It was almost exactly a year ago that I created a Twitter account for my company to use as a marketing and awareness tool. Since that time we’ve gained 300+ followers, which won’t set any records in the Twitterverse but does show a steady increase. We don’t do a lot of active outreach or blind follower-building (sorry, hotchick69, we blocked you) but instead focus on finding followers to whom we can provide real value.
The results have been very positive. We’ve gotten a lot of website referrals (nofollow of course), and a few people have used Twitter to ask for help in locating additional resources. It can be a little tricky to find the balance between tweeting official company info and being a real person, but it gets easier with practice.
The most interesting thing to me has been monitoring Twitter for negative things people say about the company. We started out using TweetBeep but TweetDeck turned out to be easier. Complaints are thankfully few and far between, but I consider them gifts. Although we don’t use Twitter as a support channel, it provides a great opportunity to address problems, real or perceived. There are always going to be people who aren’t happy unless they are complaining, but otherwise our Twitter presence has made it possible to make a real-time difference.
