Am I the only one who is starting to wonder if Twitter is worth the while?

I can understand why celebs would use it and why the press like it (for the celeb gossip), but I'm not sure of its value for business.

Anyone got any views and stories of where it is working in their business?

It can only work for a small number of certain types of businesses. I'd say such as online social and business networking sites, mlm, get-quick-rich ebooks, stuff like that - all predominantly online internet-based stuff.

Im sure a small few do really well from it and a few others will get the odd order here and there as a result, but in the grand scheme of marketing, it's only one small area.

Likewise I feel Facebook is good for local domestic & personal service businesses such as salons, clothes shops, tradesmen, etc. whereas Twitter would not be of any use to these businesses. Each to their own I guess.

It can only work for a small number of certain types of businesses. I'd say such as online social and business networking sites, mlm, get-quick-rich ebooks, stuff like that - all predominantly online internet-based stuff.

Im sure a small few do really well from it and a few others will get the odd order here and there as a result, but in the grand scheme of marketing, it's only one small area.

Likewise I feel Facebook is good for local domestic & personal service businesses such as salons, clothes shops, tradesmen, etc. whereas Twitter would not be of any use to these businesses. Each to their own I guess.
East Midlands Business Link are having an event purely on Social Media which presumably will include Twitter and making the most of your website so they may be something in it.
As you say it will be of greater value in it, to a certain type of business.
In this age of information overload do people see through the self promotion aspect of it?

I use it to keep in touch with people, keep up to date on targeted markets, interact with conversations and learn how to tweet positively by noting which people I like to read.

Interestingly, we have just had our first enquiry where our "can I ask how you found us?" question prompted the reply "you follow me on Twitter"! Small steps.......

However, there ARE certain tweeters out ther for whom the following really does apply:

http://www.smarta.com/advice/general/guru-john-popolini-does-twitter

;-)

I use it to purely follow all the well respected web developers out there so I can keep up to date on the latest developments

we love twitter. However it does get addictive

For me Twitter become sort of semi replacement for RSS newsreading, most feeds now tweets as well.

And it sort of become a microblog, rather than do a full blog post.

we love twitter. However it does get addictive

You mean like Sheffield Forum :hihi:

I dont give Twitter too long to be honest. Surely there needs to be a little more to a service than Twitter offers in this day and age.

I think someone mentioned that they refused to 'twit' as there were "too many twits tweeting"

Like any marketing medium it CAN be useful, but I feel a lot of people are wasting their time and effort. They're 'Twittering' (or is it 'Tweeting'?) without really knowing why - often 'because everyone else is'!
Some key points from what I've seen (I'm certainly no expert, but here goes, for what it's worth):
+Be clear about why you're doing it - have clear 'marketing' objectives
+Be 'Authentic' - it's not about the 'hype'
+Take as well as Give - Use it to listen and observe others as much as others
+Think CNN - be aware, all your 'Tweets' are either:
+Critical information - stuff that 'adds value' to customers and communities
+Nice to know - stuff that gets across your 'personality' - people buy from people they know and trust - Twitter can help get this across, but please, not too much of it!
+Noise - stuff that people are just not interested in -Lots of 'Tweets' are 'noise'. I personally don't give a stuff what people have had for their breakfast!
+Link stuff - Twitter is a great way to link to your other social media marketing

I know I've had two 'referrals' via Twitter so far for my business speaking - not 'direct' enquiries, but I do know that it has helped.

If your interested in 'sales and marketing' then feel free to 'follow me' (http://twitter.com/andyhanselman)- guaranteed no tweets about what I've had for breakfast!!!

For me Twitter marketing can be summed up by this website: http://www.howtousetwitterformarketingandpr.com

Twitter should be used to give your business a sense of personality. People want to know about the business they deal with, the days of hiding behind a company is over. Twitter allows you to do that. I think using it as a direct selling tool is a mistake, instead its just about keeping people aware you exist, through expressing your personality.

i've been reading quite a bit about foursquare which is supposed to be the next big thing for businesses trying to build up loyal bases of customers. have been using foursquare for a couple of months now and in that time ive noticed for example dominos, offering free pizzas to people who have become brand loyal through foursquare.

the principle is that you check in at destinations to unlock badges (and offers). ive seen a bar website where you can check if your mates are in the pub via foursquare. seems simple to set up too

might be a flash in the pan but it appears to have alot of funding behind it so its one to consider i think

I dont give Twitter too long to be honest. Surely there needs to be a little more to a service than Twitter offers in this day and age.

its been around since 2006 so im sure it will be around for a while longer as for value for business it all depends on your customer base if your target market is older people then twitter is less effective than if your target market is teenagers / young adults

Word of mouth marketing in digital form.

It still closely follows facebook in my hate list though.

i've been reading quite a bit about foursquare which is supposed to be the next big thing for businesses trying to build up loyal bases of customers. have been using foursquare for a couple of months now and in that time ive noticed for example dominos, offering free pizzas to people who have become brand loyal through foursquare.

the principle is that you check in at destinations to unlock badges (and offers). ive seen a bar website where you can check if your mates are in the pub via foursquare. seems simple to set up too

might be a flash in the pan but it appears to have alot of funding behind it so its one to consider i think

I'm getting quite annoyed by people using foursquare to tell everyone they are on the Dronfield Bypass. Also, I'm sure some people use it to convince people that they live in a posh part of town by only ever posting from the posh spots.

For businesses, Twitter and LinkedIn are so key it is unreal. If you don't have the logos on your signatures you can think again about being taken seriously as a company. It is very important to generate a following and make continuous interesting tweets or posts, engaging with your audience and keeping up to speed in real time of how the market is changing.

Just my thoughts!

Twitter is important for any business with an online presence. It can take a while to work out how to use it, but it does have many uses.

It's great for seo, google pays a lot of attention to twitter.
It's a good free marketing medium.
It's good for promoting other businesses that compliment your own, networking & creating ties with other businesses.
It's a good way to communicate with your customers & listen to their feedback.
It's good to keep up with the latest news, trends & information.
It's a good way to share information related to your business, or business sector.

You might think it's useless at first, but if you persevere, in a few months you'll wonder how you managed without it. It's becoming as important as email.

Steve, I notice that you're not following anybody on twitter, that'd be a good start & it'd explain why you aren't seeing it's value.

I find it easier to get twitter folllowers than Facebook fans, although a lot seem to be companies rather than individuals, but I reason that there must be someone doing the updates and who may read ours.

The problem I have is remembering to do it - the more you tweet, the more followers you get, an the more people you can reach - and being able to reach anyone who has actively chosen to find out what your business have to say for free can't be all that bad can it?

We also have our blog set up so that it automatically tweets about new posts, and also updates our Facebook page, so one blog post generates a tweet and a wall post, which saves time and makes it more likely I will update everything. I can let you know how to do this if you're interested?

what an interesting and useful thread :)

i dont currently use twitter and it is on the to do list....but the biggest challenges are getting time to figure out how to use it and how to best use it.

the links and replies on here have certainly helped answer some of my questions re the second part of my challenge.

thank you!


x

It takes 10 minutes to sign up, fill in your profile & follow a few people/companies that you're interested in. It's all quite quick & easy to do, it's just easy to miss the point of it at first. Spend 10 or 15 minutes on it 3 times a week & you should start to see it's usefulness in a month or two, even if you don't see the point at first.

I find tweetdeck very useful - you can use it to update your Facebook page too, and it makes it easier to keep track of what other people are saying on twitter.

It takes 10 minutes to sign up, fill in your profile & follow a few people/companies that you're interested in. It's all quite quick & easy to do, it's just easy to miss the point of it at first. Spend 10 or 15 minutes on it 3 times a week & you should start to see it's usefulness in a month or two, even if you don't see the point at first.

oh no, i totally get the point of it! its just that mastering new technology always takes me a bit fo time.

I find tweetdeck very useful - you can use it to update your Facebook page too, and it makes it easier to keep track of what other people are saying on twitter.

:love: now this is what i needed to hear! time saving measures, the only way i can manage my life! (even if they do take even longer to get my head round initially)

thanks again,

x

oh no, i totally get the point of it! its just that mastering new technology always takes me a bit fo time.


As far as technology goes, its a very simple one. Just register, follow people you like & type a short message in the box. It's easier to use than this forum.

As we have been seeing the rising graph of social media. Moreover, Facebook and twitter comes on the top. Well, Twitter was acknowledged to have an advantage because its platform allows you to more efficiently search for information related to industry specific trends. Including several excellent third party sources that have software for this very purpose.

For that reasons people prefer twitter.

Regards,

I use both twitter and facebook at the mo to promote but i can agree that sometimes i dont really know if im using twitter right. i try and keep things interesting, post about current happenings and i use stumbleupon alot so if i find something interesting ill post it on twitter to share. and then every now and then ill post one of my items as a promotional thing. but not sure if thats the best way to be doing it.

Twitter is a great tool for self-promotion. I really love it :-D

Just joined twitter and must say i dont see all the hype. Facebook seems more simpler and you can more detail on. I don't understand how i can't search by distance e.g near sheffield. I searched 'furniture' and the results were mainly American and then searced 'sheffield furniture' and had no results. As well as this I have no idea how people follow me!

Just joined twitter and must say i dont see all the hype. Facebook seems more simpler and you can more detail on. I don't understand how i can't search by distance e.g near sheffield. I searched 'furniture' and the results were mainly American and then searced 'sheffield furniture' and had no results. As well as this I have no idea how people follow me!

It's more useful for other types of business. Facebook is probably better for you, but you can't lose anything by using twitter too.

It isn't the best medium for businesses that only serve a local area, because there's no location based search, as you point out. It'd be a good feature for them to add & it'll probably get added sooner or later, as twitter grows. Maybe there's an external twitter client that supports it.

If you want to go into more detail on twitter, really you need a website and/or blog too, then you can use twitter to post a short summery & give a link to read more on your website. You can use it to link to your facebook page too, it's easy to set it up so everything you post on facebook automatically gets reposted on twitter.

Foursquare has had a lot of hype, that's like twitter with gps co-ordinates, so it's all location based. As more people use smartphones with gps, it's only going to get bigger & it's had a lot of investment.

I still stand by my comment that twitter is useful for any business, not just as a marketing medium, you can use it to keep up with the latest news & trends in your area. Maybe you could follow some interior design magazines, antique & collectables magazines, other shops & dealers, anyone that might be useful for your business.

You get followers by following other people & making interesting tweets, it also helps to 'retweet' & reply to people, engage people in conversation. It's a social medium, so be social. Usually when you follow someone, they'll have a look at your profile & see if they want to follow you back.