SocialCentiv, a patented Twitter marketing software tool, has released a guide – just in time for Small Business Week – to help small businesses (SMBs) find potential customers on the popular microblog site and deliver discounts and incentives at the moment a shopper is most ready to buy.
“SocialCentiv, Twitter and Small Businesses: Best Practices for Getting Started” is a 20-page eBook that shows small businesses everything from how to get started to the new rules of engagement with consumers. Businesses can visit this landing page to download the eBook.
It also educates SMBs on best practices for using Twitter for “intent-based marketing,” meaning providing a good or service when customers are actively looking for it. And it shows SMBs how they can use SocialCentiv’s patented software service to grow through marketing on Twitter.
“By some estimates, consumers are hit with between 500 and 5,000 advertising messages daily,” says Bernard Perrine, SocialCentiv’s co-founder and CEO. “For small businesses, this raises a difficult issue: How to use their marketing to break through that clutter and connect with potential customers.”
Twitter is one of the best solutions to that problem, Perrine explains.
“By limiting users’ posts to 140 characters, Twitter has revolutionized marketing. For the first time, advertisers have a real-time window into consumers’ thoughts and feelings.”
For SMBs, it is therefore vital to play the Twitter marketing game the right way, Perrine notes. He offers several suggestions:
1. Create a Twitter profile that reflects your company’s culture and generates interest from consumers. Having strong artwork for the header image, such as your business’s logo and related photos and graphics, will catch people’s eyes and help immerse them in the customer experience you’re trying to create.
2. Keep up-to-date with new and improved Twitter features that give brands more control over their landing pages. For instance, companies can now “pin” Tweets to the tops of their profiles to ensure visitors see their latest promotional offers.
3. For best results, offer discounts of at least 20 percent off entire purchases. Brands should research what competitors’ promotional efforts look like, with a goal of at least matching their offers – if not beating them entirely.
Before Tweeting, try listening
More than almost any other social media service, Twitter is about people talking to each other. Since the conversation on Twitter is always changing, SMBs must use tools to “listen” to the discussion – and jump in with offers of discounted products or services when the time is right.
“SocialCentiv’s software, for instance, helps business owners monitor keywords and phrases to track what people are talking about in real time,” Perrine reports. “Our customers can then respond with promotional offers and collect contact information for their new-found customers.”
While Twitter can present golden opportunities for SMB marketing, taking advantage of those chances entails understanding the dynamics of how people use the social medium.
“Content is king,” he advises. “Savvy businesses include compelling photos and videos in their responsive Tweets, along with advertising messages that address the needs of specific audiences. Posting a marketing Tweet that sounds like a sales pitch could result in the consumer clicking on the ‘block’ button.”
To avoid turning off potential customers, SMBs must ensure that they are targeting the right people to begin with.
“As our guide points out, if a business Tweets an offer for baby shoes to a woman who is not ready to be pregnant, that company may never sell her anything – even if she later decides to have children,” Perrine states. “Exercising a behavior, such as checking out a maternity store’s web site, is not necessarily the same as signaling one’s intent to buy something.”
The solution is simple, he continues. “People make clear on social media what their wants and needs are. As our guide notes, a simple search for ‘need food’ will show exactly who in the world is hungry at this moment.”
SocialCentiv makes Twitter marketing easy
Using the right tools is key for maximizing the marketing opportunities that Twitter affords SMBs.
“Our service helps companies reach prospective clients on Twitter when they’re most ready to buy,” he says. “SocialCentiv clients can then respond with promotional offers, and start conversations that lead to more business.”
SocialCentiv’s software has built-in capabilities for handling landing pages, along with automating follow-up emails, he adds. “We also provide intuitive, real-time data displays of the consumers who have received a business’ promotional offers.”
Tools like what SocialCentiv provides can help unlock the power of Twitter for SMBs, Perrine concluded.
“Research shows 53 percent of people use Twitter to recommend companies and products. Another 64 percent of the service’s users have indicated they are more likely to purchase the products of companies they follow in cyberspace. How can a business afford to not be part of that discussion?”
About SocialCentiv
In August 2014, HipLogiq integrated its portfolio of Twitter marketing applications under a single product line, SocialCentiv. Now, businesses can visit http://www.socialcentiv.com/ and find a user-friendly, do-it-yourself Twitter marketing tool that makes it easy to create a campaign that tracks keywords and reaches relevant consumers with greater precision by targeting local Tweets. You can be part of the most relevant Tweets as they happen, spot opportunities first, and make a name for yourself with SocialCentiv.
Since May 2013, SocialCentiv has received $12 million in two rounds of funding. For more information, go to www.SocialCentiv.com like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
For more information, contact Karen Carrera, TrizCom, 972-207-1935, karen@trizcom.com or @kjcarrera.
