Mashable – a blog about social media tools, tips and other great information – recently posted a great piece about Twitter as a PR tool.As I read through the list of things PR firms are doing with Twitter, I couldn’t help but smile because I recognized a lot of the specific recommendations as things that Abshire PR has been doing on Twitter for the past 6+ months. They are little things that have made a big difference to our business. I want to highlight three of the activities mentioned, and talk specifically about how they have positively benefited APR.
Engaging reporters: It is our job to get our clients’ stories told. One of the best ways to do this is to build relationships with the folks who tell those stories. But, these folks are busy all of the time. As the Mashable piece mentions, as of 2009, more than half of all reporters were using Twitter for story research. Making ourselves available in a medium they prefer makes APR a go-to resource.
Crowd-sourcing research: If you are not familiar with the term crowd-sourcing, it refers to the idea of placing an open call to an undefined group for information gathering or other tasks. On Twitter, it is especially effective. APR sometime uses this technique on Twitter to gather information on topics we are still learning about. The collective wisdom of the Twitterverse can be powerful, and because it is so large and diverse, the information received is usually accurate and useful because if something invalid is offered a fact, others often jump in to clarify or correct that misinformation.
Offer a behind-the-scenes Glimpse We love to this at APR too. We our very lucky that our work takes us all over the Low Country and affords us the opportunity to meet some fascinating people. These are the things we like to share on Twitter. Whether through a picture, or just text, we use Twitter to share interesting bits of our day with our followers.
In the six months that we have had a strategic approach to Twitter, we have seen our followers numbers double, as well as the referral traffic to our website from Twitter. When your business is all about effective communication, this is a big deal. But, as I think about this, most of this activity would be useful to any business on Twitter, it’s just a matter of getting started. In the comments section, feel free to let us know how your company uses Twitter.
