Your Business Can’t Afford Not to “Tweet"

Six years ago if you asked someone to “follow” you, it was most likely because you were leading them to their table at a restaurant. Thanks to Twitter, “Following” someone is as easy as clicking on their name, and you get 140-character or less updates about them daily…or by the hour…or seemingly by the minute.

“Twitter can be a divisive thing—I know many people who tell me they they just don't get it,” says Marnie Goldberg, Social Medium and Twitter Goddess at Amplification, Inc. “Twitter is designed to be simple and skipping out on the opportunities Twitter can provide your business keeps you from maximizing your business’ potential.” 

Marnie Goldberg

Users generate more than 200 million Tweets a day, according to The Wall Street Journal. What this means to most businesses is if you aren’t capitalizing on Twitter, you are missing out on a powerful opportunity to get your messages across. 
Twitter’s power is that it uses short messages to provide readers an enticing preview of what is to come on a website or a tight and succinct statement. In fact, some financial companies pay as much as $40 million per year on Twitter research that then informs financial decisions.

 “Underestimating the power of social media in 2012 would be a drastic mistake for a business to make,” says Kalia Garrido, co-founder of www.locallyrooted.com, a website dedicated to community conscious shopping. “Using Twitter allows us to get our messages out virally—we have the potential to reach the friends of our friends and their friends. It’s a seemingly unlimited audience just waiting to be tapped.” 

LocallyRooted.com

Social media-based businesses like Amplification,Inc. have capitalized on the seemingly unlimited influence of the Twitter feed.

“We work with our clients to target and constantly calibrate what messages they need relayed,” Goldberg says. “From sales to promotions to specific products to simply wishing customers a good day, we’re able to keep a Twitter feed active so followers start to eagerly anticipate the next announcement.”
A robust messaging tempo also helps attract new followers, which in turn gives your message more traction, reach, and greater influence. 

Decoding Twitter

While Twitter (technically a micro-blogging site) was invented to be a simpler alternative to social media giants such as MySpace and Facebook, it’s unique language and vocabulary can be understandably intimidating. According to Goldberg, you can make Twitter work for your business in a three-step process.

1. Head to Twitter.com and sign up. You’ll be asked to choose a name, such as @ClubCabeza and upload your company’s logo or any relevant photo that helps followers identify your business.

2. Start pushing out your messages. Goldberg recommends having a Twitter strategy as part of a larger content strategy. Deciding what message you want to convey within the 140-character Twitter parameters and when those tweets should deploy can be a bit overwhelming. Amplification, Inc. can assist you with developing your message and deploying your tweets throughout the day.

3. Build your followers to drive traffic. Obtaining a good amount of Twitter followers takes time and work. Once you have identified your target audience, following them isn’t enough. You have to make your account social and speak to your followers so that you avoid becoming “noise,” which means what you’re sharing must be of high quality and credible. Get it right, and Twitter can and will drive traffic to your website.

“People today are busy, but they typically have time to read a 140-character or less message about your business,” Goldberg says. “By capitalizing on this audience who needs quick, usable information and providing links to your site, followers have everything they need to buy and/or support your business.”

[ Winning Friends and Influencing People! ]

A Little Help From Your Friends

Another aspect of what Amplification, Inc. does is build Twitter followers for an organization.

“When it comes to social media, reputation is everything, and Amplification, Inc. has worked to build its reputation,” says Steve Cabeza, of Amplification, Inc. “When we add a client to the Amplification family, that client is linking in to our well-established and time-earned reputation as a provider of quality content and useful information.”

Garrido agrees.

“Our Twitter traffic has improved drastically since we became involved with Amplification, Inc.,” she says. “They basically took our unused Twitter account and built it up to a following of almost 1K users, and it’s growing every day.”

Amplification, Inc.'s extended and growing social network includes many content aggregators that will take the information we send out and re-tweet (re-posting, forwarding, sharing) those tweets, which enlivens an even larger audience. One such content aggregator is Tonya Scholz, a South Florida-based communications consultant and broadcaster on www.kNOw-aging.com (@kNOwAging on Twitter). 

“I want to be a trusted source for information and part of the way I accomplish this is by assimilating people’s information on Twitter,” says Scholz, whose followers include The NewYork Post. “Twitter is all about creating influence. It’s like an introduction that allows you to then build a deeper business relationship offline.”

If you’re not ready to stick your toe in the Twitter waters just yet, Amplification, Inc. can help.

“Marnie and Steve at Amplification, Inc. have truly become valued members of our marketing team—we rely on them to handle our social media so that we can focus on what we do best: running our business,” Garrido says.

For more information on Amplification, Inc., visit www.AmplificationInc.com.This article was written exclusively for The Club by Rachel Nall. Check her out on Twitter by clicking here.