Do You Tweet or Not?

[InsightsDigital]

We all know there are other micro blogging platforms than Twiter, but guess what, no one really "tweets" about it. Thus, for those businesses who do have an active twitter account, has your twitter presence helped drive targeted traffic to your site? Short term? Long term?

[rundie]

I haven't really done it much for business but I have clients who have seen some benefits. It's definitely a fun way to drive traffic in the short term, tweeting updates to your "followers" and what-not.

[InsightsDigital]

It sure seems that major businesses and celebrities are all tweeting. Perhaps tweeting will become a mainstream activity and mandatory business presence within a few years.

[LucyParker]

Maybe I don't get the real sense of Twitter?? I have a personal account on Twitter but I am there once a month,,,I don't see any need to write each second of my life- I woke up, ate, in bus-going to work, talked to boss,,,,, =(( I would rather use ICQ to be in touch with friends =)))

[InsightsDigital]

I have been at internet marketing related conferences where it seems everyone is tweeting either on their iPhones or on their laptops' using TweetDeck or some other application. I saw a funny video produced by Current TV called Twouble in Twitter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w

[MktgRob]

I was at a recent event where one of the presenters, a representative of Avaya, stated that they are tracking Twitter for sales opportunities and have had a few wins. One in particular was a case where they were monitoring twitter for mentions of their name or competitors in tweets. One mention was by someone asking for help in understanding the difference in offerings between Avaya and a competitor. The rep presenting said they engaged the person who posted the tweet and they ended up closing a $250k deal with the person a week later.

[InsightsDigital]

I have heard many success stories like that one you described. Dell stated that it made over $3 million dollars in sales due to its Twitter presence. http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217801030

[Sean Percy]

I do tweet - I just think that if anybody had pitched the idea on Dragons Den a few years back they'd have been laughed out of the building.

Sure there is a lot of crap and waffle but also a lot of really useful conversations and information being exchanged as people find eachother and engage.

To me it really is the online conversation we've heard so much about - or at least a hub for it.

What interests me are sites that are looking for certain types of tweets and giving them context on more involved sites. I noticed this type of thing happening on a site I've been watching which is about product reviews - I guess there are lots of people saying my nikes are great or my jvc camcorder sucks - pulling this information to a site geared up for product reviews and social shopping seems a neat idea as otherwise the tweet will mainly be lost in the noise.

[smrty]

I tweet some, but mainly I've set up my stuff so it automatically tweets for me.

You can use FriendFeed to import your blog feed, youtube account, flicker .. .any RSS you want ...

Then set it up to post to twitter when you upload to any of these services.

It took me an hour or so to get all my URLs from my various services etc .. but once up, it's set it and forget it ...

Probably 20% of our traffic comes from REtweets and follow traffic

[MktgRob]

I recently spoke with a friend who works for a local political candidate and they are hoping that the twitter success Obama has can be duplicated. I showed the the twitter feeds of a couple of other prominent politicians and they really liked what they saw. While it is a growing tool for business it seems to have really taken off as a political tool.

[InsightsDigital]

I also have heard success stories from non-profits using Twitter and it has helped them with their fundraising drives.

[MktgRob]

I think that if you are trying to make twitter a sales tool or channel to find sales opportunities you have to have someone constantly monitoring tweets. Probably using one of the apps like tweetdeck would be the best bet.

[InsightsDigital]

I think its TweetLater allows you to tweet for the future. TweetDeck is a great tool for monitoring and instant url shortening.

[smrty]

Tweetlater is also good for keyword monitoring

if you ARE trying to use it as a sales funnel it can be very handy to monitor your keywords (brand name, competitors brands, generic industry terms)

[MktgRob]

In Fluent, the 2009 Razorfish Social Influence Marketing Report (it is free to download and is informative) the following are identified as "the first 10 steps that companies need to take to control their brand on Twitter and establish a successful presence":

1. Become familiar with Twitter by reviewing, or following, the activities of successful brands such
as Dell (dell.com/twitter), Zappos (twitter.com/zappos) and Comcast (twitter.com/
comcastcares).
2. Listen to what is already being said on Twitter about your brand.
3. Identify initial objectives for using Twitter, including what would qualify as a Twitter success
story for your brand.
4. Look into competitive activities and potential legal considerations, especially if there is already
a Twitter account that uses your brand’s name or other intellectual property associated with it.
5. Use the findings to decide on the appropriate opportunity — such as offers or community
building, tone of voice and method of engagement — that may be right for your brand.
6. Since Twitter is an ongoing activity — even if your company is only listening in — dedicate a
resource to monitor the conversations and competitors.
7. Map out a plan for the content you will share, including valuable initial content to pique
user interest.
8. Integrate your Twitter account throughout your marketing experience, by embedding it as a
feed on the company Web site, including its URL in communications and so forth.
9. Maintain momentum by following everyone who follows you, responding to queries and joining
in conversations without being too marketing oriented.
10. Provide ongoing direct value through your tweets by continuing to listen, learn and fine- tune
your Twitter activities.

The author then goes on to identify steps 5, 6 & 7 as so important they cannot be stressed enough.

I am in general agreement with this list but I am curious to see the input of people who have already set up a successful twitter presence, especially if these steps mirror their strategy.