Social Media Marketing (SMM) is in the process of becoming a mainstream advertising channel because it provides the perfect platform to find and attract people real-time that are looking for your products and services. Methods such as cold-calling to find your prospective customers are now being used less and less as prospects are waiting to be found through Social Media. Twitter is the social networking platform at the heart of this revolution so it makes sense to sign up to Twitter immediately so that your business doesn’t miss out on the opportunities. If you are already on Twitter then make sure that you are ready and willing to respond to the wants and needs of your prospective customers out there with your products, services and solutions.  In order to effectively generate leads from tweets the following tips should help:

Generating Leads Using Twitter

  • Use Twitter Geo-targeting – use Twitter Search to find Tweets in your region and use a Twitter Client like TweetDeck or Seesmic to receive real time results so you can reply on time. TwitHawk is a tool that finds tweets for you and this tool uses custom search queries to target potential clients and then sends you an email notification when it finds a match – it is perfect for those who simply don’t have enough time for Twitter.
  • Participate in conversation – always respond to Tweets directed at you or your organisation and try to respond to Tweets that are about your industry. Tweeters will feel special if they find a deal through Twitter, for example, if you run a pizza restaurant and you come across someone Tweeting about pizza, then you can respond with a Tweet like “@pizzafan come in and order a pizza from us and receive a free drink.” Using TwitHawk you can setup a list of auto-responders that can rotate in reply to Tweets but make sure you keep an eye on the results so you can reply personally when necessary.
  • Offer an alternative – turn your virtual followers into customers by offering something different on Twitter. A good idea is to distribute discount codes that are for exclusive use for those following you on Twitter.
  • Run a competition – offer a prize that will make your followers Retweet your message. Competitions run on Twitter are attractive to Tweeters because  they are easy to enter and free.

Twitter marketing works and if you spend enough time with it you are going to reach a level that few businesses achieve without spending huge amounts on traditional media channels. If you become a thought leader in your industry on Twitter then people will follow you and they will be influenced by what you have to say and start buying from you because they will be confident that they are getting good service and a reliable product from you.

If you have any questions regarding lead generation using Twitter or if you would like more information on social media marketing please contact us.