A little birdie told me ...

Wordsmiths' 5-minute guide to Twitter

So what on earth is Twitter?
Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. In effect, it's a micro-bloging platform on the web. Twitter works in much the same way as Instant Messaging, Skype or the dozens of other tools out there, except that your message (or Tweet) goes to everyone who has chosen to follow you (your followers).

Keep it short and tweet
There are only 140 characters per Tweet, so posts must be short, snappy and to the point.

Every company should have a social media presence
Digital presence is an important part of any company's marketing strategy. Having an effective digital presence strategy translates into a dynamic business tool. In today’s fast-paced real-time environment, it is an essential part of online reputation management and establishing your brand identity in the digital world.

What's the big idea?
People follow you if you talk about stuff that interests them. The idea is to Tweet about the things that interest your followers and, importantly, the people who you WANT to follow you (customers and influencers). Although you have a commercial agenda, everything you do on Twitter needs to serve your followers. Discuss only what they’re interested in hearing, and only as often as they want to hear it. Some people Tweet dozens of times every day, others tweet only once or twice a week.

So what does the future look like?
Twitter will help your company to do the following:

- Gauge market perception – Monitor what people are saying about your brand and others
- Conduct research – Find out who your customers and potential customers are and what turns them on
- Communicate with your target publics – Educate and inform about special offers, new technologies, promotions, upgrades, improvements, etc
- Provide customer support
- Entrench your brand, and
- Ultimately, expand your customer base.

Who's tweeting?
Check out any of the following local Twitter sites:

www.twitter.com/iBurst
www.twitter.com/HomeopathySA
www.twitter.com/fhmsouthafrica
www.twitter.com/bmw_sa
http://twitter.com/akianastasiou
http://twitter.com/media24

And some international ones ...

www.twitter.com/james_blunt
www.twitter.com/coldplay
www.twitter.com/marthastewart
www.twitter.com/richardbranson


For advice on setting up and managing your Twitter presence, contact Wordsmiths South Africa on (011) 467 8630