Twitter has been rapidly rising in popularity prompting many small business people to join in on the “tweeting” in hopes gaining new customers. Twitter is a micro blogging service that allows users to publish 140 character messages instantly much like a mass text message mixed with a blog post called “tweets”.

Twitter is often accused of being useless noise, it is estimated that roughly 40 percent of all  ”tweets” are just pointless ramblings. Twitter has shown some promise with its ability to disseminate information quickly to mass audiences. We have seen Twitter effectively utilized as a media and communication tool during disasters. The recent Haiti crisis further propelled Twitters legitimacy as a media tool as we saw everyday citizens share first hand news immediately.

So how can your small business utilize Twitter effectively in your marketing mix?

Web Site Integration: You can set up twitter to post your messages directly to a designated box or area on your companies web site. This can be a great feature allowing you to instantly post specials or news from wherever you area via phone or Internet with out requiring a CMS (content management system) on your web site. By publishing a quick special or offer you can effectively convert web site visitors to customers.

-See an example of how this site uses twitter to publish news and special offers to their home page

Networking: Twitter can be an effective networking tool if used properly. Twitter combines the direct personalization of a text message combined with the ability to mass send. Twitter can be a great way to communicate and network with people in and around your industry. The direct message feature is crucial in this process. You can also use twitter to update social networking statuses on Facebook and LinkedIn. If you are networking consider joining in on conversations and do not be afraid to have non-product related messages, showing that you are human can help you better connect.

Prospecting and Lead Generation: You can effectively search for and target users who could potentially be in the need of your services. By following users and using the direct message feature you can pitch your product or service. Inbound followers can also be a part of your lead generation strategy.

Brand Monitoring: Sign up for an account and listen for mentions of your name, product, service, competitors name, and words that relate to your space or business niche. Listening to what is being said in your industry, what consumers and users are saying and how your brand is being transmitted by its carriers is a vital process in ensuring proper brand communication and protecting the integrity of your name. Twitter also makes a great opinion gathering and polling platform that can be great for new product launches and idea gathering.

Information Dissemination: Twitter is one of the fastest ways to rapidly broadcast information, With twitter “retweet” features your message can circulate through numerous channels rapidly. If you have important news, information, articles, or blog posts twitter is a great way to attract readers to your message.

Emergency correspondence: In the instance of a disaster phone service generally gets temporarily blocked. Twitter is an effective tool to communicate during disasters. You can integrate twitter into your offices disaster and earthquake preparedness plan.

Trade Shows: For many small business trade shows represent a large portion if not nearly all of their marketing budget. Because of this reliance on trade shows for sales it is critical to maximize your time and activity at trade shows. Twitter can be effectivly used to track prospects and important clients activity and whereabouts so that you can connect with them or “tweetup”. You can also use Twitter to broadcast your activities and events to attract more visitors to your booth or demonstration.

All this being said there really is not a generic strategy for working Twitter into your marketing mix and business functions. By assessing your companies goals, positioning and brand while working with a social media marketing professional you can come up with effective ways to utilize this tool to help your small business grow.

Like all marketing activities it is important to monitor your activity and results. Here at Zella we utilize a free web based tool called HootSuite to manage all of our Twitter accounts. HootSuite helps us manage all of our Twitter accounts as well as clients Twitter accounts in one application. By managing multiple accounts on one dashboard we can effectively stream line Twitter use. Many of the built in applications can help businesses better mange their Twitter accounts. You can schedule tweets in advance, if you are reading an interesting article online you can immediately tweet it. If you blog you can set twitter to automatically tweet your blog posts.

The built in tracking feature allows you to monitor how many people have clicked on links contained in your tweets. HootSuite is also an effective tool for brand management all you need to do is set key terms you want to monitor in Twitter for example “Zella Design” and any time some one mentions your company it will show up on your dashboard. You can monitor positive and negative feedback and with a simple click you can get involved in brand conversations by directly messaging Twitter users.

This application also integrates with LinkedIn and Facebook so you can use it as a total business social media management tool.