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<p>In the last few months, Twitter has shot from being a cult web app to a full-blown global fad. Celebrities are doing it (Stephen Fry has 285,209 followers as of today); businesses are doing it (not just techie ones either); bloggers are doing it; and, yes, lonely people are doing it.</p>
<p>It's not just that we're a bit geeky (guilty), but we are curious about all new media as it evolves -- and it's our job to know about these things. So we jumped in fairly early to have a go.</p>
<p>At first, it felt like an exclusively personal tool for keeping up with friends and family. But over time, we've started to build up a decent following of people interested in B2B marketing (and other markets for our clients) and we're starting to see the benefits.</p>
<p>We're starting to feel that there's something real going on here beyond the buzz that surrounds everything new. Yes, we experimented with Second Life (running a Dragon's Den-style event in it for BT Global Services) but that seems to have died as a B2B medium - unsurprisingly.</p>
<p>I can't say for sure that we'll be Tweeting in 6 months, but so far, there's enough going on to keep us interested.</p>
<p>So here's a list of the ways we use Twitter today (and you could too if you're a B2B marketer):</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Listening </strong>– Twitter is a good way to see what people are saying about a given topic (often using Twitter search). Spend an hour with a tool like TweetDeck and you can find out an awful lot about awide range of topics.</li>
<li><strong>‘Pimping’ content </strong>– letting people know about a new piece of content; hoping they read, retweet; and so on… This has really worked for us. We've had recent papers re-tweeted and seen it really drive traffic and downloads.</li>
<li><strong>Asking questions</strong> – you can get some quick insights from knowledgeable people. We've posted quesitons and got answers within five minutes. There's a feeling of community out there and people are eager to help.</li>
<li><strong>Extending your network</strong> – we had one real new business lead through Twitter and a few contacts we’ve found really valuable. I've ;'met' people on Twitter that I feel sure we'll work with at some point.</li>
<li><strong>Fertilising the existing network</strong> – a nice, light way to keep in touch with clients, suppliers, contacts… maybe helping them with their goals (re-tweeting for them) and pointing out links… Modern life seems to favor this kind of light touch networking like Facebook).</li>
<li><strong>Spreading ‘Link Love’ </strong>– every little backlink helps… Today, Twitter adds a 'nofollow' to every link in a tweet so no link love here, but if your followers refer to your link elsewhere it counts. Maybe one day Twitter links will count as backlinks for Google. But that wouldbring the spammers out of the woodwork (where spammers live).</li>
<li><strong>Helping our clients do any and all of the above</strong> – we can listen, pimp, ask questions and network on their behalf, driving downloads and traffic or just opening up conversations. We've brokered a few valuable relationships already.</li>
</ul>
<p>That all sounds pretty useful. But is it really worth the time investment?</p>
<p>Time will tell. Today, I can imagine simply switching it off and never looking back. But one day soon, that might be unimaginable.</p>
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2009-03-10T15:45:54Z
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tweet-or-die-twitter-for-b2b-marketing
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2009-03-14T19:23:49Z
2009-03-14T19:23:49Z
Do B2B marketers really need to think about Twitter or is it just a fad?
Here are seven ways we at Velocity (B2B marketing agency) use Twitter today -- for ourselves and for our clients.
Tweet or Die: Twitter for B2B Marketing
1
2009-03-14T19:23:49Z