Twitter has more than 200 million registered users who post more than 110 million tweets per day. If you aren't involved with Twitter you are missing an opportunity to promote your services. Whether you are a law office, CPA firm, Dentist or doctor you should be using Twitter to promote the services you offer. Remember though, promotions on Twitter takes time and effort. It's more than just tweeting about the latest breakthrough in teeth whitening. To succeed with Twitter, or any social network, you have to have a plan. It requires work to build a community and engage your followers. Here's a few tips to get you started.
Build your Twitter Strategy
Take some time to think through your Twitter strategy. See how it fits in with your other marketing, social and otherwise. Are there specific areas of your practice that would benefit most? Build your plan. Set goals, objectives and metrics for success.
Listen
Use Twitter to listen to what others are saying about you and others in your industry, even your direct competitors. Determine ways to engage these people and educate them about your brand.
Use a consistent public profile
The photo you use for your Twitter gravitar should probably be the same photo on your website, your Facebook page and your blog. Additionally, the words you use to describe your brand should be consistent across all your social networks. Put a link to your firm website in your Twitter profile. Use Twitter to drive people to a site where they can learn more about you.
Add value to your followers' lives
Engage followers by providing them with valuable information about you, your industry and the world around them. Be attuned to what is going on around you. Tweeting about your latest victory in the courtroom when Twitter's “Trending Topic” is a tsunami in Japan, may not do much to enhance your brand or your Twitter strategy. Share all sorts of relevant content with your followers. Learn the difference between public and private tweets and use direct messages for those private conversations you have with followers.
Build your following
Promote your Twitter community on all your other marketing pieces and on all your other social network sites. Engage other influencers on Twitter and share valuable information you have in common with them. Be you! Let your personality shine through. Build dialogs with your followers. Take the time necessary to really build a community in its truest sense.
Manage and measure
Use third-party tools to manage and measure your Twitter success, or engage a knowledgeable company to do it for you. These tools enable you to analyze tweets and Facebook posts, while listening for word about you and your competitors. Use unique URLs to measure your impact and determine where your efforts are best spent.
Twitter is growing by the second. It is a vibrant social network comprised of people with diverse interests. To succeed with Twitter takes time and effort. Build a strategy, then implement it. If you don't have firm-wide social media policies, put some in place. Stay current on your industry and add values to the lives of your followers. Set goals and measure your efforts. Doing all this will go a long way to making your Twitter marketing efforts a success.
