Twitter for Builders: Getting Started
Published: Monday, March 01, 2010
Anthony Botibol is the Marketing Manager at HBXL and author of the HBXL Marketing Guide for Builders. Here he talks about the rise of Twitter and how builders and trades people can utilize Twitter for their businesses…
Twitter is still in its infancy really but exploded last year and became the internet buzz word for 2009. If the hype surrounding Twitter has got you curious then you may be thinking about joining the growing network of tweeters, and you may have even wondered if there is any merit to getting your business on there as well.
So here’s a step-by-step guide for builders wanting to get on Twitter…
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a way to broadcast short messages (140 characters or less) to tell the world a message about whatever you like. You can tell people what you’re doing right now, start debates about something you’ve got an opinion about or for businesses it allows you to provide latest news and updates about your business. (It’s a bit like a status update on Facebook!)
You can choose to follow other people, which means their messages and links will appear on your Twitter homepage, and likewise people can choose to follow you. The beauty of Twitter is its simplicity. Because you’re limited to just 140 characters it makes every message very readable by anyone. Just a single glance is enough to read any message.
How is Twitter useful for building companies and Trades People?
Twitter can be useful for builders and trade professionals because it gives you a massively popular online service (which is used by millions of potential customers needing building work and who use Twitter daily) to promote what you do and raise awareness of your business.
Some Ideas to get you started
Some people who use Twitter have managed to get coverage in national newspapers and the power of ‘Word-of-Mouth’ and ‘Viral Marketing’ is huge, so if your Tweets are popular enough it has the potential to put your business in front of millions of people.
Here are some useful ideas for tweeting about:
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Tweet daily updates about the progress of a job you’re doing. (Every building job has a tale to tell and humorous moments that people might want to know about. Perhaps your customers would appreciate it too, and then tell their friends (!!) Soon you’ll have a collection of followers that might just come back to you when they need some work carried out!)
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Provide links to pictures or videos of work you’ve done, or picture updates of a job through its progression. (Some links to web pages, pictures or videos can be rather long and therefore by adding a link you’ll go over your 140 character limit. Another free website tool called http://www.bit.ly allows you to shorten any web link so that you can fit it into your character limit. Simply enter a URL and it will shorten it for you to put into your Tweet.)
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Start a debate about the state of the construction industry
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Provide one small DIY tip each day/week/month
The people who choose to follow you will receive your updates and as long as you create interesting messages or links to interesting content, you’ll start to gather many followers who you can then promote your business to at will!
Getting Started
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Go to www.twitter.com and create an account by following their simple instructions. You’ll be asked to create a username and my top tip is to ensure that you pick a username that people will be able to recognize as being you. Perhaps you could use your own name or the company name!?
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Fill in your biography. This is a great place to sell the services that you offer (or if you’re joining Twitter for your own pleasure then tell people a bit about yourself.)
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Post your first tweet onto Twitter. As mentioned before this must be 140 characters or fewer and should be typed into the box underneath the question “What are you doing?”
I would recommend starting with a message that is similar to your biography. This means that anyone coming to your Twitter page for the first time can see what you do. Perhaps then post a second tweet immediately afterwards with your first great DIY tip:
Example: When removing a radiator ensure you have plenty of old towels and a bucket to collect the old dirty water. It’s horrible and will stain your carpets!
4. Start to grow your network by joining www.twitter.com/hbxl. We’ll then follow you in return and this will start to link you to everyone else who already follows HBXL. Soon you’ll start building your network by following other people who may then follow you in this way.
Top Tip
A great way to get people engaged in your content is to add links to videos, blogs, your website or anywhere on the web that backs up your message. Perhaps you could video yourself removing a radiator, post the video on YouTube and then link to your video.
Then anyone searching the Internet for advice on removing a radiator may come across your Twitter post, take your advice and then might ring you if they need any work done in the future!
This might sound tenuous – but then all marketing is tenuous in many ways! How do you know for sure that a website will get you business? How do you know an advert in the local paper will be ready by the right person? The plain answer is you don’t BUT Twitter is free – so what have you got to lose?!
This is how the world of Twitter can win you new business in the future.
Useful Links
- www.twitter.com – Popular social networking site
- www.bit.ly – Shorten your URLs for use in Twitter
- www.twitter.com/hbxl - Join HBXL’s Twitter page to get you started