How to Use Twitter for Business: An Official Guide Finally Arrives

Written by Steven Walling / July 24, 2009 12:00 PM / 15 Comments

Twitter has launched Twitter 101, a "special guide" to the 140-character network aimed at businesses. Use of Twitter by marketing departments has seen explosive growth recently, if you're a user of the site that's obvious by now.

But for businesses, the ins and outs of using the site are not obvious. From small local businesses to huge international brands, countless companies have totally flubbed when it comes to using Twitter.

The Basics

Twitter 101 begins with the bare bones of the service, with a dictionary of the lingo (that can often be amusing to hardcore users) and instructions on how to sign up and tweet for the first time. The real meat of the site is the best practices and case studies from companies like Dell, Etsy, and American Apparel.

Where Twitter 101 Fails

Twitter 101 works as a very simple primer for businesses who are just now investigating how they might use the service. But considering that there's an enormous wealth of information already out there, one fact stands out as a glaring failure:

Twitter has failed to draw upon its own community. For a site that lives and breathes authentic online community, Twitter has done a miserable job of incorporating or even linking to the wealth of information created for and by business.

Every executive of a major interactive marketing agency or division worth their salt has formulated a Twitter strategy. The case studies offered up by Twitter prefer cute anecdotes and racy sales figures rather than any actual marketing strategies.

The resources page includes some great material from authors and bloggers on the subject, but little of it comes from within the enterprise. It's aimed broadly at users and not the enterprise, but community-curated sites such as the Twitter Fan Wiki are not mentioned; there's no indication that business.twitter.com will embrace any direct input from the community in the future.

The Enterprise Needs 102, Not 101

If your business is just now finding out about Twitter, then Twitter 101 lives up to its name. But the need right now in the enterprise is not a how-to manual on how to sign up and make their first tweets. The need is for a detailed guide to being effective and authentic participants in one of the most important new sites on the Web.

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Twitter should probably look into developing other things rather than swinging a manual on how businesses can utilize twitter. Businesses can figure out themselves how they can utilize the platform. It's twitter, it's not that hard to figure out a way. They need to focus on other things such as real time search,etc. rather than get a manual out. Never seen a google manual and everyone seems to know how to utilize it for business or Facebook for that matter.

Posted by: Ritu | July 24, 2009 1:48 PM

I agree with Steven. If Twitter wants to pursue the business sector, then the approach should be different from the consumer market. Enterprises look for solutions and real value, no matter how simple the technology. Sharing best practices, business cases, and other tips would only help foster creative business use. I for one, would like to know what other companies are doing. We started to use Twitter recently for quick postings. Many of our key customer contacts are senior directors and a number are not using Twitter. So, one initiative is an ongoing campaign that pushes multiple ways to stay connected, which includes Twitter.

Posted by: Paul Dandurand | July 25, 2009 7:07 AM

Social networking is developing at dramatic speed these days. New functions keep being introduced into the market place. For many web-based business, more and more media need to be taken into consideration when making online marketing strategy.

Posted by: SKY | July 25, 2009 9:14 AM

Nowadays, no company could actually afford to go without online marketing approaches such as email marketing or ads on social networks.

Posted by: NZ | July 25, 2009 9:16 AM

Twitter quickly grow into one of the most important tool of online marketing. I've even seen some alert web-based real estate company advertising on Twitter these days.

Posted by: Tian | July 25, 2009 9:18 AM

:)

Posted by: rizalpahlawan | July 25, 2009 9:11 PM

Now a revolutionary methdod exists to post your comment directly to Twitter, thanks to www.aafter.com All you need to do is write your text in the search box with t? as prefix and your comment goes directly to Twitter. A nice way to post for those who does not have a twitter account..

Tony Smith

Posted by: Tony Smith | July 25, 2009 10:13 PM

Seems to me that Twitter, in its search for revenue models, be more helpful to BtoB companies. They could offer (real) BtoB best practices and compete with the search engines for text ad revenue. Or, as you mention, tap into the Twitter community for help. Can you say Wiki?

Posted by: Cynthia Trevino | July 27, 2009 6:20 AM

So, How to Use Twitter for Business ?

Posted by: Philproperties | October 1, 2009 8:15 AM

Great post! I use Twitter as a marketing tool for all my ventures. Its better than an email list most of the time! Thanks for writing great content! cheers, Dave

Posted by: David Basulto | October 4, 2009 12:17 AM

Thanks for the info article. Twitter is a great tool. A lot of people thing its too time consuming, but if used well it will create traffic to your company.

Happy Tweeting..

Posted by: Business For Sale | October 14, 2009 12:11 AM

Great post on Using Twitter for Business.

Now the question is will we be tweeting more during office hours? hmm...

Happy tweeting..

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Mike

Twitter Business Marketing

Posted by: Mike | October 20, 2009 5:58 PM

Hi,

nice review. thanks..
Its important that you don’t abuse Twitter for marketing and promoting your products, services or affiliate links. Most of your tweets should give your friends useful contents and valuable link or information.. Only once in a while should you try to use Twitter to promote something. Otherwise You will be marked as Spammer!
http://webmasterdailytips.com/2009/10/top-ten-ways-to-use-twitter-for-marketing

Posted by: Ravi | October 31, 2009 10:55 AM