Invariably, in the last 6 months, each and every one of my clients, has asked me this question: “should we get on Twitter?” It doesn’t matter if they are a 1-person copy-writing shop, a 26 people marketing firm, or a 200,000 computer manufacturer corporation—everyone wants to know whether they should be on Twitter.
But most pressing have been enterprises providing B2B solutions. I find it fascinating that a company providing data storage to large corporations wants to get on Twitter. Or that a large public sector division (and I’m deliberately vague here) who’s providing solutions to other divisions would consider Twitter.
When it comes to B2B Enterprise solutions, here are 5 things you should think about.
1. Twitter is not a strategy. It is a tool that is used to deliver on your outreach and inbound information gathering strategies. Before you even consider getting on Twitter, ask yourself these questions:
- One: Do you know what you want to accomplish by getting on Twitter? Have you set clear goals with measurable outcomes?
- Two: Do you know where those you’d like to reach out to are spending time online? Are they on Twitter or do they go someplace else, like forums and wikis?
- Three: Have you considered what information you can and cannot share online? Do you have a policy around publically sharing information?
If you’re still not clear on these, or think you will through your use of Twitter, think again. Twitter is not for you.
2. Twitter is a conversation tool. Will you be able to have a dialog? Have you thought about what you will do when people start asking you questions? Who will answer them? What is the tone of conversation that is right for your company? What will you be allowed to talk about? What will you NOT be allowed to talk about? All these need to be clearly defined ahead of time or you’ll quickly gain a bad reputation.
Bottom line: if you’re not ready to converse with anyone who wants to converse with your brand, Twitter is probably not for you.
3. Twitter takes time and resources. Once you’ll get on twitter you’ll need to think of the following resources to start:
- Someone who’ll design your branded background
- Someone who’ll scan for relevant people you should follow
- Someone who’ll respond to followers’ questions and comments
- Someone who’ll inform your division/group/company of all activities and together, you’ll devise a plan on how to move forward
- Internal people with whom you’ll be able to discuss negative feedback and use it to get better
You’ll also need to think of these critical elements:
- Regularly adding content. Valuable content. Important content. Content that your followers care about and that propels your brand forward. This doesn’t mean spam
- Regularly monitoring your brand mentions online. You want followers? You’ll get followers. But with them you’re likely to get a great deal of mentions—and you’ll need to monitor, listen, and respond
- Getting everyone else in the company to listen to what your community on Twitter is saying and evolve the company message accordingly
There’s nothing worse than a dormant Twitter account. Or one that cannot answer questions. Or one that gets killed by the executive level just as it gets interesting. If you can’t commit to the right resources, content, and buy-in, Twitter is definitely not for you.
4. Twitter is not about you controlling your customers. It’s about letting go of all notion of control and being willing to observe what unfolds before you take action. Very often I get asked about controlling negative feedback. You can’t, is what I tell my clients, and you don’t want to either. What you DO want is to engage in an honest, authentic, conversation with your customers, partners, and other stakeholders and get real reaction to your products/services and to you as a brand. That’s the only way you’ll get better.
Your customers are talking about you online whether you like it or not. Isn’t it better to have them talk directly to you rather than everywhere else?
But, if you still feel you need to control Twitter- Twitter, is, most definitely, not for you.
5. Twitter will not replace your marketing activities. It’s true that recent research from Forrester demonstrates increase in budget directed towards social media activities compare to traditional marketing—but it is still miniscule in the large scheme of things. With time, an over-arching social media strategy may substitute some elements of your marketing campaigns—assuming your customers do spend time online—but it is not a solution to all your marketing cost reduction needs. It is merely a way to reach customers where they spend time now…online. If you expect Twitter to solve all your marketing budget and reach problems, take your hands off the Twitter—it’s simply not for you.
Fun aside, while it is not a strategy but a tool, Twitter represents both great potential and a moderate risk. Before you do anything, assess your company objectives, audit your existing marketing strategy, evaluate your customers and their customers—where do they spend time now online? Do they even go on Twitter? You have many other options to reach out to your stakeholders online…each involving time, money, commitment, and some level of organizational change. So do your homework, prioritize, choose wisely, ask the right questions, bring in the right people, measure, measure, measure…and only then start the conversation.
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