 Tweets per day | 175,000,000 registered users

http://business.twitter.com/basics/what-is-twitter

Just what is Twitter? Twitter is…• A listening opportunity

• A content syndication platform

• A real time search utility

• A content source for Google and Bing

• A major way to stay connected with your audience

• A growing communication medium

An active Twitter program can…• Increase visibility of your company, brands, products and services

• Increase your connection to people (aka followers) interested in your content, products and services

• Increase number and quality of links to your website

• Increase targeted keyword rankings

• Increase pre-qualified visits to your website

Using Twitter as a B2B Marketing Channel






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How B2B Companies Can Build Customer Relationships Using Twitter

One of the primary distinctions between a consumer purchase and a business purchase is that the latter almost

always requires that a strong relationship exist between the company and the prospect before a purchase occurs.

Because B2B purchases often have large price tags and may require

an investment in various resources, people want to make sure they are

making the right decision before “pulling the trigger.” Consequently, B2B

sales cycles are long, and during this period, companies must do their

best to earn the trust and respect of their prospects in order to make the

sale. Therefore, it’s important to stay in the forefront of your prospect’s

mind with fresh content and an active Twitter stream.

B2B marketers can use Twitter effectively in 3 key ways:

1. By listening to what is being said about the company

2. By engaging with customers and the public

3. By contributing and sharing their expertise and thought leadership

ListeningAs with any relationship, listening is essential to strengthening your

company’s relationship with its prospects and customers. Just as you

would take the time to have a phone or in-person conversation with an

interested prospect, using Twitter as a communication vehicle in this way

should be no different.

Listening via social media (such as with Twitter) can be used by B2B marketers to...

» Educate themselves on conversations and trends occurring in the industry, including tweets by competitors.

» Find the key influencers, thought leaders and players in their specific markets.

» Find new customers by searching tweets for specific keywords.

» Leverage word-of-mouth.

» Learn what people say about their brand and products.

» Identify problems, unsatisfied customers or issues with their brand.

To easily listen in on what is being said about your company, you can use Twitter’s search function whether or

not you have an account. Listening can help you quickly learn what people are saying about your company, and

it will also give you a feel for the flow of conversations on Twitter. In addition, listening can give you insight into

how other companies handle Twitter exchanges. Know what your customers and prospects are saying about your

company, both positive and negative feedback, so that you can provide a public or private response and maintain

that relationship, as well as demonstrate to others the kind of quality customer service you provide. Remember

that you’re not the only one listening to conversations about your company on Twitter, so is everyone else.

Twitter Lingo: Hashtag #

A hashtag is the # symbol fol-lowed by a term describing or naming a specific topic. When hashtags are added to posts this is a way of saying, “This mes-sage is about the same topic as other messages that include the same hashtag.” When somebody searches for that hashtag they’ll get all of the related messages. If enough people use the same hashtag at once, the term will ap-pear in Twitter’s “Trending Topics.” Companies often use hashtags as part of a product launch (e.g. #GiletteMach3), or conferences and events (e.g. #SES).







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To listen in on the conversations happening right now, search Twitter for the

name of your company, product or brand. If you have a Twitter account al-

ready, your homepage has a handy search box on the right side. If you don’t

yet have an account, go to search.twitter.com. Once you have an account

set up, you can also save a series of searches so they are easy to find.

Once you’ve got a handle on the different searches that might matter to your

company, start following those accounts that regularly tweet about the things

that matter to your company. This helps you educate yourself on the conver-

sations that are going on in the marketplace, reveals what your competitors

are up to, and lets you see the trends and issues that face your company or

the industry at large. Within a short span of time, you will quickly discover

the key players, influencers and thought leaders in your field.

In addition, you can find new customers and leads by searching for tweets that pertain to the industries you serve

or the products and/or services you provide. For example, let’s say you are a company that helps other companies

implement customer resource management (CRM) systems. A CIO at a company sends out a tweet about how his

business is having difficulty setting up its new CRM system, which says: “Struggling with our CRM system. Need

help.” If you were to search under “CRM system,” you would find that tweet among others and could possibly

offer your services to that CIO by retweeting (RT) his message with an invitation to talk.

EngagingOnce you’ve mastered the listening aspect of Twitter, it’s time to start engaging with other users and contributing

valuable content that will help increase your followers.

When marketers engage effectively using Twitter they are able to...

» Connect with influential individuals who can become advocates for their companies/products.

» Build a wide network that will help them to reach more people.

» Establish their company and brand as experts in their industry by buidling authority.

One of Twitter’s key benefits is that its conversations tend to be casual and informative, enabling B2B marketers

to communicate with prospects and customers in a very personal way. Even at the biggest corporations, there are

“real” people behind most Twitter accounts, and users appreciate the candor and more personal conversations

they can have in this environment. Unlike other forms of corporate communication that result in anonymous and

impersonal outreach (e.g. press releases), Twitter gives everyone a voice. As such, it becomes very easy to build

relationships with customers, partners and other people important to your business who are using Twitter.

Because Twitter connects you to your customers in real time, many B2B companies also use it as a sales and

customer service channel. For example, let’s say you work for a global accounting firm. If you search for your

firm’s name (or brand), you may find clients posting messages about their experiences with your firm. As a

response, your sales team might choose to reach out to these individuals to share information and financial advice

that these customers might be interested in, which helps in cross- and up-sell activities. Some customers may

Twitter Lingo: Following

To receive messages on Twitter, you follow other people and companies you’re interested in—which means their mes-sages as they post (put another way, their messages show up in your incoming timeline on your Twitter home page. Conversely, people get your messages by following you.







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also provide you with invaluable feedback that helps your company improve its products and services. Still others

may send messages about issues with your firm’s customer service. Handling these types of tweets both quickly

and effectively can positively impact your company’s reputation. You can provide exclusive Twitter coupon codes,

link to key posts on your blog, share tips for shopping online and announce specials at store locations. By listening

and engaging appropriately on Twitter, B2B companies can help create happier customers, passionate advocates,

key product improvements and, in many cases, more sales.

Contributing and Sharing As a communication platform, Twitter offers users the unique opportunity to dispense knowledge and opinions to

a widespread audience and with great frequency. Because of this, Twitter makes it very easy for people to become

influencers and thought leaders in their space.

Marketers can use Twitter to influence others by:

» Becoming a thought leader, mentor or subject matter expert

» Helping customers learn more about their domain/industry

» Lead discussions in their industry

» Syndicate their own content

Twitter makes it easy for users to share their own expertise and knowledge. Because Twitter messages are only

140 characters, this brevity forces users to distill their messages into only the most important, salient pieces. As

you become a “regular” on Twitter and establish yourself or your company as an expert, readers will come to

expect valuable content with every tweet you do. Ultimately, your power to influence through Twitter will continue

to grow as you or other members of your organization build thought leadership in your industry.

Twitter Lingo: Direct Message

Direct messages—or DMs—are Twitter’s private messaging channel. These tweets appear on your home page under the “Messages” tab, and if you have email notifications turned on, you’ll also get an email message when somebody DMs you. DMs don’t appear in either person’s public timeline or in search results. No one but you can see your DMs. With DMs, you can send them only to people who are following you. Conversely, you can receive them only from people you’re following. You can easily send DMs from the “Messages” tab by using the pull-down menu to choose a recipient and then typing in your note. To send a DM from your Twitter home page, start your message with “d username,” like this: “d Fast-CIO We’ve got a smartphone server you should try.” If you’re communicating with a customer about something potentially sensitive—including personal information, account numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses etc.—be sure to encourage them to DM or email you.







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The Six Steps to Building a Successful Twitter Strategy

1. Establish goals Before setting up a Twitter account, begin by asking yourself what your primary objectives are for using Twitter

(and, don’t just say “because other companies are using it”). Make sure that you have tangible business

reasons for starting a Twitter account because as we’ll explore later on, Twitter should be as accountable and

measurable as any other marketing channel. Do you want to use Twitter to promote your company as a thought

leader? Or, do you want to focus on Twitter as a way to ask questions, brainstorm ideas, and solicit feedback

from prospects and customers? The real-time nature of Twitter

communication makes it easy to reach people wherever they hap-

pen to be and for messages to travel quickly (particularly through

the ability to retweet messages, simply by appending “RT” to a

tweet and distributing it through your own tweet update). If you

want to use Twitter as a thought leadership distribution channel,

you might start by establishing goals and milestones for specific

marketing content. If you’ve just launched a product and want user

feedback, you might establish an objective of including at least

one product-related Twitter update a day. Or, perhaps you want to

use Twitter as a customer service channel. If so, you can set up a

goal to answer customer-service-related issues within a few hours.

When people raise customer service issues on Twitter they gener-

ally expect a quick reply—within a day, if not within a few hours,

depending on the nature of your business. As such, keep an eye on

your @mentions or direct messages from

followers.

This is also a good time to ask yourself if your organization has

the resources and time to devote to maintaining a Twitter account.

Twitter thrives on real-time communication between its users, so

your company should be prepared to devote at least part of every

day to maintaining a strong Twitter presence.

2. Decide on a frequency for updates

Twitter has largely led the real-time marketing trend, and many who use Twitter send messages many times a

day, if not hourly. However, “live” tweeting may not work for some resource-constrained companies. Similarly,

some Twitter campaigns are more effective when they are set up as a regular stream of tweets over a set period

of time. As a minimum, shoot for sending at least four tweets per day, spaced evenly throughout the day or

focused primarily on key hours for businesspeople, such as the early morning and lunch hours. If possible, try

to tweet whenever you have something interesting to share – research suggests that the “magic” number of

Tweets per day is 24 – but make sure you keep a balance between promotional tweets and tweets about other

people’s content.

Twitter Tips & Tricks Incorporate Twitter into your daily routine. Listen regularly for comments about your company, brand and products. To make things even easier, go into Settings > Notices and make sure that “New Follower Emails” and “Direct Text Emails” are both checked, so you receive automatic notifica-tions of new followers and direct messages. Finally, be prepared to devote time to address concerns, offer customer service, or thank people for praise or retweets of your updates. For businesses, it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on incoming @mentions because they’re often sent by customers or potential customers who expect a reply. To reply easily from the Twitter website, mouse over a mes-sage and click on the reply arrow to start a new message addressed to the original user.







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If your tweets are not time sensitive, they can be added to a regular Twitter broadcast. When people employ

Twitter to broadcast, they use the platform to make regular announcements or updates rather than using the

platform as a two-way conversational tool.

Regardless of which approach you choose, be sure to firmly establish how you want to use Twitter, so as not to

confuse or alienate your followers. Moreover, be sensitive to timing from your followers’ perspectives. Without

scheduling your tweets, you may be tempted to post multiple tweets whenever you have the chance, stacking

several on top of each other. This may cause people to focus on your most recent tweet to the exclusion of the

others, or worse, they may lose interest or even become annoyed.

3. Define and organize your subject matter Regularly creating interesting Twitter updates is key to keeping your

followers engaged, but what exactly should you post about? Start with

your high-level goals (Key #1), such as building deeper relationships

with customers, getting on the radar of potential new customers or

partners, providing more responsive and immediate customer ser-

vice, or establishing thought leadership in your space. Try to think of

Twitter as you would your other marketing communication vehicles.

An editorial calendar can help you decide when to discuss specific

topics. For example, if you have a product launch happening next

month, align your tweets with the timing of your launch-related

activities.

As a general rule, only give your audience information that they need

and can use. Such topics may include industry statistics, news or some form of educational content. When you

send out a tweet make sure it will help your customers improve their businesses in some way. If a large volume

of news and research may be interesting to your audience, try to pick out only the most interesting and action-

able pieces to tweet about. And don’t forget – a lot of great tweets are often links to other content. Just be sure

to give credit where credit is due by indicating a retweet (RT) when necessary.

4. Decide on your follower-gaining tactics

Like other social media platforms, Twitter relies on its users for generating content and interacting with each

other. As such, gaining new followers should be a primary goal of your Twitter strategy. In addition, followers

are the main way to extend the reach of your message and achieve the goals you’ve set in Step 1. In order to

achieve those goals, you will need to align your follower-gaining tactics with those goals. For example, if your

goal is to increase awareness to your brand, your follower-gaining tactics should be aimed at gaining as many

followers as possible. Take on tactics that design to achieve that, like offering small rewards for following you,

follow auto-followers, join lists and other similar tactics. But, if your goal is to better serve your customers and

use Twitter as a customer service tool, your follower-gaining tactics should reflect that by following all your cus-

tomers, adding your Twitter handle to all your customer service materials and advertising your Twitter handle in

your marketing assets.

Twitter Tips & Tricks Use the “Saved Searches” feature to easily track men-tions of your product, brand, company and more. From your Twitter homepage, simply run a search, and then at the top of your results page, click “Save this search.” A link with your search term will appear on the right side of your page, and whenever you click it, you’ll get real-time results for that query. To delete a search, click “Remove this search.”







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In general, try to build your Twitter following by posting messages that your followers will find compelling and

that establish you and your company as a worthy source of content. Remember the value of search in Twitter;

users will often search by keyword, so when possible include the keywords that matter to your business in your

updates, as long as they’re relevant. Once your followers start appreciating your posts, the more likely they’ll be

to retweet them and the larger your follower number will grow. Also remember that people can choose to un-

follow you just as easily. Keep your tweets compelling and participate regularly with other Twitter conversations

when appropriate.

In addition to follower-gaining tactics, you will need to decide on your following

policies. There are four main types of following policies and each can be tied

back to your Twitter strategy: Reciprocal following (aka auto-follow), restrictive following, selective following and

use-case following (follow customers, follow influencers, etc.)

» Reciprocal following (aka auto-follow): Follow anyone who follows you. Not a recommended policy, but can

be effective in creating and sustaining a followers base at the beginning of your Twitter activity.

» Restrictive following: The other end of the following policy spectrum; follow a very small number of users,

or don’t follow anyone at all. This policy is more suitable to celebrities and companies who can afford not to

follow other users and will give you the halo effect of a celebrity (similarly to a scarcity strategy where you

create an artificial demand). If you can pull this off – way to go!

» Selective following: The more common policy used by most “regular” users. Follow users who are relevant

to your industry, business and products. Follow based on their contribution to the feed and to your goals.

» Use-case following: Similar to the previous policy, but based on use cases and not just relevancy. For

example, based on this policy you will follow all your customers regardless of their contribution so they will

follow you and enable the DM function to allow private tweeting between your company and that user.

Make sure you distribute the appropriate policy to your company and make it clear internally, especially if you

have several people using Twitter on behalf of your company.

5. Manage Twitter Resources

An important part of your Twitter strategy should be its integration with your existing internal processes. For

instance, if you receive product feedback or questions on Twitter, how are you planning on connecting these

people with your customer service team? Similarly, will one person or department be in charge of your com-

pany’s Twitter updates, or will the responsibility be shared? If you don’t have a designated “social media”

department, you should determine how Twitter would fit into your organization’s current processes as soon as

possible.

Down the line, you may also want to consider having separate Twitter accounts that focus exclusively on

specific subjects or goals, such as providing customer service or offering deals that will move your inventory.

Of course, this should be a later-stage consideration---Twitter works best for businesses when they start slow,

devoting a few minutes a day to see whether and how it’s valuable to them and whether it’s worthy of further

investment. (Note: There is more on the subject matter in our Getting Started section)







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6. Metrics and Measurement Tools

As with any other B2B marketing channel, it’s important for you to establish success metrics for your Twitter

efforts. Success with Twitter is much more than the number of followers you have. Part of your success on

Twitter depends on the quality of your engagement. The metrics you set should be a reflection of the goals

you’ve set up for your Twitter strategy. The measurement tools you pick should be able to easily track and

present those metrics, so you won’t have to spend time collecting and analyzing the data.

Examples of success metrics with Twitter based on goals

Goals Metrics

Increase Brand Awareness • Reach (followers + RT * RT’s followers)

• Followers

• Branded

Drive Traffic • Visits

Generate Leads • Leads

Nurture Leads • Visits and returning leads

Improve customer service • Twitter conversations

• Positive mentions

• Changes in customer satisfaction polls

Use as help channel • Number of Twitter conversations

• Number of DM

• Number of mentions of your help #

• Change in visits to help section on your website







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As far as quantitative metrics go, Twitter lends itself to measure-

ment in a few ways, especially if you’ve already defined your Twitter

goals for the next three months, six months, one year and so on.

The following points can help you assess your progress toward meeting these goals:

» Keep a tally of questions answered, customer problems resolved

and positive exchanges held on Twitter. Do the percentages

measure the change over time? Is Twitter having a positive effect

on your business?

» When you offer deals via Twitter use a unique coupon code, so

that you can tell how many people take you up on that Twitter-

based promotion. If you have an online presence, you can set

up a landing page for a promotion to track click-throughs and

conversions. Third-party tools, such as Optify, can help determine how much traffic your website is receiving

from Twitter.

» Track click-throughs on any link you post in a tweet. Some URL shortening services (such as bit.ly and

tinyurl) let you track click-throughs.

» Make a chart that tabulates raw data like number of followers, number following, number of tweets, total

tracked clicks on tweets and so on.

» Make a list of your top ten tweets based on clicks.

As for measurement tools, there are plenty of tools that can provide you with tracking and measuring capabili-

ties for the metrics you’ve decided on. Optify can fulfill most of your requirements and can track visits, leads,

mentions, campaigns and gives you the data to calculate reach.

Other tools include:

» TweetVolume: Helps you identify keywords you might use in a tweet and which

are the most prevalent on Twitter.

» TwitterCounter: Provides charts to show Twitter follower growth.

» Twinfluence: Measures the combined influence of your Twitter account and fol-

lowers, has definitions of key statistics and provides valuable benchmarks for

B2B Twitter users to track

Twitter Lingo: ReTweet (RT)

To help share ideas and give praise via Twitter, you can repost people’s messages and give them credit. People call that retweeting (or RT), and it usually looks something like this: “RT @Username: Original mes-sage (often with a link).” Retweeting is common and it’s a form of conver-sation on Twitter. It’s also a powerful way to quickly spread messages and ideas across Twitter.





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Getting Started with Twitter

If you’ve determined that starting a Twitter account is the right move for your company, it’s time to get started!

1. Create your Twitter account Go to Twitter.com and fill out the four fields on the sign-up page.

If you’re creating a company account, use the “Full name” field to

type in your company name. That will help people find your com-

pany on Twitter (You can add your own name in the bio field, as

described below). Twitter’s username is the handle by which you’ll

be known on Twitter, such as ShareATT or JetBlueCheeps. Choose

the shortest name that best describes your company or this particu-

lar account, and remember to stay true to your brand. Twitter does

not allow so-called name squatting, so if somebody who does not

work for your company is holding or using your brand name inap-

propriately, contact Twitter to get it sorted out. After you’ve signed

up, the site walks you through a couple of screens to help you find

people on Twitter you know or might be interested in.

2. Fill out your profile completely

Before you do anything else, click Twitter’s “Settings” link to get a page where you can fill out a few more

details to help people recognize your company. Most of the fields are self-explanatory. Pay special attention to

the “Bio,” which lets you summarize who you are in 160 characters. If there are other people at your company

on Twitter, you can list their @usernames here as well. Before you leave “Settings,” check out the picture tab,

which is the place to add your company logo or your photo. On the design tab, you can upload a background

image for your Twitter home page and tweak the page’s colors. Because the bio gives you just 160 characters,

companies often use the background image to share additional contact info, and it serves as additional brand-

ing for your business.

3. Find highly relevant people and companies to follow

Whether or not you chose to follow anyone in the sign-up process, now’s a good time to search for people and

companies of specific interest to you. You can use the “Who to Follow” link at the top of the home page, or use

the search box in order to find people who are talking about your company, brand and products. You can also

use the search feature to discover people in your industry by plugging in keywords related to your industry or

area of expertise. When you find interesting messages related to your space consider following those accounts.

Don’t worry too much about the number of people you’re following—just follow a few whose updates you really

want to read, introduce yourself and let your conversations grow organically. By default, when someone follows

you you’ll get a notification email from Twitter outlining some basic information about this user. Anyone can

turn off those notifications, though (under Settings > Notices), so don’t assume people will know you’re on

Twitter just because you’ve followed them.

Twitter Tips & Tricks Add your mobile phone to your account, so you can tweet from the road. Customers can also fol-low you from their mobile phone by texting “follow @YourUsername” to 40404. If you have a smart phone, like an iPhone or a Blackberry, download any of the numerous Twitter clients for those platforms.







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4. Post your first message

On your Twitter homepage, in the box at the top, type in a message. As you type, the counter on the bottom-

right corner of the box guides you down from 140 characters. When you’ve got a message ready to go, hit

“Tweet” to post it. For a first message, consider trying something like, “Excited to start tweeting. Let us know

what you want to hear about from us.” Once you’ve posted that first message, you could follow up with some

“hello” mentions to people you know on Twitter, and perhaps post a link to an interesting news story about

your industry. Remember to use a URL shortener such as bit.ly before posting the link in the update box.

Twitter Tips & Tricks Don’t spam people. Twitter’s following model means that you have to respect the interests and desires of other people on the service, or they’ll decide to no longer follow you. The most common way to run afoul of that understanding—and to appear like a spammer—is to send unsolicited @messages or DMs, particularly when you include a promotional link. Of course, if you run an account that focuses explicitly on sharing exclusive coupon codes or sale information, you’re probably OK posting promotions. But tread carefully, and consider explaining in your bio or background how your account works and its purpose. You can test the waters by sending just a few promos to start, and then continuing if and only when people show interest. To make sure you’re not spamming folks, we also suggest you avoid the following practices:

» Posting the same update throughout the day

» Posting the same update to multiple accounts

» Following and unfollowing the same people repeatedly, as well as following and unfollowing those who don’t follow back (these are both violations of Twitter’s terms of service).







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Seven Keys to a Successful Twitter Campaign

Twitter campaigns organize your tweets around a specific event like a press release, product launch, webinar,

conference or other event. We’re seeing tremendous interest by companies to use Twitter to promote their events,

handle Q&A for live events like webinars and schedule tweets in advance for maximum effect.

What’s the blueprint for a successful Twitter campaign and how do you measure success?

1. Choose the right words

The words you use in Twitter can have a big impact on your success in

attracting attention. With the integration of Twitter feeds into Google and Bing,

the words you use for Twitter should be words you expect your audience to

search.

For example, if your webinar is about online marketing, should you use the

term Internet marketing, online marketing or web marketing? A quick look

at the search volume on these terms will show you that internet marketing is

used four times as often than the other two terms. Optify’s Keywords Application enables a quick start on this

type of research. Make sure you’re consistent in your tone and style. Write a few drafts, send them around for

people to comment on, verify your tone and style are aligned with who you’re and what your brand is all about.

Your Twitter account is part of your brand. Treat it accordingly.

2. Give the right (and useful) information

Give accurate, true and reliable information about your event. Check your links, check your landing page,

make sure your landing page reflects what your tweet is saying and vice versa.

Don’t forget to give the technical information – day, date, time and the appropriate link to all the information.

Point links from Twitter directly to your registration page.

3. Tweet frequently, but not obsessively

Don’t over tweet about your event. A good frequency about an event is once a day in the days prior to the

event. Frequency should be lower if your event is more than a week away. You want to build excitement, but

not overdo it.

4. Use a unique hashtag (#) Think of a unique hashtag for your event that will help people follow the traffic that is associated with your

event and not get lost in the cluster of tweets about the subject of your event. Verify that your hashtag is not

being used at the moment to avoid confusion. Make sure it’s related to your event.

We endorse using a hashtag to flag questions and communicate during your event via Twitter. Followers of your

followers will see your questions and answers, so you will potentially get a big impact from a few questions.







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5. Plan and schedule your Twitter campaign

Twitter is a real-time service, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t plan ahead. Optify enables you to schedule

your Twitter campaign in advance. This means you can stay connected, even if you’re offline and you won’t be

chained to your PC (or Mac). Optify’s Twitter for Business application enables you to schedule and automati-

cally launch your campaign.

Don’t forget to add a reminder on your schedule as well. A common and good practice is to drop a reminder

on the day of the event and 30 minutes before the event starts.

6. Point to a great landing page

A great landing page is critical. There should be a logical link between your

tweet and your landing page. It should be easy to read and understand and

provide all the information right away.

Don’t make anyone jump through hoops to get the info they need. If you’re us-

ing a registration page, give enough details about the event so people will want

to register. Make registration easy and fast.

Note about webinars: If you’re using a hosted service like GoToWebinar, capture lead information on your site

before sending them to a hosted page.

7. Track g Monitor g Analyze g Repeat! Using Twitter for business can have a big impact generating leads for your business. The most important thing

is to experiment and learn from your mistakes.








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Conclusion

Twitter has already proven its value as an innovative tool for B2B marketers. From its “opt-in” nature to the

real-time communication it supports, Twitter can be used to:

» Build relationships with prospects and customers in an informal, genuine way

» Drive increased traffic to your website and landing pages

» Serve as a thought leadership platform for your company and industry

» Measure the effectiveness of social media marketing campaigns

As with any other marketing strategy, using Twitter for B2B marketing campaigns requires goals, objectives, suc-

cess metrics and commitment in order to ensure success. Once these are established, B2B marketers can use

Twitter to accomplish their marketing objectives in new and innovative ways that drive leads and increase revenue.

Twitter Resources3rd Party Applications:

» TwitterFeed - Send your blog feed to Twitter http://twitterfeed.com/

» TwitPic - Photo Sharing for Twitter http://twitpic.com/

» Bit.ly - A URL shortener http://bit.ly/

» Twiogle – Search Twitter and Google simultane-ously http://www.twiogle.com/

» Optify’s Twitter for Business application - A Twitter management application http://www.optify.net/twitter-for-business

» TweetDeck - Connects to both your Twitter and Facebook networks http://www.tweetdeck.com/

» Echofon - Manages unread tweets http://www.echofon.com/

» UberTwitter - Twitter client for mobile devices http://www.ubertwitter.com/

Books:

» Everything Twitter By Monica Jones

» Twitter: Free Social Networking for Businesses By Daniel Clark

» Twitter Power By Joel Comm

» Groundswell By Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

» Twitter Marketing for Dummies By Kyle Lacy

» Twitter Marketing By Steve Weber

Online Resources:

» The Newbie’s Guide to Twitter http://news.cnet.com/newbies-guide-to-twitter/

» Mashable’s Guide to Twitter http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

» 7 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid on Twitter http://www.imediaconnection.com/22655.asp

» Olgivy’s Take on Twitter Best Practices http://blog.ogilvypr.com/2008/08/the-creation-of-twitter-best-practices-round-1/

» 35 Twitter Tips from 35 Twitter Users http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/01/25/35-twitter-tips-from-35-twitter-users/

» 137 Small Business Twitter Tips http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/07/137-small-busi-ness-twitter-tips.html

» Twitter Help Center http://support.twitter.com//

» Twitter 101 - A Special Guide http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

Conclusion




http://twitterfeed.com/

http://twitpic.com

http://bit.ly/

http://www.twiogle.com/

http://www.optify.net/twitter-for-business

http://www.tweetdeck.com/

http://www.echofon.com/

http://www.ubertwitter.com/

http://news.cnet.com/newbies-guide-to-twitter/

http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

http://www.imediaconnection.com/22655.asp

http://blog.ogilvypr.com/2008/08/the-creation-of-twitter-best-practices-round-1/

http://blog.ogilvypr.com/2008/08/the-creation-of-twitter-best-practices-round-1/

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/01/25/35-twitter-tips-from-35-twitter-users/

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/01/25/35-twitter-tips-from-35-twitter-users/

http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/07/137-small-business-twitter-tips.html

http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/07/137-small-business-twitter-tips.html

http://support.twitter.com//

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

®

®


About Optify

Optify enables business to increase traffic from organic search

and social media, convert traffic to sales and share results with

easy-to-use, real time marketing software. Optify’s integrated,

hosted service enables professional marketers to find and track

target keywords, optimize their website for search engines,

monitor website visitors, automate Twitter campaigns and track

results, and gain insights into which online marketing channels

are driving the most qualified leads. Sales teams can automati-

cally qualify and score web leads, focus sales efforts with real

time lead scoring and alerts, align marketing and sales, and

close more deals by assigning the right leads to the right sales

person. Optify is simple to set up and includes free phone,

e-mail and Web support. For more insights on how to market in

real time, visit the Optify Lead Generation Blog.

About Optify’s Twitter for Business Application

Optify’s Twitter for Business application is a full Twitter client

that allows you to monitor the Twitter feed, track visits, leads,

re-tweets and followers. You can Schedule tweets in advance

and assign them to a campaign. Optify enables you to create

and track Twitter campaigns to support any marketing initiative

including webinars, trade shows, product launches, and press

releases.

With Optify’s Twitter for Business application you’ll be able to:

» Search, monitor, and follow keywords, influencers and

competitors

» Optimize your Tweets by choosing the keywords that work

for you

» Track visits and leads generated from Twitter

» Measure your Twitter efforts to determine ROI and

success

» Syndicate your content and extend your reach

» Save time by creating and scheduling Twitter campaigns

» Get your Twitter team on the same page by allowing

multiple users to see the same feed and contribute from

the same application

Contact UsCall: 1-877-2-OPTIFY Twitter: @optify Email: [email protected] Visit our website: www.optify.net Start Free Trial: www.optify.net/sign-up/

Follow Optifyoptify.net/facebook

optify.net/twitter

optify.net/linkedin

optify.net/blog

Guide ReferencesContent:

Twitter Twitter 101 for Business — A Special Guide http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

Twitter Twitter Help Center http://support.twitter.com/

Optify 7 Keys To a Successful Twitter Campaign http://www.optify.net/social-media/7-keys-to-a-successful-twitter-campaign/

Images:

Twitter Logos and Icons http://twitter.com/about/resources/logos

Cute Twitters Icon Set http://www.mirkku.com/tweet/

100+ Remarkably Beautiful Twitter Icons And Buttons http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-remarkably-beautiful-twitter-icons-and-buttons/

Free Twitter Bird Speech Bubbles http://www.thewebdesignblog.co.uk/downloads/free-twitter-bird-speech-bubbles/

Twitter vector icons massive icon set http://www.iconshock.com/icon_sets/twitter-vec-tor-icons-massive-icon-set/

© 2011 Optify, Inc. All rights reserved. www.optify.net 1-877-2-OPTIFY @optify


http://www.optify.net


mailto:info%40optify.net?subject=Please%20tell%20me%20more%20about%20Optify%21

http://www.optify.net/?optify_r=whitepaper&optify_rd=T4B-Guide

http://www.optify.net/sign-up/?optify_r=whitepaper&optify_rd=T4B-Guide

http://www.optify.net/facebook

http://www.optify.net/twitter

http://www.optify.net/linkedin

http://www.optify.net/blog

http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

http://support.twitter.com/

http://www.optify.net/social-media/7-keys-to-a-successful-twitter-campaign/

http://www.optify.net/social-media/7-keys-to-a-successful-twitter-campaign/

http://twitter.com/about/resources/logos

http://www.mirkku.com/tweet/

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-remarkably-beautiful-twitter-icons-and-buttons/

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/100-remarkably-beautiful-twitter-icons-and-buttons/

http://www.thewebdesignblog.co.uk/downloads/free-twitter-bird-speech-bubbles/

http://www.thewebdesignblog.co.uk/downloads/free-twitter-bird-speech-bubbles/

http://www.iconshock.com/icon_sets/twitter-vector-icons-massive-icon-set/

http://www.iconshock.com/icon_sets/twitter-vector-icons-massive-icon-set/

http://www.optify.net/blog

http://www.optify.net/facebook

http://www.optify.net/linkedin

http://www.optify.net/twitter


Date post:	01-Sep-2014
Category:	Self Improvement
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Twitter for business the ultimate B2B guide

Self Improvement