Twitter gets referred to almost everywhere. Which almost certainly means that in the back of your mind you know you should be doing more with Twitter. But if you still need convincing, check how many of these reasons apply to you!
1. Connecting with customers
Twitter is fast becoming the help desk for a lot of companies.
It's a lot quicker to place a Tweet than it is to find a phone number for a company Let alone potentially navigate through their telephone system or be put on a never ending loop of elevator music intersperced with reassurances that your call is important (in which case They should employ more telephone operators, surely?)
2. It's easy to get feedback
This is an extension of connecting with customers.
People are more inclined to complain and give negative feedback than they are to offer praise.
But with the right prompts, you can get your customers to give you positive feedback in their Tweets.
3. It helps with branding
Branding used to be the kind of thing that only large companies did.
But you can do the same for your company, regardless of its size.
If you're a small company, you may find it better to use your own name and a photo of yourself rather than using a logo – people prefer to deal with people rather than faceless corporations – but you'll need to make that judgment call Yourself.
Just do not use that as an excuse to procrastinate and put off creating your account!
4. Coupons and other promotions
Because of the immediacy of Twitter, you can use these to help create sales at slow times of the day or week.
You can also take advantage of the viral nature of Tweets to get them passed on to new customers who may not previously have heard of you or used your services.
5. It's efficient
There are lots of different ways to Tweet – you do not have to be sitting at a desk waiting for the phone to ring or watching your computer, pressing Refresh every few seconds in case there's a new email that you need to deal with.
You can answer Tweets anywhere you like.
So you can take a few seconds from the job you're on to post a reply. Or you can stop on a car journey. Or answer them any other time or place.
OK, the flip side of that is that, unless you have a dedicated business phone, you're always on call. But if you're a small business owner that's probably the case anyway and at least this means you get a chance to get some business from that fact.
6. Safety in numbers
Almost every business is already using Twitter.
So you need to as well – otherwise you'll give the wrong impression and stand out from the crowd for all the wrong reasons.
7. Keep on top of your competition
Because it's a public medium and is very much a two way conversation, you can follow your competitors and keep up to date with what they're doing.
It's also worth following a few companies that are not direct competitors but that you admire and want to model.