If you have a blog or website, you are building a brand. It may be a personal or a business brand and it may be with or without intention, but you are building a brand nonetheless.
This post will focus on the business side of brand building in conjunction with the use of Twitter, the all powerful social networking micro-blogging platform.
Let me first mention that there are about 50 Million Tweets daily crossing this platform, which began the rise to Superstardom in 2007. This makes the case why Twitter is a must for any business looking to make a name for itself.
Okay, we know how to use it but what are some of the benefits?
The obvious and first that comes to mind is the ability to drive traffic to your company blog or website. One simple but well crafted Tweet has the ability to drive people to your site by the hundreds.
Other benefits include:
- Heightened brand awareness – Keeping your company name before the eyes of the masses can make your brand instantly recognizable and a household name. Care must be taken to avoid overdoing this and becoming an annoyance, thereby turning public opinion against you, but when done properly, this can be huge.
- Content promotion – Tweeting out interesting and creative blog post titles will bring in the visitors who have an interest in what you are offering. Your business simply needs to deliver the goods when they arrive. Give them solid quality content, consistently.
- Perform market research – Want to find out something about the marketplace? Some make this more difficult than it needs to be, but here is the easy method: ask. Simply Tweet out a question, there are always those who are more than willing to provide some feedback, which is critical to your operation.
Another means of performing market research is to utilize a tool like Twitter Search, where you can enter a term or find out the latest trends related to your niche.
- Monitor your competition – Using a tool like TweetDeck or Hootsuite, you can have a search column established for a competitor so you can stay abreast of things that are occurring in your industry or niche. This is not intended to be some I Spy type of operation, but rather a method of being certain that something new and important does not escape your attention.
- Form alliances – It is not uncommon for so-called “competitors” to work together, having each other’s back and covering more territory to the benefit of both. Never allow yourself to become too narrowly focused and miss out on such an opportunity.
- Engage potential customers and clients – Without building some relationships a business will struggle to gain any serious traction. Start a conversation or RT a post or two of theirs that you like, be sociable. This is social media after all.
Conclusion
Recognize Twitter for what it is, a powerful tool for building your brand and relationships. When you really think about it, operating an online business is much the same an operating one offline, the tools and methods are different but much of the human interaction remains the same.
Unfortunately, there are those who miss the boat on this as they pitch their products the first and every time they come within your space. Avoid the “spammer” label at all costs because it is a sticky one that is hard to get off.
Leverage Twitter and use it as the great communications tool that it has become. It is a fantastic and fun way to build a brand.
Keep Blogging!
You can find me on Twitter as well.
You may also find interest in:
Branding Strategy – Why You Need One and What It Can Do For You
Stay updated via RSS
