Why use Twitter?

SURE RevolutionJuly 2013

Prepared by Helen Kitchen @helenkitchen_pr

• My target market/business contacts aren’tusing Twitter. Why should I?

• I don’t need to target a huge commodity buying audience, so why should I use Twitter?

• What should I tweet about?• How do I gain more followers?• Who should I follow?• How to use Twitter better & consistently?• What are the pros & cons of scheduling tweets?• What are hashtags #? What is #followfriday?• I don’t have time for Twitter, do I?

So what IS Twitter?

Twitter

• 2012 stats show 140m worldwide including 10m UK active users tweeting an average of 340m tweets every day

• Now there are an estimated 12m active UK Twitter users!• The UK has the second highest proportion of social

networkers in the EU• Trending topics in the UK yesterday:

#FollowMeLittleMixStudio Liverpool #Ashes #ArsenalTour2013 Andy Murray Miliband

http://fly.twitter.com/#null

Real-time connections

• Quickly share information about your products & services

• Gather real-time market intelligence & feedback

• Build relationships

You don’t have to tweet to get value from Twitter

What gets the world talking? Listen…• To key influencers• To your business contacts• To your competitors• To your team/staff• To your customers• To people with problems you can solve…

How to tune in to interesting conversations

• Offline connections – are they online too?• Use industry influencers’ communities eg

media, trade associations• Advanced Twitter search (twitter.com/search-

home)• Hashtags.org (keywords, phrases – popular

ones include #events #news #TVprogrammes #health #fashion #jobs #business #startup #WakefieldHour #followfriday/#FF)

Organise your conversations

• Create Twitter lists so you can listen to subject-specific conversations

• Use keywords and hashtags, not just profiles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAHitI26MmE&feature=player_embedded#!

So you want to join in…

• Demonstrate your expertise and make yourself relevant to your followers:– Share photos and videos– Join in, don’t just talk at people– Comment on industry news– Talk about projects you’re working on, events you’re

attending– Answer FAQs and share real-life case studies– Use Mention or Talkwalker Alerts to source

interesting content

Manage your time – Hootsuite(other social media dashboards are available!)

https://help.hootsuite.com/entries/21626925-Quick-Start-Guide

HootSuite is a social media management tool that can be used to manage multiple profiles, schedule messages, track brand mentions, analyse social media traffic…

Benefits of scheduling tweets

• Keep your followers happy - sharing information in short bursts can annoy some followers, and can be missed by others

• Be consistent• Target followers when they are listening• Save time• Be strategic – think about what you’re

tweeting!

When to Tweet?

Twitter is what you make it

• Listen and learn from the wealth of

conversations going on• Share information & gather intelligence • Build relationships

Useful resources

• https://business.twitter.com/• The art of the pithy hashtag http://

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14400398• http

://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-grow-a-twitter-following/

• www.hootsuite.com

Thank you for listening!Connect with me @helenkitchen_pr