Develop original contentMake sure you show value to your customers by providing original, useful, or at least fun and entertaining content via your feed(s).  Sales announcements, store openings, new items, causes supported, service outings and restorations - all of these... More

Develop original content
Make sure you show value to your customers by providing original, useful, or at least fun and entertaining content via your feed(s).  Sales announcements, store openings, new items, causes supported, service outings and restorations - all of these are great, proactive ways to communicate with your followers.  Remember to be brief (obey the 140 character limit!) but not too brief.  Leave the "gr8" abbreviations for SMS whenever possible.
 
Include links to relevant content
140 characters isn't much space to work with, but you can and should include relevant links to website content in your Tweets. To save space you can shorten URLS and track clicks for free using services like bit.ly
 
Track response
Twitter response tracking is limited, but you do have some important success metrics you can monitor.
 
Yesmail Enterprise will help you track:

• What you tweeted
• When you tweeted
• How many were following you when you tweeted

Additionally, you can track:

• Follower trends - are the number of followers increasing with your marketing efforts? Increases and decreases in follower trends can also be tied to engagement and relevancy of your content.
• Clicks - how many clicks are you getting on the links in your Tweets? How many clicks do you get on email content promoting Twitter?
• Conversion - if you have revenue tracking codes as part of your URLs you can track website visits and revenue generated by your Tweets.

With patience, perseverance, and an open mind, you can make Twitter a core component of your marketing strategy and improve the results of your email initiatives as well.

Catch up on Part 1 to learn more about how Yesmail Enterprise allows you to centralize the management of a single marketing campaign across many channels. Less

This week we announced our new Twitter Campaign Management feature available in Yesmail Enterprise. This is exciting news for marketers, because now you can save time by centralizing the management, coordination, and analysis of a single marketing campaign across many... More

This week we announced our new Twitter Campaign Management feature available in Yesmail Enterprise. This is exciting news for marketers, because now you can save time by centralizing the management, coordination, and analysis of a single marketing campaign across many channels (email + social + mobile) within one tool.

It only takes three simple steps to execute your Twitter campaigns in Enterprise:

1. You set up your account
2. Create your content (up to 140 characters)
3. Schedule and send

Not sure where to get started? Twitter crosses many of the boundaries of social, email, and SMS and requires its own approach to be truly successful.  Here are some best practices to keep in mind as you develop your Twitter marketing strategy.

Promote Twitter in your emails and on your website
Make sure your customers know how to find you and what benefits they will get from following you on Twitter. Will you send special discounts or give them early notice of new products or sales? Will you keep your followers updated on the latest events?

Dick's Sporting Goods sent their email subscribers an invitation to follow them on Twitter with a nice Free Shipping incentive.  The message did a good job creating visibility and outlining the benefits for followers.

Integrate Twitter with your email program
Twitter can be used to announce special sales and promotions, or to create viral buzz for new marketing campaigns. With Twitter Campaign Management you can schedule tweets as teasers or chasers for email campaigns, or send out special "twitter only" deals. Your  Twitter strategy should complement your other marketing channels, not be a stand alone.

Buy.com's Tweet 'n Seek campaign is a great example of a multi-channel strategy.  They promoted a "social scavenger hunt' via email and website banners. Clues were tweeted to followers, and then the community posted their answers on Buy.com's Facebook page.

One Twitter feed may not be enough
If you have a large company, several customer-facing departments, or varied products or services, you may need more than one Twitter feed.  Don't try to cram several disparate message streams into one account if you don't have to; create individual feeds for specific topics or customers to drive more value to the end user. For example, you could set up one Twitter feed for Customer Service, and a second Twitter feed for Marketing.

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 and learn about developing original content, including relevant links, and using Yesmail Enterprise to track responses.
Less

In September,  I worked with our sister company, ORC to conduct a  consumer survey on their use of social media in planning for the upcoming holiday season. Not surprisingly, we found a flurry of social activities - checking Facebook pages... More

In September,  I worked with our sister company, ORC to conduct a  consumer survey on their use of social media in planning for the upcoming holiday season. Not surprisingly, we found a flurry of social activities - checking Facebook pages for gift ideas, checking out Twitter deals, and finding ratings and reviews will all be part of Holiday planning for 2009. Here's some of our research highlights on consumer behavior

Consumers are finding gift ideas from Facebook and other social networks. Let's face it - it sort of ruins the surprise if you ask "So what do you want for the holidays?' Instead our survey found that 27% of online shoppers who used social networks also planned to check out friends and family profile pages to get ideas for what to give this holiday season. By checking Facebook profiles and fan pages - there's a little less guesswork without ruining the surprise.  

Consumers are increasingly researching gift ideas online. Nearly one-half (45%) of the group surveyed will use social networks to research items, compare prices and look for offers. Additionally, 20% of those surveyed will look to blogs for gift ideas. While consumers may go direct, an increasing number will also look elsewhere for ideas and research products before purchasing - all without leaving their home.

Consumers look to Social Networks for deals. About one-fifth of online holiday buyers are specifically looking to social networks for exclusive deals or free shipping. This means the message might not just be PPC buys, online ads, and website promotions. Instead offers should include messaging through social networks.

What it all means - Consumers increasingly are deciding when where and how they would like to engage with a brand. That means to marketers ensuring a consistent message at different consumer touch points, and having relevant offers in multiple channels. If you haven't done so already, create a Facebook page, so that consumers can associate themselves with you. Integrate rating and reviews on your website, and in email campaigns, so that consumers can research their purchasing decision without leaving your site. Finally, make sure to extend offers to relevant social media channels - like Twitter or Facebook.Together, these tactics can ensure your brand stays top of mind as consumers plan for last minute holiday purchases.

But hey, don't just read it here - check out eMarketers' take. Less