Guest blog: Dan Wilson – 2% of small business using Twitter
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I was astonished to read this week that 2% of British businesses are already using the micro-blogging service Twitter. Famous in the media as the place where people talk about they had for lunch and where Stephen Fry keeps us up to date with his travels, Twitter does have serious potential as an online marketing tool for small businesses.
Much of the coverage has commented how 2% is remarkably low. I’m surprised it’s so high!
There is sometimes a presumption amongst the neterati-geek-techie-blogosphere-twitterverse that we should all run headlong towards the latest, newest, coolest thing but in business it does pay to be a little circumspect sometimes.
There are doubtless very real reasons why Twitter is a tool that every small business should be considering. But equally, no one should be under the illusion that it will be the panacea to their problems. Here are some practical uses for Twitter:
Keeping in touch
Twitter is a very efficient way of finding out what’s going on. People share links and stories and you can keep up to date quickly and easily thanks with news (possibly industry news) relevant to you.
Get your products and pages out there
Share your own news, links, products and offers. If you have a following that’s interested, it can be a fast way of generating clicks and traffic.
Provide a personal touch to your online presence
The short snappy updates on Twitter, known as ‘tweets’ can be a fun way of giving an impression of your business and the sort of person you are. Be warned: be as professional online as you would in real life.
What have your experiences of Twitter as a business tool been so far? Don’t forget, if you have started to ‘tweet’, you can follow your fellow Tradespacers. If you’re already on there, please do share your Twitter name and I’m sure that plenty of people will want to ‘follow’ you.
In the meantime, why not follow BT Tradespace on Twitter?
Tags: BT Tradespace, Dan Wilson, Twitter
This entry was posted by Dan Wilson on 13 Apr 2009 at 17:44 and is filed under Tradespace gossip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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10 Responses to “Guest blog: Dan Wilson – 2% of small business using Twitter”
Reply from Eddie on 16 Apr 2009 at 10:41
Sharing your own news, links, products and offers via Twitter is an excellent idea, though some weblinks can be very loooong, taking up much of the 140 chars Twitter allows.
A workaround for this is to use a (free) web url shortening website, many are available including http://prune.it – from where you can send the shortened url and your comment direct to your Twitter profile
Reply from Jule Holloway on 16 Apr 2009 at 19:06
I have a twitter account but still see how I can really use this for business most of my day is spent sending out knickers.
Julie Holloway
http://www.feelingsexylingerie.co.uk
feelingsexylingerie.bttradespace.com
Reply from Tabitha Potts on 20 Apr 2009 at 11:39
Hi Dan
I follow you on Twitter as well as the bttradespace team, and can vouch for it being a great business tool! I use it to keep in touch with fans, suppliers, business contacts and friends and have integrated it into my blog (www.mimimyne.com/news) so that readers can see what I’m tweeting: it’s an even handier way to add content and news. Always keen to have new followers, if anyone wants to follow me visit http://twitter.com/mimimyne!
Regards, Tabitha
http://www.mimimyne.com
http://mimimyne.bttradespace.com/
Reply from Sarah on 20 Apr 2009 at 17:16
I do have an account although I tagged a few people Not many have tagged me .
My twitter ID is gorgeousgalz .
Reply from Vince Stevenson on 20 Apr 2009 at 17:32
Twitter is great for sharing updates to company products, services, offers or in our case a scheduled event. We have tweeted the news of our College of Public Speaking Corporate Challenge and we’re already receiving enquiries. It’s a very interesting application.
Regards Vince
Reply from Catalin on 21 Apr 2009 at 06:30
I would disagree a little bit. I’m on twitter since around 2 month, I already have 424 followers, I have 150 updates and, surprise! I only have 2 visits referred by twitter in two months. Where could I go wrong?
Reply from Image Connect on 21 Apr 2009 at 18:39
Just signed up to twitter today on http://twitter.com/imageconnect
Image Connect web design and marketing for small businesses.
Reply from Nosa on 23 Apr 2009 at 14:05
There is no doubt that twitter is a powerful marketing tool but it should not be use in Isolation