It’s a strongly-held belief that when the calendar rolls over into a new year that you start your life with a clean slate. It’s a time to make New Year’s Resolutions, which generally means changing bad habits, or shedding extra pounds.
From the business world we talk about setting goals – for example, getting ‘X’ number of new clients, or reaching a business revenue target.
This year – 2010 – will be about leveraging social media for your business. The question is no longer “Should I be on Twitter?” It’s “How do I make the best use of my Twitter presence?”
But if you’re still shy about dipping your toes into social media waters, here are five good reasons why you should consider using Twitter as a tool for your business:
1. Networking: You don’t even have to leave your office to connect with millions of potential customers. Search topics to see who’s talking about the products and services you offer. Follow the followers. If they post questions, answer them. Pretty soon you’ll have your own dedicated following.
2. The Ultimate Authority: Tweeting information about your industry can set you up as an authority within your business niche, ranking you high on the Twitter “influencer” charts (trust me, you want to be up there). Connect with followers who are interested in what you say and ask them to ReTweet your Tweets (free publicity).
3. Face-to-face – tweet to tweet: Twitter provides a platform for personal interaction with customers and potential customers that might not otherwise have been possible.
4. Increases brand awareness: Having a Twitter account increases your search engine visibility driving more traffic to your website.
5. Your competition is there already: According to the Wall Street Journal, as of May 2009, Twitter had over 32 million users. With the number of users increasing exponentially each day your clients and competition are already there. You should be too.
What are your thoughts about the importance of businesses having a presence on Twitter? I look forward to reading your comments.
