Twitter-pated: We Analyze Twitter Use for Business
The media is a buzz with mentions of Twitter: the text based social media platform that allows users to post 140 character (or fewer) “tweets” to inform followers of exactly what’s going on. Unique in its mirco-blog structure which combines text, hyper linking, email, and social networking functions, Twitter enables its’ followers to immediately reach a wider network of industry peers, friends, and most important to business owners, customers than traditional single digital platforms.
After several weeks of research, the social media assistants at McCauley Marketing Services are now amongst the more than 75 million Twitter account holders worldwide singing its’ praises. While only 11% of the U.S.’ internet users claim to visit the site (according to The New York Times), the platform is gaining popularity amongst business professionals and becoming a leading source of traffic to company websites, business specific blogs, and industry related news sites. The other advantage to using Twitter, besides reach, is the ease of initiating a conversation with followers and receiving valuable responses in return. Discussion like this is proving dually beneficial by providing consumers (followers) the opportunity to feel invested in and appreciated by a company and granting businesses unprecedented access to consumer feedback and increased customer retention.
In addition to increased reach and access, Twitter serves as an up-to -the-second feed of well, everything. The ability to “trend” subjects allows users to tap into conversation that interests them and to start following twitter users with similar interests. This extreme timeliness presents a challenge to businesses because their “tweets” are only impactful for a few hours (at most), but traceable forever. Thus, a bit of an experimental phase is needed to develop tweet topics that are effective, informative, and in-line with their respective company’s policies on digital discretion.
As a company specializing in customer relationship management, McCauley Marketing Services strives to keep you informed of the latest social media information and tips. You can become involved in our conversations by reading our blog, liking us on Facebook , or following us on Twitter. We’d love to hear from you!