Twitter good for b2b?

[neild]

Has anyone of you had any success with twitter for b2b advertising and in general?

 

[seo next]

It works GREAT !!!

 

[QVA - Emma]

I concur, although it is what you put in that counts not what you try and get out of it!

Kind Regards

Emma

 

[That Guy]

I am in the early stages of using it for a campaign and already had a few orders.

Just don't keep spamming it with your products. You should ask questions and interact with your followers too

 

[maxine]

You can't use twitter for "advertising" as people just won't follow you or if they do they will quickly unfollow you

Much better to have conversations where you can and trust that when people connect with you they will click on your profile or links and just drop in useful information and advice rather than spam with adverts

Good luck

 

[Eagle]

Twitter is for building relationships and maybe the odd plug but not advertising.

 

[RedEvo]

Just like BNI, givers gain IMHO.

d

 

[3 MORE YEARS]

Twitter is for building relationships and maybe the odd plug but not advertising.

Agree with Mark. We have been able to turn interactions into prospects. Still early days but it's another tool (my view).

 

[Dot Design]

Twitter is for building relationships and maybe the odd plug but not advertising.

Absolutely agree with Mark, it's another way of getting to know new people/business's, its for sharing ideas, knowledge, links of interest.

 

[neild]

Thank you for the replies, I'll consider to intereact with others. I don't advertise a lot, infact just the odd item or offer every now and then, most the time it's just news, questions and comments.

I had one tweeter who I was following posting adverts for his/her website every hour, it did get annoying after a few weeks, shame really but that was the only thing he/her posted.

 

[emailexpert]

Interaction as everyone has said is the key to success on Twitter, do that, engage in subjects you know about and have a passion for and you will find the business flows your way naturally.

I think Twitter is fantastic for b2b .. I am @andrewbonar on Twitter btw (shameless pimping of my profile)

 

[Minuteman Press]

Great for relationship building.

 

[emailexpert]

You never know who might be listening. I had one individual monitor my tweets and follow my links for 2 weeks.

I then got an email and followed up with a phone-call. The next thing I know I have 6 weeks consultancy full time for an Australian company.

I had assumed it was a referral and did not wish to pry too much, but after a while I asked who had referred me, where he got my details etc. At that point he told me it was Twitter.

I have to say I was stunned at the time. Following up from that I secured a major sponsor for a website, again through Twitter. At no point was I trying to sell my services directly or sponsor packages for that matter via Twitter. It just happened.

 

[Gillie]

Again, as I said in another thread, you reap what you sow ....

Form relationships such as you do here on forums and voila - the business will come!

Behave like a prat and spam and you get no one listening!

 

[neild]

Maybe your advice on twitter was enough to convinced him to use your business.

 

[AnnaB]

I have found this thread quite interesting, we are just debating whether or not to set up a twitter feed, I agree it should not be viewed as an advertising channel as people will not engage, we are looking at it from more of a branding perspective, I am just unsure how well twitter work in the B2B environment but I suppose business buyers are consumers too

 

[SEO Lady]

When I first started to use Twitter for my company I was posting discount vouchers constantly, adding random people I didn't know and repeat postings from a Word document I had created, allowing me to copy and paste previous tweets without getting RSI.


Then I downloaded Tweetdeck - I really recommend this free software (it will auto shorten URLs and you can add photos and pictures with a drag & drop). After then I realised, how uninteresting I must be, who wants to be bombarded with repetitious discount codes for a product you don't specifically need at that time.
I learned the basics of Twitter:
* Names are preceeded with '@'.
* Sending out a tweet to ExampleUser will not show up on their page, it needs to be @ExampleUser.
* RT = Re-Tweet, repeating some else's post and crediting them by mentioning their name.
* # the hash symbol represents a group, e.g. I am interested in any local tweets, so I have #bristol and #somerset saved on tweetdeck
* # groups that are being tweeted about (by mentioning this in your post) that are the most popular are called "Trending Topics"
Trending Topic
A regular trending topic is #FF or #FollowFriday where tweeps looking to increase their followers will RT their follower's names in their posts and the circle goes on - here's an example: Here's some great tweeps for #FF @ExampleUser1 @ExampleUser2 @ExampleUser3. This really helps increase your followers, because they join in with the #FollowFriday they WANT to follow and be followed.


Another tip is to follow a tweeter called 'goodbyebuddy' which will notify you daily when anyone chooses to 'unfollow' you, this will help you understand how to make your audience stay with your tweets.


I faded out the promo tweets and started to interact directly with local tweeters, and tweeters who have similar business, by re-tweeting their promotional tweets, effectively helping out their reach, and with good success. In the first 2 weeks of me using Twitter, I had appeared on local radio and booked an advertisement in an eshot who I would have never come across before. You can also tweet to advertise #jobs or #vacancies online, real time, for free.


I hope this you have found this useful as I should have researched Twitter before I went barging in full steam ahead. One twitterer said there are 3 golden rules on Twitter
* 30% Personal tweets and observations
* 30% links to interesting, pertinent articles and webpages
* 30% Shouting about your own business / products / competitions etc



That leaves 10% to do what you like - for me it's following celebrities and replying to their tweets, tweeting about trending topics, and even tweeting about what I had for lunch!


Google Analytics has proved that revenue has been attributed directly to Twitter. I have also proved sales from Facebook, I place high importance on social media, it's free, has a global reach and you get to exchange information in real time.