How Companies Are Using Twitter For Business
Twitter, which permits you to distribute text messages up to 140 characters in length, is quickly becoming the website where a great deal of information is being distributed online. It has actually turned out to be an excellent reservoir of information by, about and for small businesses.
As a business-to-business marketing platform, Twitter has legs. About 56% of Twitter users say they use the online social communication website for business purposes, according to Rodney Rumford, a social media guru. The statistic, based on a survey of 700 Twitter users earlier in 2009, suggests the service's value as a business-to-business marketing platform, alongside its rising usefulness for consumer marketing.
Gartner Inc., a leading IT Research Firm, published a report recently that highlights the diverse means that companies are adopting Twitter for business use. Although Twitter was originally intended for communication among individuals, a number of organizations have started to actively take part on the platform. However, not all organizations are using Twitter in the same way. Some are tweeting, some are just listening, and some really savvy companies are doing both.
Before any organization employees commence tweeting, it would be a good idea to remind them that the same rules that apply to other web involvement (like blogging, for instance) also apply to Twitter. "As Twitter is a public forum, employees should understand the limits of what is acceptable and desirable," says Jeffrey Mann, research vice president at Gartner. "If organizations have not defined a public Web participation policy, they should do so as quickly as possible."
Based on Garnter's research, they have narrowed down the four distinct ways that companies are using Twitter today: direct, indirect, internal, and signaling. Here's what those mean:
Direct
Some companies are using Twitter as a marketing or public relations channel, much like an extension to their corporate blogs. They will post about corporate accomplishments and pass on links that take individuals back to corporate websites, press releases, and other promotional sites.
This method probably seems to be the simplest way to get started, but organizations need to be conscious that using Twitter like this could in reality hinder their image in the Twitter community. A whole cluster of self-serving, self-promotional tweets can actually damage their reputation - Twitter folks look for a personalised touch.
Gartner also warns that replying to comments can be precarious when traveling this path, but, while that's accurate to a point, when done right replying on Twitter can be of huge benefit to the company. To see some cases of brands that "get" how to tweet and reply, check out what Ford does, or Starbucks, or Dell.
Here are a couple of resources to help your company get familiar with how other businesses do this:
16 Examples of Huge Brands Using Twitter for Business
40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them
Indirect
The second method some companies use on Twitter is to let their employees tweet instead. As the employees use Twitter to enhance their own individual reputations, the organization's reputation is also enhanced by proxy. If this one is hard for you to understand, then perhaps a good example to exhibit the power of the indirect method is in reverse: imagine what negative tweets about the organization would look like. Take the case of the Yahoo employee who twittered throughout the layoffs, for example. How do you consider that made Yahoo look at the time?
Now that you envision how employee tweets can impact the company negatively, understand that the opposite is also true. Employees twittering away with exhilaration about their work, developments in their industry, new products, or other interesting tidbits, even if unrelated to the organization itself, can promote positive feelings for whichever business they (indirectly) represent.
Another positive reason for having employees tweet rather than the organization itself is if the company wants to be seen as employing influential leaders. This list of Forrester analysts on Twitter offers a key example.
Internal
Some companies use Twitter internally to share thoughts or communicate about what projects they're working on. If this information is sensitive in nature, employees either want to protect their updates or even better, not use Twitter at all. Gartner doesn't advocate using Twitter or any other consumer microblogging service in this way because there's no assurance of security.
If, however, your organization wishes to use microblogging at the office, there are tools designed for businesses that let you do just this. Yammer and present.ly are two of the top options for a Twitter-like platform for the workplace.
Inbound Signaling
Some companies aren't as much Twitter players as they are Twitter "listeners." Using search tools like search.twitter.com or desktop applications like TweetDeck are uncomplicated means to keep track of what's being said about the company, its product names, or even the industry as a whole. Bright organizations are tuning in to these micro-conversations to get early warnings of troubles and to gather feedback on product issues or ideas.
Recently, Microsoft's PR agency put out their Twitter trend-tracking service to the public. Called Twendz, this tool goes beyond mere Twitter searches to also track sentiment.
Conclusion
If your company is toying with jumping into the Twitter foray (and who isn't these days?), it's best not to do so blindly. Gartner's breakdown of the four ways companies utilize Twitter is a good starting point, but, in reality, preparing a strategy is much more intricate than the examples listed above. You can follow up on the ideas in this article by contacting us and also subscribing to our blog for more insights. You can also contact Gartner Inc. directly for access to the full report.
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