Hit the Tweet Deck: Why CEOs Should Embrace Twitter

Why should you want to have a Twitter account? Twitter, like LinkedIn and Facebook, is one of the most popular social media channels for businesses to promote their products and services, build their brand recognition and interact regularly with their clients.

Twitter enables you, the face of the company, to develop a personal relationship with your customers, and lets them develop a personal relationship with you and your business. It is all about relationship building!

Use Twitter to:

• Promote yourself and your business as a source of best practices and thought leadership;
• Interact with potential and current clients regularly by sharing interesting information like articles, “re-tweets” of others’ posts, and industry news or events;
• Promote upcoming events your company is involved in — such as booths at conventions or industry events or speaking engagements;
• Create a buzz around new products and services; or
• Monitor for comments, complaints and customer service opportunities.

The site makes joining extremely easy. Visit Twitter.com to set up your Twitter account.  Once there, click on “Join the Conversation!” button to get started.

Follow these best practices to ensure a successful Twitter account to help you begin to engage your current and potential clients:

• For your Twitter “handle” (username), use your company name but keep it a bit personal. For example: CEOJackatXYZCo, or tweet under a name that describes your specialty: FloralShopQueen. Keep in mind that there’s a 15-character maximum for your Twitter handle.
• Add your company website URL.
• Include a brief bio about your company in the one line bio section (think of this as your “elevator” speech).
• Upload a photo of yourself.
• Add your company location.
• Do not check the box to “protect your updates.” This does not allow the general public to see your tweets.

You might choose to simply have a company account where the Twitter handle is the company name; however, to really engage your clients, consider a personal account where you are the liaison to the public for the company. A personal account allows for more direct relationship-building with your followers and is a great way to interact with potential and current clients.

To make the most of Twitter:

• Tweet at least twice a day, every day — there’sno need to spend tons of time on Twitter; but you must interact with others regularly in order to get the most of Twitter.
• Use hashtags (#), which enable you to expand your reach beyond your followers by reaching out to individuals who are specifically interested in a particular topic. For example, you may tweet an article on leadership to the hashtag #leadership.
• Use tweets to link followers back to your website. If you are showing your products at an upcoming industry event, tweet about the event and provide a link for followers to go to your website for more details.
• Promote other content you’ve created, including webinars, articles, white papers, or videos. If your company blogs, enable for auto-posting of your blog articles to your followers.
• Develop relationships with reporters, bloggers, news media and public relations people on Twitter to get them interested in your company and to be seen as a resource when they are looking for resources for stories
• Follow people who interest you and look at who they follow. If someone looks interesting, follow them!

Twitter is a great social media tool to expand your brand. You have the ability to reach out to potential customers worldwide and get them interested in your products and services. But you have to use it! Schedule time into your calendar each day to be on Twitter — read what others are saying, respond to them, and post a few of your own tweets. It will take some time, but you’ll see results!

This topic and more are included in the Vistage Connect™ peer advisory sessions. Learn more.

Gina Abudi is president of Abudi Consulting Group, LLC; providing strategy around projects, process, people and technology to businesses of all sizes. She is co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Best Practices for Small Business (Alpha Books, 2011). Gina can be reached via her web site, AbudiConsulting.com.

10859 views