Something that we hear from a lot of our clients who are in the professional services industry is, “How can I use Twitter to its full advantage?”  Most businesses and companies have all heard about how great Twitter can be, but when it gets down to planning how it can be used to benefit your own company, it can be somewhat confusing.

Whether Twitter is just a fad or here to stay, the fact remains that Twitter isn’t going anywhere in the near future and there’s a good chance that the people you want to be talking with are on there somewhere, and possibly even looking for you!

Here are some ways in which we found Twitter to work best for our clients in the professional services niches:

Share Company News

The nice thing about Twitter is that it gives you a built-in distribution list: your followers.  One of the best ways to use Twitter is to use it as a way to break news to your distribution list.  You can use it to announce things like:

  • Advising people of a new office location, or of a grand opening of a new location
  • Announce a new partnership or employee in your offices
  • Remind people of a special event that’s coming up

It’s also a good way to share your clients’ experiences, and perhaps to even connect them with one another if that makes sense in your niche or industry.

Share Content

There’s no better forum than social media to share content that you’ve put onto your website.  Whether they’re blog entries, white papers, articles that you find interesting or links to podcasts, these are all things that you can post and share on Twitter.

If you develop the talent of writing a real intriguing and interesting tweet, you may be even able to get your tweets “retweeted”, which will further broaden your company’s reach on Twitter and bring even more awareness to your brand.

One thing to keep in mind is that all of the content that you post should be relevant to your followers and should be helpful rather than sales-focused.  Otherwise people will see you and your company as a “spammer” and stop following you on Twitter.

Get Connected

Many businesses view LinkedIn as the only social media site for them to get connected with like-minded individuals who are in the same or similar industries as them, but Twitter can be used in the same way, too.  As we talk about in our Ebook “Take your Social Media to the Next Level”, when you share content and opinions on Twitter, other people will share with you in return.  You’ll find that many different employers and employees, clients and customers will also then share their own opinions and thoughts on what it is that you post, thus you’ll be able to begin building connections and relationships with these people.

Build Brands

Many professional service companies out there don’t own just one firm, but they may also be a partner or an executive of two, three, four or more different firms.  Feel free to use your Twitter to not only promote those other brands and businesses that you may be a part of, but make sure that you open up Twitter accounts for those partners and executives of your other firms as well.

Find Business

The primary reason why a lot of companies want to start up a Twitter account is to find new business.  You want to get new customers and clients.  You want to build relationships with people who may invest in you and your company.

Simply put, you want to make money.

That’s great, and that is what Twitter should ultimately do for you.  But you want to make sure that when you do use Twitter that you’re being honest, that you’re sharing, and that you’re being helpful.  Otherwise you’ll just end up annoying your followers and non-followers alike to the point that they’ll want nothing to do with your company.

Key Takeaways:

Why would anyone turn down using a free tool that can potentially get you a whole lot more business?  Twitter will take some time to get used to, and it may take you some time to get used to creating tweets that generate some kind of action from your followers, but once you get a handle on it you’ll be able to use it to:

  • Find new clients, customers, investors, employees and employers
  • Connect and team up with people with similar interests and opinions
  • Help develop the brands of your partners and/or executives
  • Share important news about your company or your employees
  • Expand your company’s reach online

Need Help?

If you’re a professional service provider interested in maximizing your social media marketing efforts, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.