360DigitalInfluence

Let me begin with this: if you want to use Twitter solely to spam or link to your website, you don’t get Twitter. Twitter can be a really effective tool for smart companies to expand sales and amplify promotional deals and it has been just that for brands like Zappos.com- the original Twitter poster child- a shoe retail web site with almost 20,000 followers.

You’re still here? Alright, on with the show.

As you will hear echoed in other installments of Ogilvy PR’s ruminations on Twitter strategy, a successful sales and promotion plan is based on identifying your audience, providing useful content, and being prepared to engage in the conversation. If you do it right your follows will not only become loyal customers but also evangelists for your brand and your promotions.

Big advantages to using Twitter for sales and product promotions:

Ease/Cost: You’ve already got the products, just get a handle. It’s free.

Size doesn’t matter: Big companies can connect with loyalists, small companies can get the word out.

Audience: Twitter is a playground for natural mavens who can pass on tips and promotions and also represents an attractive set of demographics for sales.

Building relationships: If a customer is seeing/thinking about your brand daily they are more likely to think of you in a purchase consideration.

Immediacy: You are connecting customers immediately with info and links, thereby increasing the chance that followers will click through for more information or to make a purchase.

Steps for building a successful strategy:

Follow: Search mentions of your brand, product, or niche and follow these twitterers. When creating your account make sure your description and handle are clear so users know what they get if they follow you. It would also be helpful to populate your stream with tweets before beginning full-scale out-reach to show those checking out your profile that you are a valuable follow.

Create Content: Tweet often (as in at least twice daily)… but not too often. Besides promoting existing coupons and sales efforts, consider offering Twitter-only exclusives to reward loyal followers and give them a reason to stay connected. Nothing new to promote? Help people learn more about your company by featuring one of your suppliers, your employee of the month (bonus points if they are on Twitter and you can include a handle), or an interesting piece of industry news. Keep content relevant to your products and should you fall in love with Twitter and feel the urge to update every hour on the hour, please create a personal handle.

Engage in Conversation: The idea behind a sales and promotion strategy may seem like a one-way conversation but check your replies and direct messages frequently. Failure to reply to a customer’s question, concern, or praise will make you appear to be a spam machine. Be aware that by putting your brand out there you are opening yourself up and people will inevitably contact you with a non-sales-related issue. Don’t allow this to scare you off; embrace it as a new way to talk to your customers and give them what they want- this aligns nicely with your sales goals.

Some companies that are doing this well:

@starbucks has almost 9,000 followers and posts about current promotions, sneak-peak product launches, and online activities on YouTube or Facebook.

@Jetblue has almost 6,000 followers and tweets on-line and off-line deals and answers important questions for traveling twitterers. Twitter is a great fit for this hip, customer oriented brand.

@zappos has over 17,000 followers and uses Twitter to talk about products as well as promote Zappos.com’s culture and core values.

So what can you do if you’re not, let’s say, the world’s largest coffee chain? Rohit Bhargava had some great suggestions for a client looking to get started on Twitter. For very cheap you can purchase keywords on Twitter search sites such as Tweetscan around the products you are looking to promote. You could also look into partnering with a company like Woot (similar to Steap and Cheap) which has a Twitter account with almost 17,000 followers who wait for daily product deals.

What are your personal favorite brands to follow online? I like @wholefoods.