Three useful Twitter lessons from three top business tweeters

If someone had told you five years ago that your business would soon be tweeting, retweeting and using hashtags in order to connect with customers, you probably would have laughed them out of your office. The rise of Twitter has transformed the world of marketing for businesses of all sizes and now is the time to really start thinking about what you will be putting in your next tweet.

 

Unlike other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter stands out for the crowd thanks to its character limit and we want to show you how you can get the most out of every letter. With so many businesses tweeting every day about their new offers and promotions, it is important to stand out from the crowd and really utilize the site to its full potential. Before you sit down to write your next mini-sales pitch make sure you read our top tips to getting the most out of your 140 characters.

 

The hashtag has been propelled from being an occasionally used symbol on a keyboard to being one of the most important additions to any successful tweet. When you hashtag a word or phrase you instantly mark it as a keyword which when clicked will bring up a list of other users tweeting about the same thing.

 

When you log into Twitter make sure you take note of the trends that are listed on the right hand side of the page as these are all the most popular topics that are being 'hashtagged' at that moment. Examples are #Christmas or  #XFactor. If you want to interact with other Twitter users, utilizing these hashtags is a great way to join in the conversation, just make sure what you are posting is relevant to the topic. One business that really made the most of this function is the UK based company, Innocent. Their #tweetandeat campaign encouraged followers to tweet their hashtag in exchange for a discount voucher. The more people that tweeted, the higher the discount making it a great incentive for lunchtime tweeters!

 

It's all well and good sitting behind a desk and tweeting about your current opening times and discounted products but how will this entice your customers to interact with you?

 

Some of the most successful UK businesses on Twitter have all put a face to their Twitter name, engaging with customers, answering queries and offering more than just a sales pitch. Letting customers know about the latest deals is important but so is ensuring that your Twitter stream is fresh and exciting. The Twitter account of UK clothing company Fat Face is a great example of a profile with the personal touch. Their friendly tweets and conversations with customers make you feel that this is much more than just another sales tool. Simply asking your customers how they are or replying to a followers tweet about the dreary weather is a great place to start.

 

 

Just like any communication tool, Twitter can also be used by disgruntled customers looking to voice their unhappiness about a missing order, slow deliveries or bad customer service. As easy as it seems to simply click the delete button and focus on the positives, correctly dealing with a negative tweet can often turn into a great opportunity for your business to shine.

 

If you don't have the time to monitor your Twitter account yourself, allocate time to your employees to ensure that you never miss a tweet.  If a negative tweet appears, Twitter can be used as a first port of call to reassure the customer that you are on the case. An apology goes a long way, even if it is constructed using 140 characters.

 

High Street favourite Dorothy Perkins is a great example of customer care via Twitter. Customers who tweet their disappointment about missing items from their order are quickly met with a response and even an attempt to get to the bottom of the matter.

 

 

The next time you log into your Twitter account why not put these tips into practice? 140 characters may not seem like much but if used correctly you can transform your Twitter account from a simple profile to a thriving community for your customers to use.