It is sometimes hard to think of Twitter as a resource when difficult buying cycles, the demand for marketing initiatives and lead making are a first priority. We’ve all seen scepticism in a client’s eyes when it comes to Twitter but this can be overcome by indicating how Twitter can help Business to Business organisations with their priority initiatives.
Consider how focusing on the promotional aspect of a business on Twitter can provide support for one of the main sources of quality leads for the B2B organisation: organic search engine traffic. Here are five ways we have seen and assisted B2B organisations in leveraging Twitter as a means for their search engine marketing initiatives.
The Foundation: Twitter Lists
Twitter lists should be one of the B2B search marketer’s most important tools. There are a lot of ways we can help a search engine optimisation effort through the careful organisation of Twitter lists. Create public and private lists to classify your network by primary (and secondary) goals. Private lists are good for grouping Twitter profiles in a way you don’t want publicly accessible, such as a customer list or prospecting list.
Whereas you are able to observe Twitter lists in the normal web interface, tools like CoTweet and Tweet Deck are better suited for managing and maintaining particular Twitter lists like this. If your organisation already has a huge, but confused network, services like MyTweeple and Tweepi permit marketers to review Twitter profile information and better manage an organisation’s Twitter network.
Link Building Initiatives
Produce lists of contacts that are associated with websites and online publications that your organisation would be interested in obtaining links from. These lists may contain writers for industry publications, or bloggers from key industry-related blogs. In several cases, you might get the scoop on writing initiatives that your organisation might be able to contribute to (and get links from). In different cases, if you can establish a rapport, it might help when pitching either a direct link or the solicitation of content to get published for link building purposes. Follow and track industry-specific organisations on Twitter too.
Event Marketing
Conferences and trade shows usually use Twitter as a means to broadcast news, information, and what’s happening at their event in real time. If your business is speaking, sponsoring, or even attending a show that leverages Twitter, contribution must lead to link opportunities, and connections for business and sales. The solution is to stay active and contribute for the duration of the event. Don’t assume that only focusing on promotional blasts will get results.
Keep up to date with the event’s hash tag for main information to aid distribution and sharing. Take care to include the hash tag in every related update as well. To finish, make a Twitter list of attendees and speakers so your organisation can focus on specific people from the event.
Brand Monitoring
Monitor main keywords and brand information using Twitter search as keyword monitoring can secure link building opportunities for organisations and thoughts for original content. Brand monitoring is essential for understanding how people on Twitter relate to the company and key products solutions.
A service as easy (and free) as Google Reader can be used to collect RSS inserts of Twitter search results and commercial social monitoring tools are also accessible, which allow better access to conversations. Whilst an organisation doesn’t need to utilize Twitter to increase the benefit of their strategy, communicating to others through Twitter is more efficient, should the organisation desire to respond or contribute.
Customer and Prospect Tracking
Communication portals, such as Twitter, produce consistent conversations that could create more interest in your organisation and cause more people to return to your website. Think of Twitter as an option or as complementary means used in coordination with e-mail newsletters or direct mail campaigns.
Tools for tracking website visitors can provide analysis on how and why customers and potential clients visit a company website has somewhat evolved over time. Although Twitter may not lead to a direct sale or enquiry, web analytics and marketing automation has shown that customers and prospects replying to a message on Twitter are clicking through to the website.
However, whilst promotional strategies have their place, the worry is that organisations won’t spend the time necessary to create an accessible network. In effect, promotions frequently go ignored, and the business loses importance, thinking they have failed or that their Twitter attempt has been a general waste of time.
Finally, Twitter For Business To Business Search Engine Marketing
The decisive element for measuring results from Twitter is engagement. Whilst aggregating lists, tweeting promotions, monitoring the trade mark, and knowing, by observation, who your main link targets and/or clients are, the current discussion is what makes Twitter valuable. This leads to real success in helping business to business search engine marketing efforts.
The more an organisation contributes, the more they will get out of their Twitter strategy. Results aren’t likely to happen immediately but just like life, relationships are made over time, providing the given effort. How can business to business organisations contribute effectively? A B2B organisation could distribute relevant and valuable resources for their community, either by getting partners to spread the word, or responding to Twitter users by asking questions or requesting information in relation with the business or organisation.