Advice: 3 reasons you're not too grown up for twitter

In talking to marketing and public relations clients about the importance of social media and its relevance in B2B marketing, we get some strong reactions. Many concern Twitter, that land of pithy, 140-character updates.
But Twitter is not strictly the domain of celebrities, athletes and late-night diners. After 7 years and 500 million sign-ups, it’s time we all got on board. Maybe you’re on Twitter but the rest of your team isn’t convinced. Hit them with these business-savvy reasons and you’ll convert even the most stubborn Twitter critic.

Get in Touch with the Right People

I grew up playing soccer and was taught that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. How are you going to reach the 200 million active users on Twitter without having an account? Twitter is not just for personal accounts either; a reported 62% of Fortune 500 companies have at least one Twitter handle. Why miss out on that kind of opportunity, especially when it’s free?

If you’re intimidated, don’t be. There are millions of users, but Twitter makes it simple to find the right ones. Utilize the hash tag function and throw some keywords into your posts. Search your keywords to find the other users discussing the same industry topics and create a targeted Twitter list with those relevant users. Your company will reach the right people, who can then spread your posts even further to an otherwise unreached audience.

Increase Company Visibility

You may still be thinking that social media networking isn’t your company’s cup of tea. But if nothing else, creating another online presence gives a boost to your brand’s search visibility efforts. The more websites with your company name and URL on them, the more of your company-owned pages will come up in Google searches.
A colleague of mine once explained it to me as online real estate. The ten spots that make up the first page on any given search engine are like your company’s real estate. Don’t you want enough branded content out there to fill up each of those ten spots? The more online assets you create, the more you control what others can find when they search for your product or service.

Attract New Leads to Your Website

By regularly sharing your blog posts and other web content on Twitter, you will begin to grow a following that is interested in what your company has to offer. The followers gained on Twitter can be cultivated into email subscribers and eventually leads if given the right content and direction.
We believe that social media is an integral part of a successful marketing and public relations strategy. Twitter is a unique online presence that can improve reach, search visibility and ultimately leads and revenue. And those are things that everyone can get behind.