Twitter for your life and for your business

A project I have recently worked on has led me to learning more about one of the most important social networks around: Twitter.

SOUND PR supported the Italian journalist Lino Garbellini with some PR activities aimed at promoting his book “Twitter per la tua vita e per il tuo business” (Twitter for your life and your business)

First of all, of course, I read the book and I delved into the Twitter world, by following the author’s advice.

Whereas Facebook is often used by people for more private and intimate conversations and LinkedIn is the leading business community, Twitter is the best social platform to spot trends or leading topics  and to find people who share mutual interests.

From a professional point of view, Twitter is a powerful and effective tool to quickly get in touch with bloggers, journalists and experts so it is the best way to get influencers involved, as long as you know how to build up an outstanding digital credibility and to catch your followers’ attention on a daily basis.

Moreover, Twitter is a great tool to promote your business since it gives you the chance to share contents, ideas and comments, to identify emerging trends and to provide clients with an effective support.

Twitter has a great potential and there are several ways of using it for professional purposes.

If you are interested in looking into this topic even further, I would recommend to read Lino Garbellini’s book or…to contact Sound PR for a tailored consultancy 🙂

However before ending this blog post, I’d like to share with you some Twitter’s basic Do’s and Don’ts.

3 MUST DO on Twitter:

– using the trend topics to enter conversations, when appropriate, providing added value

– Catching people’s attention: getting down to the nitty-gritty and being concise on Twitter isn’t enough. You have to catch users’ attention in less than 140 characters (in fact, it is better to leave space for RT)

– Using lists in an efficient and creative way: gathering users on the strength of topic issues, kind of job, level of influence etc…; managing the information flow; visiting the public lists of other users to discover new profiles to follow. Being part of eminent lists is furthermore important to improve the web reputation.

3 MISTAKES TO AVOID while using Twitter

–Being self-referential by sharing only contents related to your own brand. Talking more about your audience and less about your company is key to attract more followers.

– Improvising: you’d better understand language, tone and rules before you start using Twitter for your business.

– Using Direct Messages to spam: in the long run, it doesn’t pay.

This experience has enriched my knowledge and skills and I was thrilled about learning something new from an expert. After all, I do think that curiosity and the pleasure of learning play a fundamental role in  becoming a great PR professional…especially  as regards 2.0 communication!

Author: Alessia Borruto, Intern at Sound PR