TWITTER AS A LEAD GENERATION TOOL

Despite being so hot these days, Twitter often poses a real challenge for those who use it as a business tool. How do you get people to follow you? What should you tweet about? How do you convert 140 characters into a real buyer?

How to Get Tweeple* to Follow You?
This is a two step process. First, you identify people who will want you buy your product. This is done using Twitter search and other search tools available online. Then, you broadcast information that delivers real value to people you follow.

What Should You Tweet About?
As a rule of thumb, 50 - 70% of your tweets should be ‘educational material.’ Most often it’s third party information that presents value to your followers but is not directly related to your company. So, if your are a food retail chain, you ca talk about the latest research in healthy eating, give out recipes and more. The rest of the tweets should be company related: your blog posts, news coverage, research, special offers and such.

How to Use Twitter as a Lead-Generation Tool?
For B2C marketing, promotions, coupons and special offers are great. If you are a B2B company, using Twitter to generate leads might be a little more challenging. For B2B users, Twitter presents an opportunity to establish themselves as though-leaders and build meaningful relationships that might later translate into sales. You can also use Twitter to tie together all your other social media activities like blogging, video sharing and social networking. However, if you are looking for a ‘quick fix,’ you can use Twitter to promote a white paper or a webinar. Ask people to register to download/participate and you get your B2B leads!

*Tweeple - people who use twitter.com

If you have more ideas on how to use Twitter as a lead generation tool, please share your wisdom with others.