A chapter member guest post by Christina Motley
Twitter is like a huge cocktail party happening around you, with all kinds of people chattering about all things — business and personal. But at this party you can hear what everybody is saying without having to race around to listen to all the conversations.
That’s how New York Times best-selling author, Joel Comm describes the continued Twitter rage in “Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time.” The book is now on its second version and has been translated into multiple foreign languages.
But what good will Twitter do for your business?
Twitter is a community of over 7 million today and is growing daily. It is a free opportunity to establish yourself or business as a thought leader. It is a place where customers and prospects expect businesses to have a presence. It is a giant playground where businesses can gather competitive intelligence and market research. They can listen with intent to gain valuable and free insights from their target audiences. Twitter offers tremendous opportunities, is part of today’s world and is a communication channel that is here to embrace. Twitter is not going anywhere; it is here to stay.
Communicators and marketers agree: Twitter is about building relationships and enhancing a brand. It is also about being transparent, building positive sentiment and sharing information, as well as engaging and influencing targeted audiences. Don’t all entrepreneurs and business owners want to do that?
One shining example is online shoes and clothing retailer Zappos, for which Twitter transformed its business. Marketing Zappos on Twitter was the brainchild of CEO Tony Hsieh, who tweets himself, along with his employees. Today there are close to 2 million followers.
Twitter provides an equal opportunity to level the playing field between corporate giants and small businesses. However, for marketing tactics to be effective there must be a strategy in place.
Christina Motley is a strategic, integrated marketer and award-winning writer. She is an active member of the Triangle AMA. Connect with her via her website, LinkedIn and Twitter @christinamotley.
