How to Use Twitters New Features for Business

Yesterday Twitter unveiled some enhancements to its service which have been just about universally welcomed. On the heels f its native photo service it seems that Twitter is intent on finally building on its simple but addictive base. I am going to go over a few of the ways that these new changes can and should affect your marketing.

What Do Twitter’s New Features Mean for Marketers?

The first change is the new @mentions tab, which not only lists the tweets that mention the profiles twitter handle but also shows any of its tweets that have been favorited, and the handles newest followers.

The ease with which this new tab allows you to track and respond to these things is a great improvement, and you should actively monitor the mentions already. If you have not been doing that, get on it now. Yeah stop reading this and start looking at who is trying to interact with you. That is what this is all about.

I think the greatest addition here though is the newest followers listing. What a help. Sometimes I get over a hundred followers in one day, like when I recently had a back and forth with @ochocinco.

 

I typically try my best to follow everybody that follows me and then try and form lists etc after the fact. But sometimes it is really hard to keep up with it, this new tab will allow you to know who is following your business on Twitter and allow you to start a conversation with them right off the bat.

Don’t Do This:

Please refrain from doing any of the following with new Twitter Followers, it is a horrible idea to:

  1. Send a DM thanking them for being a follower. Waste of their time, and so many people do it that it is not special. It is annoying.
  2. Ask them to Connect on Facebook Too. Right of the bat? You are connected, on twitter, talk to them there. Later they may find you on Facebook if you are compelling, or maybe not. Just don’t be one of the people that tries to get a like on facebook with immediately after getting followed… You can lose them forever right there, besides it’s Gross.
  3. Automated responses of any kind are generic so they sound generic. It is way better, way way way better to not say anything at all than to send an automated “Hi I strive to continuously help better the profit of your business. Need help?” message. Just don’t do it.

Twitter Activity Tab

The second change twitter made today is the addition of the activity tab, and this is brilliant because now we finally have insight into how others are using Twitter. The new Activity tab lists the latest favorited tweets from your Twitter Circle, the latest RTs, and new following activity.
What stands out here? To me it is the ease of having all three of these activities collected and curated for you under the tab, and secondly the new following activity details. Right off the bat the you can imagine how helpful this will be in learning more about the people you follow and their conversations on Twitter. A savvy business could monitor this new resource for conversations, retweets, and follows that may indicate a potential business opportunity.
In addition it provides a chance to learn from the greats, to better understand the way they use Twitter as a tool to succeed. I hear comparisons to the Facebook NewsFeed and obviously Twitter took a step in that direction by creating a feed of sorts, but I think you would miss out on some strategic implementation if you just thought of it that way.

Do This:

  1. Have a business that sells big ticket items? Identify the people you follow that could be customers, and pay attention to their conversations, offer help and advice when you can and start a relationship. When they are ready to buy, you will have a head start to get the sale.
  2. Getting up to speed at a new job, in a new market, or industry? Find those who are the most successful and pay attention to their connections, conversations, and overall activity. What they share, who they talk to, who they follow are all at your fingertips with this new tool. Use that info to excel and learn about the community in your field.
What ways are you using the new features for business?

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Comments

2 responses to “How to Use Twitters New Features for Business”

  1. Oscar Gonzalez Avatar

    Great advice, especially the 3 dont’s. Thanks for sharing some insights into the new features on Twitter as well.

    1. Spiro Pappadopoulos Avatar

      Glad you enjoyed it!