5 Minutes with Twitter

Blog•on August 22nd, 2011•No Comments

Congratulations. You’ve set up your Twitter account for your company. Now what? What is the best use of the next 5 minutes of your time?

Minute 1 – Fill in your basic information and get your company logo in there in place of of the Twitter egg.

Minute 2 – Search for other companies and friends who would be good contacts for your business. Follow them.

Minute 3 – Look at the list of followers for your competitors. These Tweeters are obviously interested in your business offering. Send Follow requests to your competitors followers.

Minute 4 – Search for important terms related to your business and see how other Twitter users are hash-tagging them. Hash tagging is where there is a # before a word. By doing that, the user ensures that his or her tweet will come up for searches for that word.

Minute 5 – Start tweeting and make good use of hashtags for terms relevant to your business. If someone retweets one of your tweets, thank that person.

And finally, as in other forms of content presentation, add value. Don’t get on your company Twitter account to describe mundane tasks. Add value to your follows. Let them know how your product can improve their lives. Offer discounts for the next 5 people who purchase your product when they show you the tweet.

The Website as the Hub

Blog•on August 10th, 2011•No Comments

There are so many choices out there for promoting your company online. You can now have a Facebook fan page, multiple company Twitter feeds, a Linkedin profile, a Google places account, etc. Which ones should you choose for your company?

Are they all necessary?

No, they are not. There is no one size fits all answer for which option to choose. It really depends on your industry and where your potential clients are located.

Another important question is, with all of these additional options, how important is your website?

For some companies, a simple Facebook Fan page may do the trick. You actually might not need a full-blown website. You can now add a store to your Facebook fan page to sell your products, music, or services on your Facebook page. That may eliminate your need of setting up an Ecommerce website. I bought horse riding lessons for my wife a few weeks back and the time slot sign up calendar was on the horse farm’s Facebook page instead of their website.

However, Facebook is the only option from the list above that at this point could really take the place of your website. And even with the benefits of a Facebook fan page, it is still a good idea to have a website be the hub for your company. Use the profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to do what they do best – connect you to people and potential clients. But use your website to do the following:

  • Your website should be the place where people interested in going deep into your company information should be able to search and find everything they want. Most users will not require that level of information, but make it available for those who do.
  • Your website should connect to a database so that any information that users choose to provide are collected in your records forever.
  • Your website should point to all ways that users can connect to you. Some users prefer Facebook others twitter, and some may just want to follow your rss feed. But give them a way to connect and stay in touch.