Both sites are dealing with enquiries, problems and responding to comment online through Twitter as well as using it to communicate product information and promotions to their customers. So it’s moved way beyond the sort of celebrity stalking that seems to be prevalent elsewhere.

First steps

Getting started with Twitter is a very simple process. Essentially, it’s all about creating a conversation with your customers. The people who are going to follow you first are likely to be your core customers, people who care about your brand. However, once you start engaging your audience this will soon expand.

Although it may seem a little obvious, the first step is to sign up as quickly as possible. Even if you’re not planning on doing anything with it straight away, go through this process now, because you need to have your own name. Unlike in the early days of internet and the furore over domain names, Twitter’s owners refuse to get involved as they see the identities people use as usernames not actual trade marks. As more and more brands turn to Twitter so people will look to capitalise on this by snapping up brand names.

The next step is to sort out your landing page. This needs to be properly branded and look like an official page.

After this, you need to start getting people to engage with you. Send out an email to all your customers saying that you are now on Twitter and add the same information under contact us on your website.

Asking questions

You need to encourage people to ask questions. There can be a powerful cost incentive here, as by using Twitter you can pre-empt being asked the same question multiple times, such as when a certain product is going to be available. Just answer the question once and everyone else can see it on your Twitter feed… this can save companies an enormous amount of time. At the very least Twitter can provide you with a regularly updated interactive Frequently Asked Questions page.

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