The time is right for hi-tech to get involved with Social Networking. Despite the huge numbers of people on Facebook, twitter, etc., there’s a really few hi-tech companies joining the conversation. It is sometimes complicated convincing these businesses to obtain involve though – a catch22 happening. Others aren’t on Twitter for example, so companies don’t wish to spend your time speaking to nobody. Someone needs to bite the bullet and begin a business trend, but nobody wants to become first – and alone.
After putting much thought into this for that industry which i know best, fiberoptics, I’ve made the decision that Twitter is where to become. OK – allow me to support a little. I suppose I ought to clarify which i think all companies must have an account on LinkedIn and become active there, but I am pushing for any hi-tech Twitter movement.
Here’s my thinking. Hi-tech doesn’t (generally) see much demand for social facet of Twitter, but they may be well offered from it to talk about information. For a lot of us associated with twitter, probably the most helpful aspects is when easy it is to locate articles about stuff that interest us. We follow people and keywords which are highly relevant to what you want to find out about and discover and therefore are rewarded daily with snippets of knowledge and links that end up being useful. This, In my opinion, is paramount to social networking engagement for tech industries.
The Proposal:
-Every industry includes a trade association, a couple of industry news websites as well as some local chapters/sub-chapters of associations. Start there. These organizations want to get active with twitter – posting industry news and info.
-Associations with member e-mail lists have to email their people having a call to obtain engaged and share their understanding and product information.
-Create a plan. Who’ll publish for the company? Which kind of things are you going to tweet about? Don’t merely sell – engage. Publish information on that which you offer, but balance it with industry news and general info that readers might find informative. Create a arrange for addressing complaints or nasty posts that could appear. Monitor your company name and keywords.
-Setup your Twitter account and check out a couple of individuals to follow – search for customers, vendors, competitors, trade associations, industry news sites…
-Make certain to place a hyperlink for your twitter in your website.
-Send an e-mail for your customers and vendors announcing your twitter address and inspiring these to join the conversation. Let them know which kind of information you intend to publish.
-Now engage! Use one of the numerous websites that help manage your social networking info in the event that useful. I personally use HootSuite, but you should use Tweetdeck, Tweetizen or a number of other sites.
-Remember, this really is still “Social”, so send notecards to new supporters, follow some people who follow you, retweet interesting posts, acknowledge individuals who retweet you.
There you have it – do it now. Don’t quit or get frustrated. It requires time for you to develop a following. You won’t have 100 supporters per week – or perhaps a month. But, should you stick to the plan and keep going with it, you’ll all of a sudden understand that individuals are following and interesting and you’re seeing posts with links to get affordable information… It’s all regulated good!
