Chris Syme is a former SID and the Chair of CoSIDA's New Media/Technology Committee. A crisis and social media consultant, she blogs often at cksyme.org. You can see the following post online HERE.
Most of us think of Twitter as a real-time news feed where people share what’s happening in 140 characters or less. But, a tweetless Twitter can be an important part of your marketing mix. If you’re not convinced that Twitter is for you because the idea of tweeting on a regular basis seems daunting - or if you do not have much news to share at some point in time - here are three ways to use Twitter to boost your business or organization without ever sending one tweet.
First, you’ll have to set up a Twitter account. If you’re not going to use Twitter to tweet initially, I would suggest setting up a username that is associated with your personal name and email.
1. Power Search
Want to find people that are looking for your products or services? By setting up searches in Twitter with keywords, much like you would in internet search engines, you can find and connect with people searching for you. If you use a free dashboard tool such as Hootsuite, you can set those searches up in columns on one tab so they are easy to monitor. Here’s a link to the Hootsuite quick start guide. There are a myriad of conversations on Twitter about products and services. Find the people that you can help.
For example, if you’re selling real estate and specialize in vacation homes, you can set up a search on Twitter with keywords like vacation, real estate, your hometown name, state name, or other keywords. Personally, I haven’t found long tail searches to work well in Twitter. Experiment with the search tool out to see which keywords generate traffic and save the searches that produce results in a column on your dashboard. Setting up a search on Twitter is very similar to setting up a search on Google.
Or, if you sell cameras, maybe you’d want to search a specific brand of camera, or type of photography. You can also narrow your search by geographic area. The screenshot below shows the advanced search page on Twitter and the field to add a location to your search is circled. Also, there is a link on the advance search page to a list of common search operators that will help you put together a more effective search (see second screen shot).
2. Power Research
You can also use Twitter to gather research about your sector, your brand, competitor’s products, or peers with Twitter lists and hashtags (#). You don’t have to follow people on Twitter to keep up with them. Just put them on a list. If you don’t want your lists to be visible to the public, make sure you lock them. Here’s a good resource for making lists from the Twitter help center.
To list people under certain topics, search Twitter for people in your sector that are tweeting good information. If you know of people in your sector that are active in Twitter, just search for them by name in the search box on the Twitter home page.
You can also browse categories and search for people in the “@connect” tab on the Twitter home page. The main difference between lists and following is that if you list someone, they do not count on your “following” number, and the person you list won’t get a follower notification. I maintain several lists on different topics so I can follow news in different sectors at a glance on my dashboard. I like to send a message to people I put on a public list (if I don’t follow them) in case they might want to subscribe to the list. Just remember that you can’t direct message people if you don’t follow each other.
Following hashtags (#) is also a good way to find influencers and information on a subject. Tweeters often tag their tweets on a certain subject with a hashtag so others can reference them easily. For instance, I follow the #CrisisPR hashtag to find out the latest news and links on crisis management. I also follow the #highered hashtag to keep up on tweets in that sector. The “#Discover” tab on your Twitter homepage can help you find hashtags as well. Then, you can set up a hashtag as a column on your Twitter dashboard, much as you would a topical search, so you can follow it easily.
There is a protocol for good hashtags– start by reading these do’s and don’t's.
3. Create Powerful Events
Want to create buzz and excitement around an event? Consider having an event hashtag so participants can share their observations and comments in real-time. Try to come up with a hashtag that is less than ten characters, if possible, so you leave room for a tweet. Remember, each tweet has to include the hashtag so people can follow the conversation. It’s amazing how having a live Twitter chat during an event can ramp up people’s involvement. I went to a higher education conference two years ago (#casesmc) that still has an active hashtag today. Eventually turned the hashtag into a weekly chat.
This summer, I attended the CoSIDA Convention in St. Louis. We set up a big screen TV in the lobby outside the main meeting rooms and hooked it up to a computer that ran just the event hashtag #cosida12. The Twitter chatter created a huge buzz at the conference and allowed people who couldn’t make the event to feel connected to what was going on. (And, those who were at the convention appreciated the feed as they moved in and out of sessions and meetings, catching up on ideas and news from other sessions taking place. In fact, the #cosida12 hashtags trended twice as one of the top Twitter feeds during the Convention!).
Hootsuite hosts a program that allows you to show one running stream full screen. Here is the information on how to set up the “Hoot Feed” screen at an event. Just be sure to advertise your hashtag in all your event materials and post it with signage at all your session venues. I went to one event recently that encouraged participants to follow the organization on Twitter, but neglected to set up a hashtag for the event. Participants had a hard time connecting to one conversation about the event.
If you’ve got more suggestions on how to use Twitter without tweeting, please be sure to contact me at cksyme.org with your responses. There’s power in Twitter, even if you don’t tweet.