Cracking Twitter for Business: Why Brands Still Don’t Get It

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Hey business man, Twitter is your friend. Trust us. It may seem overwhelming at first but there are more benefits that social media platforms like Twitter could do for you and/or your business. Here is my first hand experience.

One morning, as I was making my bed, I inadvertently knocked my MacBook, which was at the foot of the bed, to the floor. My initial reaction was, “It’s  only 2 feet from the floor — there is no way anything could have happened.” I didn’t check to see if anything was wrong until a couple hours later when I sat down to do some work. The screen had visible damage (spidering). The next couple minutes, I was frantically thinking how I was going to replace this, how much does it cost, and how long will it take?!

Naturally, I took to the social community to vent my frustration @mktgstudent: “My MacBook fell off the bed and cracked! FML.” After finding out that Apple wants $800 to replace the MacBook screen I began to realize I may need to buy a new laptop. Within 15 minutes of my tweet, I got a surprising response: @crackdmacscreen: “Hey @mktgstudent, we fix MacBook screens. Give us a call and we’ll come to you!” I thought to myself, “Now that’s the way business should get done.”

Why Businesses Are Afraid of Twitter

The traditional notion of marketing is that all activities performed by marketers should provide a direct ROI. If a marketing activity isn’t helping the bottom line, then why do it? With the level of uncertainty that social media brings, it is hard for us early adopters to persuade upper management of the benefits that platforms like Twitter can bring to an organization.

What Brands are Doing Wrong on Twitter

Being on Twitter or any social platform is about opening your organization to direct engagement with your customers. People are already talking about your product on Twitter. People are already looking for a solution that your brand can give them. Whether they are looking to sell their house, buy a new car, or even get their Mac Book screen repaired.

1. Do not provide immediate feedback or responses

Twitter is fast. Before starting any type of social media initiative it is wise to perform some analysis as to how you want to engage on Twitter. But even more basic, are your customers even on Twitter? You need to have the resource capabilities to respond to Tweets that are worth responding too in a fair amount of time.

2. ROI is unclear

Twitter understands this, which is why they have been testing ways that not only they can monetize but to help businesses monetize. They recently launched promoted tweets which enable brands to have their Tweets populate first, similar to paid search from Google AdWords. Twitter can not only provide bottom line growth, but it can change the perception of your brand if done correctly. Engagement leads to trust. Trust leads to relationships. People want to do business with people they trust.

3. They Don’t Understand It

This is so true. Talk to any older executive about Twitter and they will say “I’ve heard of it but don’t understand it.” Now, there are some that actually do understand it, but the majority do not. Understanding Twitter isn’t their job. It’s our generation’s job to teach them the power of Twitter. We need to highlight the benefits that Twitter can bring. When talking to upper management, say things like “It can indirectly grow the bottom line.” “It can increase sales leads.” “It can reduce costs.” These are all aspects that upper management loves to hear.

What Brands are Doing Right on Twitter

There are plenty of good examples of brands that are using Twitter correctly. @Starbucks, @WholeFoods, and @Southwest, just to name a few. When you have a second, check them out. Look at HOW they respond, WHEN they respond, and WHO they respond too. Using large companies as an example can provide you with the motivation you may need to start hopping on the train.

1. Your Twitter handle should match your companies voice

If you already have a firm understanding of how you want your company to be portrayed in traditional marketing mediums, take that understanding and translate it to the digital world. When creating your Twitter account, make sure it matches your company’s voice. If you want to be more personal, use multiple Twitter handles. For instance, @Greg(COMPANY NAME).

2. Twitter is real time, you must be open.

Twitter is as open as social media comes. People are talking about you. Perform an openness audit of your company to determine how open you are now and where you want to be. In order to engage, you need to be open. You cannot be going through layers of approval just to respond to a Tweet. What happens if someone starts ranting on your Twitter page? Every minute that that Tweet is posted is an opportunity to turn a potential customer away from your brand.

3. People like people, not corporations. Have a real voice.

You would rather do business with a person, not a corporate machine. Your Twitter account needs to be real. It needs to have personality. Determine who will be responsible for responding to tweets. Create workflow maps, crisis management strategies, and content strategies. Your social media and Twitter presence should be carefully orchestrated so that your company feels like a well-oiled machine.

Communicating and engaging with your customers can seem daunting but it is becoming a necessity if you want to forge those long-term relationships that businesses need to survive. With that said, becoming social and opening up does require planning and preparing. Subscribe to our RSS and you can learn more about how social media platforms–like Twitter–can help your company open up and breathe.