|
 It is time for high tech to get involved in Social Media. Even with the millions of people on Facebook, twitter, etc., there is a very small number of high tech companies joining the conversation. It's not easy convincing these companies to get involve though - kind of a catch22 going on. Other companies are not on Twitter for instance, so companies don't want to waste time talking to no one. Someone has to bite the bullet and start an industry trend, but no one wants to be first - and alone.
After putting much thought into this for the industry that I know best, fiberoptics, I have decided that Twitter is the place to be. OK - let me back up a bit. I guess I should clarify that I think all businesses should have a profile on LinkedIn and be active there, but I'm pushing for a high tech Twitter movement.
Here is my thinking. High Tech does not (in general) see much need for the social aspect of Twitter, but they can be well served by using it to share information. For many of us involved with twitter, one of the most useful aspects is how easy it is to find articles about things that interest us. We follow people and keywords that are relevant to what we want to read about and learn and are rewarded daily with snippets of information and links that prove to be helpful. This, I believe, is the key to social media engagement for tech industries.
The Proposal:
-Every industry has a trade association, a few industry news websites and even some local chapters/sub-chapters of associations. Start there. These organizations need to get active with twitter - posting industry news and info.
-Associations with member mailing lists need to email their members with a call to get engaged and share their knowledge and product information.
-Make a plan. Who will post for your company? What type of things will you tweet about? Don't just sell - engage. Post info about what you offer, but balance it with industry news and general info that your potential customers may find informative. Make a plan for addressing complaints or nasty posts that may crop up. Monitor your business name and keywords.
-Set up your Twitter account and search out a few people to follow - look for customers, vendors, competitors, trade associations, industry news sites...
-Make sure to put a link to your twitter on your website.
-Send an email to your customers and vendors announcing your twitter address and encouraging them to join the conversation. Tell them what type of information you plan to post.
-Now engage! Use one of the many sites that help manage your social media info if you find that helpful. I use HootSuite, but you can use Tweetdeck, Tweetizen or many other sites.
-Remember, this is still "Social", so send thank you notes to new followers, follow some of the people who follow you, retweet interesting posts, acknowledge people who retweet you.
That's it - go for it. Don't give up or get discouraged. It takes time to build a following. You will not have 100 followers in a week - or even a month. But, if you follow the plan and keep at it, you will suddenly realize that people are following and engaging and you are seeing posts with links to good information... It's all good!
For many companies, the social media craze is something for others to do - it's not really for them. Does this sound familiar? Are you ignoring this trend in hopes that it will just blow over? Did you think email was just a fad too?!
Well, its time to get over it. Social media is here to stay. It's time to get past the discomfort and start doing something. Unless you sell to the over 55 set only, it's time to start tuning in and participating - your competitors surely are.
So, let's start with the basics. Register with Twitter and set up an account. Choose one person to be in charge of twitter in the beginning - this will keep your messaging consistent. Try to choose a twitter name that allows people to find you. If your actual business name is available, take it. If that is not possible, choose a spelling or abbreviation that is logical and allows you to keep at least part of your real name in tact.
For instance, if your company is "Standard Safety Products", StandardSafety would be a good choice. If it is not available, try the entire name. The key is to be found if someone searches for you. Don't make up some crazy abbreviation like Stdsafeprods - even people who know you will not find you easily.
Now, set up the information on your account. Make sure to write a good description in the bio. This is what everyone will see when they go to your page. Make sure your business is described well using key words that, again, will be found in a search.
I also recommend that you customize at least the background of your page. Upload a logo or symbol that represents your company well. Then, choose colors for the sidebar and fonts that complements that background well. Do not choose dark letters on a dark background - no one can read it.
Now, you are set up. Take some time to search for some people to connect with - even before you start posting your own tweets. Look up companies you do business with - customers, vendors, services you use. Then, search for key words and see who is tweeting about subjects that are pertinent to your business. If you make software for the health care market, search on software, health care, patient data, etc. Then look at the profiles of the people posting things on these subjects and click to follow the ones that seem to tweet about things that are in line with your product and market. Pay attention to the tweets you see - what do you like to read? - what don't you like to read? This will give you some ideas about how to compose your posts.
It is important that posts are informational and welcoming. Just tweeting about how great you are and telling people to buy, buy, buy, will not make you a popular site. The initial goal should be to start making a reputation for yourself as a company that has something good to say, some information to offer and perhaps even someone good to converse with. Set a goal to become viewed as an expert in your field and this will help focus your posting efforts.
You now need to start posting your own tweets. Start out with a few things about your business - informational, not hard sell. Post a teaser line and a link to your latest press release. Put in something about a new product or a sales milestone. I like to prepare with good 'go to' reference sites. These are sites that have good information about happenings in your industry. When I need an idea for a useful post, I sometimes check these reference sites to get ideas. Post a link to an interesting technical article or a newspaper story or a blog post about something new in your field.
Although you don't have to spend hours on Twitter every week to be successful with it, you should plan to spend more time in the first couple of weeks. Find good resources, get some regular posts up, re-tweet some people and keep looking for good people to follow. Next thing you know, some people will be following you and clicking into your web site (or onto your blog, etc.). This really should be the short term goal for most small businesses- more traffic. It's hard to tell if sales will result, but more clicks to your web site and finding leads through new followers, is not a bad thing. Remember to check your new followers regularly. Get rid of any spamy looking ones (you can block people from following you), follow up on any that look like a good lead and follow people back.
I too was a non-believer not that long ago. I thought Twitter was a bad idea and something in which I would never find value. I was wrong. I think it is one of many important tools in the marketing arsenal for many small businesses out there - so give it a try.
When I first looked at Twitter, let's just say that my first impression was not a positive one. It seemed so silly and was filled with all this small talk and chatter. I had trouble picturing how to really use it for business. I'm no techno-phobe, but I was not thrilled at trying to figure this out.
Since I seemed to be hearing twitter references every minute and started seeing links to twitter on so many sites, I decided to finally join and figure this thing out.
So, I opened a personal twitter account and poked around a bit and still could not see the point or the use of this medium. I finally searched on some terms that turned up a few interesting snippets about my town and I posted some tweets of my own - about the things I liked about living here in Hopkinton. This won me a few followers of my own and increased my Twitter confidence.
Now I was ready to set up a twitter for my client. I registered under the company name and posted the description and designed the look of their home page. I poked around for some appropriate twitters to 'follow' and started posting some helpful first aid, CPR and emergency information - along with some product info and links to their online store pages (you can check 'wnlsafety' on twitter). After about 3 weeks, we have 30 something good followers and so far we have seen 10 clicks in to their site that have resulted in 8 actual orders. This may not sound like much, but that is a great hit rate in my book!
I guess I am now sold - I don't know many other things that can produce an ROI like this. Ok, it's not like we will make millions with this - but it is another small tool in our marketing arsenal - building credibility and a new following - tweet by tweet.
|
|
RSS Feed