A day in the life of a small business tweet
Tweeting is now commonplace in the small business marketing landscape. With the right strategy and tools in place, Twitter allows small businesses to communicate on a much more personal level, and can actually influence the buying decision.
08:45: CEO of Company X gets an email advising that his latest product has been nominated for ‘Best New Widget Product of the Year’ Award.
08:51: CEO phones the marketing department and asks what can be done immediately to announce the nomination.
The marketing department advise that they will:
- Web: Create a new page in the ‘News’ section of the website (which has the facility for the public to leave a comment on the award nomination, or sign-up for progress updates. It also has a link to a widget sheet download)
- PR: Publish a press release
- Literature: Look at adding the award logo/short list message to the current collateral portfolio
- Social Media: Promote on social media (blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube)
- Internal Communications: Advise all colleagues and brief them to promote the nomination
08:59: The marketing department drafts and sends the first of five related 140 character tweets to their followers:
@companyx: “Delighted to be short-listed for ‘Best New X Product of the Year’ http//link.com #widgetproductname”
09:01: Key Customer Y gets off a train at city centre location. They check their mobile phone for twitter updates and spot said tweet from favourite supplier. The customer is very happy to be using their service, so decides to re-tweet.
@keycustomery: “RT @companyx Delighted to be short-listed for ‘Best New X Product of the Year’ http//link.com #widgetproductname // A fantastic product”
09:30: Marketing department drafts some cut & paste copy for the rest of Company X to use in social media updates (Linkedin status, email signatures, etc). Copy gets circulated with an internal communication about the announcement. The marketing department also conducts a review of all their current collateral/literature to see where the award provider’s logo can be added to promote the nomination.
09.36: One of Key Customer Y’s twitter followers (Small Business Z) checks their twitter feed and notice an interesting re-tweet about a product they have been considering. They click on the link and are taken to the provider’s website. They notice the registration form for further updates and sign-up.
10:41: Whole of Company X are now talking about the nomination and the web page has gone live. All staff email signatures include a link to the website where people can sign-up for further alerts about the award. All Facebook Fan Page and Linkedin profiles have also been updated.
10:42: Small Business Z’s MD sends the link to their sales department with a request to find out more product information. They also receive a branded email advising that new updates will be sent on a regular basis, but that they can unsubscribe at anytime.
10.45: Small Business Z’s sales team receive the link from the MD and bookmark the page to check later. They decide to follow Company X on Twitter, and download the product sheet the next day.
Our tweet has done its job!
Social media marketing, test and measure:
Through-out the day, Company X sends 4 more tweets, which are variations on the same message, but with links to different pages on the website; the press release, the E-News sign-up and the awards section for example. These can be monitored later to see which tweet performs the best. This then forms the basis of tweets going forward up to and during the awards ceremony. Activity and feedback can also be included in the next e-News.
Social media marketing, outcomes:
The Small Business Z sales person that downloaded the product sheet a follow-up call from Company X and a product demo was arranged. They also received a welcome tweet and a link to the blog for future reference.
Company X made a note that Small Business Z saw a tweet from Key Customer Y, which prompted them to visit the website. Therefore, Company X send a second tweet via a Direct Message (DM) to Key Customer Y saying they may be eligible for a referral fee should Small Business Z sign-up.
That’s one hard-working tweet…
By Cheryl Crichton | Associate Clear Thinker | Clear Thought Consulting Ltd | @cherylcrichton | www.clear-thought.co.uk
This article originally appeared as a guest post for Nikki Pilkington Internet Marketing
For more small business marketing tips, particularly on social media – you may like these:
- Blog: Be There, Be Relevant, Be Proven – B2B Social Media »
- Blog: Three ways we use Twitter for business »
- Video: How social media supports the sales process »
- Case study: Building an online community »
Clear Thought Consulting works with small businesses, equipping them with the marketing strategies, suppliers, skills and set-up that they need to become bigger businesses. We do this by planning and delivering 12-month marketing transformation programmes – supporting a small business through a step-by-step process to making marketing pay. We firmly believe that when you can’t out-spend your competition, you have to out-think them.
Published on 21 December 2010
