Tech Doctors: everybody's talking

Want to know how to unlock the massive potential of the online, digital and social media world for your business? In the first of a new six-part series for Imbibe, the team at digital design agency Obergine takes a look at how you can make the most out of Twitter

What is Twitter?

Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send and read posts of up to 140 characters, known as Tweets. The free service was launched in July 2006 and now has over 200 million users, with 200 million tweets being sent every day. While other social networks have started to deplete, Twitter is still rapidly growing in popularity.

Before Twitter, social networking was all about connecting with your friends and acquaintances. When Twitter came along it changed the rules. For the first time it was acceptable to ‘follow’ people you didn’t know and take part in conversations with people you may never meet – creating a great opportunity to directly engage with customers and prospective customers alike.

Gaining new customers by traditional direct marketing techniques can often be a relentless task. But Twitter offers a unique opportunity to broadcast messages, free of charge, to a large audience in real time.

Where do I start?

Head to twitter.co.uk and create an account. Don’t forget to add a picture, complete biography (possibly including a contact number and opening hours) and a link to your establishment’s website so people can easily find you.

When you create your account, you’ll be asked for a username. Usernames are publically visible and when preceded by the @ sign link to a Twitter profile, such as @legrandrestaurant. Whenever a follower uses your username this counts as a mention and is visible in your profile, so you can keep track of people talking about you in their updates. You can also follow what people are saying on your timeline – a real-time list of Tweets on Twitter similar to the news feed on Facebook.

What next?

Once your account is set up, undertake some basic research to see who your main competitors are, and start following who they’re following. Identify key influencers within your industry such as food and wine writers. Search out potential customers in your local area, like people following restaurants in the same geographic area as you.

Identifying people who have shared interests means they are more likely to follow you back and engage in dialogue. Remain customer-focused; following lots of people in a city 200 miles away isn’t going to translate into mass sales any time soon.

Once you’ve started following some users, start tweeting and engage in conversation with your followers and notable influencers within your industry. Twitter is, on the whole, a supportive arena where brands will be keen to recommend and talk about more than just themselves! Acquiring new followers will come easily if you post interesting updates (and offers) on a regular basis, but be aware that people might ‘unfollow’ you if you tweet excessively or not frequently enough.

Tweet converters

If you’re wondering how to convert followers into sales, think of your Twitter feed as your bar or restaurant window, and entice them in. Be creative, retweet happy customers, offer recipes. Use Twitter to post photos – a great way to promote special offers. You can even go one step further and offer a special deal to your Twitter followers only.

It’s sometimes hard to measure return on investment from your social media efforts, but by offering an exclusive offer to Twitter subscribers you’ll soon be able to measure whether your time on Twitter is well spent.

Don’t forget to watch your mentions – Twitter is great for monitoring customer satisfaction. Ask followers for feedback and retweet positive reviews. It’s inevitable that feedback won’t always be 100% positive, but don’t ignore the angry customers: respond quickly, politely and publicly. You can gain followers by acknowledging a complaint, but lose many by ignoring it.

Twitter glossary

Mentions [men-shuhnz]:
A mention is any Twitter update that contains ‘@username’ anywhere in the body of the Tweet.

Direct Messages [dih-rekt mes-ij-ez]:
Also called a DM and most recently simply called a message, these Tweets are private between the sender and recipient.

Retweets [ree-tweetz]:
Clicking retweet will repost someone else’s Tweet onto your feed and attribute it to the original poster.

Hash Tag [hash-tag]:
The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet, such as #Bordeaux.

Case study @AtomicPizzas

There’s no perfect Twitter account, but for an insight into a restaurant that is hitting the
right notes, check out @AtomicPizzas. The restaurant opened in Oxford in September
2011 and already has over 500 followers. Here’s what they’re doing right…

The team at Atomic Pizza started tweeting regularly before the restaurant opened its doors, allowing potential customers to follow the new venue’s progress. The result was a packed opening night.

They used Twitter to launch a series of competitions. The first involved followers sending a link or uploading YouTube clips that were funny/‘Atomic style’ to kick-start their followers.
The prize was tickets to the opening night.

It also pays to be polite and kind. The Atomic Pizza team thanks the people who follow, retweet and mention them, and they directly reply to each customer that enquires about opening dates, menu and bookings.

The team is particularly good at selling the quirky ‘Atomic’ experience. Posting about Kermit the Frog and Star Wars, for instance, keeps the brand alive and makes the Twitter timeline more than just an endless stream of ‘We’ve got the best pizzas in town’ posts.

Fun pictures also add to the personality of the account. For example, a recent image of customers tucking into their dinner with the tagline: ‘Four brave warriors take on the mighty Godzilla Pizza – who will conquer?’ The restaurant is also honest, light-hearted and quick to acknowledge grumpy customers, apologising for things like slow service where necessary.

In a nutshell, the approach is proactive, open, quirky and personable.