Tips to "handle" Twitter for better results

Any successful B2B social media plan includes strategies and tactics to forge relationships and build a brand. Building a brand through social strategies doesn’t happen overnight – it requires a sustained commitment using effective strategies for engagement and relationship building. This holds true when marketers consider building a presence on Twitter – only marketers who use the right strategies build and contribute to lasting social engagements. To understand which strategies attract followers and boost lead generation, consider the following 12 tips.  1. ReTweeting If something is valuable, marketers should share it – this is what ReTweeting is all about. ReTweeting accomplishes three goals; one, it allows you to share additional relevant information with your followers.  Two, it shows respect to the follower you are ReTweeting and three, it exposes the person you’re ReTweeting to your followers, potentially expanding their network.  It’s also a good idea to thank followers for ReTweeting your tweets with a simple reply like “Thanks for the RT!”. 2. Reporting news Today, news moves at the click of a button. When news breaks in the B2B arena, consider sending out updates and insightful information to followers and encourage them to share it with their audience. 3. Original content One key to B2B social media success is sharing original and insightful information. Sharing content from other B2B sources is a given, but be sure to include links to your own content from newsletters, B2B blogs, white papers and other sources in your tweets. 4. Hashtags On Twitter, getting your content in front of a particular audience is as simple as a hashtag. Adding a targeted hastag to a message  can put that message  in front of potential prospect searching for information based on that hashtag. Research tags already in use and utilize them in your B2B social media campaign. 5. Thank you Although simple, thanking someone for sharing your message goes a long way. As part of a total relationship campaign, share and thank all those who spread your updates. 6. Listening Understand what’s being said about a brand, service or product by listening on Twitter. Utilize keyword searches and hashtag monitoring to identify and engage with prospects while boosting lead generation through B2B social media. 7. Offline events This effective way to promote online events works equally for offline events. Utilize Twitter to send out resources and insights to offline events, such as industry and user conferences, before, during and even after. 8. Customer service Consider using Twitter to answer questions on products and services or customer service issues. Not only does this give customers and prospects faster results, it gives marketers valuable statistics for B2B social media campaign strategies. 9. Keywords Consider researching keywords relating to a brand, product, and service niche and learn the needs and wants of prospects. 10. Tools Going beyond the default interface, third party Twitter tools and clients increase  productivity, search and other operations. With these tools, you can schedule, import and effectively manage numerous accounts associated with Twitter. 11. Other networks Powerful B2B social media strategies dictate using multiple networks and tools. Consider integrating other networks and content platforms including: Facebook, B2B blogs and LinkedIn. Some allow automatic or scheduled updates from or to Twitter. 12. Lists Twitter lists not only give marketers the opportunity to categorize resources within lists, it lets those contacts know the marketer considers them as go-to resources for particular subject matter information. Source: Marketo

How many online reviews does your business have?

You probably need more. When choosing a business to buy from, customers search for reviews by other customers. If you haven't got any, you're in danger of being overlooked.
 

Don't fear the added attention of online reviews. While you can't control what consumers say about your brand, there are ways to foster positive reviews among your customers. Here are four steps to achieving them:

Expand your social horizons.

We know who the heavy hitters are when it comes to social networks: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. When it comes to referrals, though, several other networks are worth your attention. Yelp!, OpenTable, and Foursquare are huge for customers leaving tips and reviews. Be sure to log in and see what's being said about your business. Then…

Spend some time there.

While it's absolutely necessary for your business to have a presence on multiple social channels, you can't stop there. To get the full value of social media, you need to maintain an active, up-to-date presence on all of your business's social outlets. If your customers see a Facebook page that isn't updated, or see that other customers' comments and reviews haven't been acknowledged, they will see no value in leaving a review themselves—unless it's negative.

This also goes for networks like Yelp! and Foursquare. Take the time to interact with customers who leave reviews. Acknowledge positive reviews and address negative reviews. You'll encourage feedback and responses, which in turn will lead to positive referrals.

Ask!

Encourage your customers to leave referrals and make it easy for them to do so. This can be as simple as having a call to action on receipts, in emails, or on other marketing materials such as: "We want to hear what you think! Leave your feedback online at (insert link)." Sometimes, a simple request is all it takes.

Incentivize and reward.

It's no secret that people are more apt to do something when they get rewarded for doing it. Some ideas to consider for encouraging customers to leave reviews include: awarding points toward future purchases, entering reviewers into a contest or giveaway, or recognizing them as a "brand expert" for other customers to rely on after they've left a number of credible reviews.

You might encounter some negative reviews. However, the positive effect of having an active, involved presence online will outweigh the risks. It will provide a perfect platform for addressing complaints when they do occur, giving you a public opportunity to turn negative into positive. That's what effective PR and marketing is all about.