Social Media has been referred to as a form of “word of mouth” marketing that, if used correctly, can do wonders for your club. One way of sending out “instant” messages to your contacts is using Twitter.
Twitter is essentially a free, social networking site that allows users to send and read each other’s messages (known as “tweets”). “Tweets” are text based messages up to 140 characters in length. With more and more people using “smart” mobile phones with access to the internet, Twitter is fast becoming more popular than SMS as a means of sending instant communications to a large number of people. Plus, you are able to add links to websites, photos, video footage and more to your messages.
Twitter helps you connect with customers on a personal basis. While it may not result in new business immediately, it helps to encourage repeat business and increase the number of referrals.
So, how do you get started? First of all, you need to set up a Twitter account for your club.
How to set up a Twitter account
- Go to http://twitter.com and fill out the sign up form.
- Create your user name. If it’s available, it’s best to use your domain name without the “dot com/net/etc”. For example, for “Club Micropower”, the user name would be http://twitter.com/clubmicropower.
- You are now ready to start adding contacts. Twitter gives you the option to do this by checking any contacts you have in your web-based email account address book and seeing if they are already on Twitter. You then have the option of choosing which of your contacts you would like to follow.
If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, you have the option to click “skip” this step. You are also given the option to invite contacts in your address book to join Twitter if they are not already on there. This is a great way to let your contacts know that you are now on Twitter and that they can start following you.
Another great way to add contacts is to use Twitter’s search function to look for other people on Twitter that are in your industry or area of interest.
Starting the conversation…
Now that you have set up your Twitter account and started following some of your contacts and others in your field of interest, you are ready to start “tweeting” yourself. It is very easy to get bogged down in responding to every tweet or to feel overwhelmed with how to get started but the best way of managing your Twitter account is to have a plan in place before you start tweeting.
Following are some tips for how to set up your plan which should be incorporated into your general marketing and communication plan:
- The first and most important thing to remember is to have a goal for being on Twitter. Ask yourself the question, “What do I want to achieve by being on Twitter?”.
This could be to attract more members, establish your brand, or to connect with other clubs. Once you have your goal in place, it will make deciding what and when to Tweet much easier. - Allocate a certain time of the day to check-in to Twitter and plan your tweets. This can be at any time that suits you and, of course, your other work commitments.
- Have 5-7 pre-planned tweets ready to go. These don’t have to be just text based; include pictures, links to interesting news articles, videos, etc.
Remember that Twitter is a 2 way conversation so you might like to ask your followers a question such as what do they think of the club renovation or new menu item at the restaurant. - Make a “tweet list” of things that you want to tweet about. The list could be for that day or for the next few days, depending on what you are tweeting about. Plan the order and timing of your tweets.
- Go to websites such as Twuffer or Social-Oomph that will allow you to schedule your tweets in advance. These sites are free to use and allow you to plan what messages you want to send out and when.
Of course, if you have something you wish to share straight away, just go ahead and tweet. - Use Social-Oomph to set up an automated message welcoming new followers. This will create an instant feeling of good-will and will ensure they keep following you.
As with any marketing that you undertake, having a set goal and putting together a plan will increase your chances of success using Twitter as a marketing tool.
Some more tips for using Twitter:
- Build your network slowly and carefully; think quality rather than quantity.
- Post regularly enough to build relationships and keep people interested but not so often that you flood your followers with useless information. Interact and reply to other users when you have something interesting to say. But don’t have a public conversation that should be private; instead use the Direct Message function to send personal messages.
- You don’t need to read or respond to every tweet. Instead, tweet about things that interest you and that you think will interest your audience.
- Be sincere and don’t just use Twitter for self-promotion or the “hard sell”. Instead, think of it as a PR/Marketing tool that can be used to spread information about your club as well as being a means of damage control by enabling you to respond directly to critics.
- Create a network of “brand champions” who will promote your club to others on your behalf.
- There are a number of sites such as Ping.fm that will allow you to post updates across all of your Social Media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook from your Twitter account. The Twitter for Facebook application forwards your Twitter posts directly to Facebook as status updates.
As the leading software solution provider to the club market, Micropower is able to provide you with the right marketing solution to suit your club.
Contact us on enquiries@micropower.com.au or visit our website www.micropower.com.au to find out how.
