HOW TO use Twitter for your startup

Twitter is a very powerful tool for any startup and I believe it is the first social network any would be entrepreneur needs to setup when launching their new business. The worst mistake any startup marketer will make is just tweeting “Hello World” without a plan.

Make your Twitter Marketing Plan

Any startup sales & marketing plan or marcomms plan needs to make the most of the 4 P’s - product place price promotion. The marcomms plan also should consider 3 types of customers

• Existing customers you sell to
• Potential customers you are nurturing
• New leads you’re trying to generate

Twitter can be a tool for all customers as well as a way to communicate with suppliers, investors, the media and the entire blogosphere. That’s because Twitter is a one-way broadcast medium like the radio.

Do’s and Don’ts of using Twitter for marketing your business

So when you start using Twitter for your business,

• Don’t use it for personal messages like ’the coffee is so bad today'
• Do decide if you’re using twitter to generate leads
• Do be single minded in driving traffic to your website not to Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare, etc
• Do use it for service and support if your customers use Twitter

Do have a personal commitment to only use Twitter for 10 minutes a day or you’ll lose the entire day. Yes you can start conversations and engage many people on Twitter but do so only if they are contributing towards your revenue. Stick to 10 minutes a day then try 2 minutes a day, real customers or potential or leads will engage you via your website or sales channel.

If you’re a startup working d2c or b2b2c then ignore the last sentence - but remember your 4 P’s, and decide what is the best Place to find the most customers for your Product and Promote it there - And then allocate your Twitter time accordingly.

Twitter and calculating your return on investment

RoI in social media is not a myth - So write on your desk pad or calendar each week how many followers you have. Do set up an auto DM for anyone that follows you and direct them to your website or to the signup form for your email newsletter. Suddenly you have ROI that is measurable, new leads and signups to marketing communications

Meet the author

Damien Saunders
An experienced management consultant and business leader interested in digital transformation, product centred design and scaled agile. If I'm not writing about living with UCTD (an autoimmune disease), I'm probably listening to music, reading a book or learning more about wine.