(in which we discover how to do at least one of these things)
It’s a fact – and it might take the average SME-owner out of his or her comfort zone – but Twitter is on the up. Flying, you might say.
Eric Tsai gives this interesting stat:
- 42% of Twitter users wish to learn about products and services
- 41% already provide opinions about them
- 28% want discounts and offers and 21% claim to purchase products
- 19% are using Twitter for customer support
Source: Tsai (2011)
So if you’re promoting a brand or business, in this case the Winehouse, are there some pointers for appropriate Tweeting?
Of course! Let’s start with Kubowicz Malhotra and Malhotra (2016), who classify CEOs into four different types of Twitter user:
GENERALIST: the biggest segment in this study, these CEOs share a wide range of content, from personal opinions and interests to information about their businesses; they Tweeted the most but had the smallest networks of all the CEOs and were re-tweeted and ‘favorited’ the least. This might be you if you are not sharing unique information.
EXPRESSIONIST: Tweet about events and politics – personal opinion features heavily and so their personal ‘brand’ is promoted as much as their business brand; substantial re-tweeting. This might be you if you are keen to give followers an insight into your daily life.
INFORMATION MAVEN: ‘trusted curators’ of content in the Twittersphere who generally share links and re-tweet. This might be you if you create little unique content.
BUSINESS MAVEN: extensive Tweeters who primarily share business-related content, including information on new products, customer references, business strategy and other initiatives. Although they Tweeted the least, they had the most followers and re-tweets. This might be you if you concentrate your Twitterings on the business at hand.
Interestingly, one of the CEOs who took part in this study and fell into this last group was Marissa Mayer of Yahoo! She also popped up in this blog about Twitter apologies.
So, how do we do write good Tweets rather than awkward ones – bearing in mind that the Twittersphere responds to both extremes equally fast?
My daughter made a comment about Post-it notes and the brand Tweeted back five minutes later: an excellent example of responsive customer service:
On the flip side, Kubowicz Malhotra and Malhotra suggest that a well-timed apology goes a long way if a Tweet has been mis-construed (or, more likely, poorly written in the first place.) This is what Marissa Mayer discovered was needed, and by all accounts was successful at!
Barone (2010) acknowledges that ‘combining a call to action with useful information all inside 140 characters is something that takes practice.’ Here are her tips:
- Think before you Tweet
- Own your account: i.e. if you are writing for a business, don’t hide that fact
- Learn to tease – see Jansen et al below for opinion on the length of Tweets
- Watch your grammar
- Be personal (but not too personal)
- Use appropriate hashtags (or make up your own): look at this excellent advice from Twitter themselves in this blog
- Check your links: make sure users are being sent to the right place
- Edit your Tweets
Jansen et al discovered that ‘One of the successes of the microblogging service is … shortness of the microblog. It may be that the tweet length is a familiar length for information processing … tweets have more in common with standard written sentences than with related short expressions, such as web queries.’
And as ever, use the analytics tool which Twitter provides free of charge. Here are some stats about my own recent Tweets:
Source: Twitter (2016)
Google also provides tools that can work with Twitter to help a business understand its keywords, the best time of day to Tweet and be Tweeted, and many other useful statistics; read all about it here (Tsai, 2010). And not to forget about reTweeting; McPadden & McPadden provide seven reasons to RT, not least because it will assist with your SEO: ‘Social media is a great way to boost your searchability and online presence. ReTweeting allows you not only to share great information with your followers, but increase your visibility in search engines.’
The last piece of advice comes from savvy Eric Tsai: ‘Like all decisions in business you must first identify your desire outcome before you jump in. A clear well-defined business and marketing objectives will bring clarity to unrealized assumptions. If you want to build a long term relationship with your customers, focus on relationship not just triggering the buy button.’ In other words, be prepared to look out for mentions and don’t be shy – reply!
References:
Barone, L. (2010). How to write better Tweets. [Online] <http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/01/how-to-write-better-tweets.html> [Accessed 4th May 2016]
Jansen, B. J., Zhang, M., Sobel, K., and Chowdury, A. (2009). Twitter Power: Tweets as Electronic word of Mouth. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. Vol. 60, no. 11, pp 2169 – 2188
Kubowicz Malhotra, C., and Malhotra, A. (2016). How CEOs Can Leverage Twitter. MIT Sloan Management Review. Vol. 57, no. 2, pp 73 – 79
McPadden, M., and McPadden, M. (2011) [Online] <http://podjam.tv/2011/08/30/the-power-of-retweeting-the-7-reasons-to-rt-on-twitter/> [Accessed 7th May 2016]
Tsai, E. (2016) Design Damage. [Online] <http://www.designdamage.com/about/#axzz47iST53CB> [Accessed 4th May 2016]
Tsai, E. (2010). How to use Google and Twitter to find your customers. [Online] <http://www.designdamage.com/how-to-use-google-and-twitter-to-find-your-customers/#axzz47iST53CB> [Accessed 4th May 2016]
Tsai, E. (2011). Social Media Science: the 5 W’s of Twitter marketing. [Online] <http://www.designdamage.com/social-media-science-the-five-ws-of-twitter-marketing/#axzz3y5aDs6Az> [Accessed 23rd January 2016]
Twitter (2016). [Online] <https://blog.twitter.com/2016/how-to-create-and-use-hashtags> [Accessed 4th May 2016]
Waxman, O. B. (2013). Mea Culpa! Best Twitter Apologies. [Online] <http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/05/25/mea-culpa-best-twitter-apologies/> [Accessed 4th May 2016]
Winehouse, The (2006). [Online] <http://www.thewinehouse.co.uk/> [Accessed repeatedly]
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