Last week we were lucky enough to attend a fabulous two course lunch at MUMU Grill, Sydney’s only sustainable steakhouse. This wasn’t just any lunch, but a lunch to discuss why Twitter is so good for businesses.
As we ate, we discussed what exactly Twitter is, how it can be used to drive business, how much time to allocate to Twitter and the strategies behind a successful Twitter account. Leading the discussion was one of Australia’s most successful online foodies, Rebecca Varidel (or @frombecca) and MUMU Grill head chef and owner, Craig Macindoe (@chefmumu).
@frombecca shared with us, her three Twitter R’s – her reasons why those of you who are not on Twitter should create a Twitter account for your business.
1. Reputation – Twitter is an excellent way for others to get to know what you do, learn about your skills and your expertise in a completely unobtrusive way. By tweeting useful information you can help others learn and this will help position you and your business as an expert.
2. Revenue – Twitter can be used to help build revenue, but you have to remember it is not to be used as a tool for direct marketing. In between useful, informative and relationship building tweets, the occasional link to your website and promotion of your event, product or service is acceptable.
The real revenue raising comes from building relationships with people who would not have otherwise been aware of your business. They will keep you in the back of their mind for when your services are needed down the track and might even refer you to a friend. According to @chefmumu Twitter is like networking on steroids!
3. Research – Twitter can be used to help you research your target market, but you need to keep in mind that the average Twitter user is between 35-50 and fall into the higher socio economic demographic.
Twitter can be used to research how people really feel about something. You can type in a keyword and search what people are saying, or you can tweet a question out to your followers asking their thoughts and get a few suggestions. This can help you gauge if an idea will be successful or not and can often help stop some expensive mistakes. @chefmumu uses this strategy to ask what kind of special events people would like to see organised at his restaurant.
Here are some other helpful tips to keep in mind when using (or starting out on Twitter).
1. Register a Twitter name that refers to your name or business now, before it gets taken (if it already hasn’t) even if you don’t do anything with it just yet.
2. Chose an appropriate image (known as your avatar) that will show who you are and what you do. An image of yourself or your team is much for effective than a logo. Try not to change it very often as this is how people will remember you.
3. Think about the time your target audience engage on Twitter. Between 8 and 11pm are the best times to reach a Sydney audience but try to restrict Sydney specific information later on in the day if you have a global following. Get clever with your timing – if you are trying to reach foodies, the best time to tweet is during a Master Chef episode with the hash tag #masterchef.
4. Follow everyone. Don’t be afraid to follow more people than follow you and don’t be too fussy, as you never know who will interest you in the future.
A good way to increase your reach to relevant tweeters is to find your competitors and “harvest their followers” as @chefmumu calls it. This is where you go through the list of who is following your competitor and who they are following and follow them yourself.
5. Remember the three Twitter C’s, which are conversation, community and collaboration. You need to engage on Twitter. Just hanging out and listening isn’t enough. You need to stimulate conversation, provide useful content and become part of the community in order to be truly successful on Twitter.
6. Think before you Tweet. Once you have pressed enter and put a tweet out there, it is there to stay. You might be able to quickly delete the tweet from your Twitter profile, but your tweet can still be found through Google searches. Remember that your tweets go out to all your followers, you can’t tweet to a specific few, so make sure your tweets are appropriate for all your followers.
Another interesting fact that you may not know – Direct messages aren’t private. No, your followers can’t see them, but if someone really wants to see what you are saying in private there are programs to help reveal all.
@chefmumu said that Twitter is like being at a massive cocktail party and you choose which conversations to be part of. Some people are loud and talk nonstop, some are quieter and some are there to listen. Whichever type of tweeter you are, remember to enjoy yourself!
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more great tips visit our website www.cpcommunications.com.au.
