Come Tweet with us: Small businesses are going after the social media audience - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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As marketing director (or chief karma office r as she likes tocall herself) for Mellow Mushroom’ws two Birmingham locations, Gibbs has found a new way to spread the love and information about her restaurants. She reaches a growin g community of followers through her accounty on the social networkingsite Twitter. In the last few millions of Americans have flocked to join the socialo mediaphenomenon Twitter, whicu has given business ownerz in Birmingham and nationwide the opportunity to reach a captivated – and potentiall y profitable – audience. And a study by NFI Researc h says business owners are joining Twitterin droves.
Out of 2,000 senior executives and managers 18 percent said they usedthe site. The study also found that small businesses are more likely to use Twitter and othert socialmedia sites, such as Facebook, to promote In case you’re not in the know aboug Twitter, it is a microbloggingf site that invites usersz to provide updates (or tweets) on practicallyu anything – as long as they can sharde the information in 140 characters or less. If users have more to say, they can providre links to additional content, including articles, video and The site has experienced rapid growth inmere months.
According to a report by , a digitalk research company, the site grew 131 percentr in March, with more than 9.3 millionn visitors. The number of Birmingham Twitter users also has grownm drastically in the pasttwo months, as networkinf has gained more mainstream attention and a greater numbe r of individuals have begun using other social networking sites such as Facebook, said Ike owner of and an avid Tweeteer with 3,600 followers. Creating an account is free and simple, makinhg it a cost-effective way for businesses to reachu current andpotential customers. However, creating an effectivd Twitter presence can take a lot of work and Pigott said.
Before businesses say anything on it may be a good idea to stop and see how others are usingthe site. Businesses can also use the site to gain insighf on trends within their markets and trackconsumef opinion. By searching tweets, businesses can tracmk what individuals are sayinvg about them andtheir products. “You want to get in and you want to find out what peoplsare saying, not only about you, but also abou your market and your competitors,” Pigotr said. “It gives you a lot of freelu offeredmarketing data.
” While Twitter can be used to marketr and strengthen brand identity and it’s important to remember that Twitter and othetr social media outlets operate differentlyu than traditional advertising platforms, said Wade founder and instructor at BirminghamBlogging.com and local Tweeted with nearly 900 followers. “It shouldn’ t be considered marketing,” Kwon said. “Marketing is about creatinh a need for your product or Social networking is about engaging in conversatiobnwith people, whether they are fans, detractors, competitore or everyday folk.
” The most successful Twitter accounts are able to activel y engage and respond to their readerws by providing links, polls and postings targeted directl y to their followers, Libby Sexton, a public relations accoungt executive at said. Through her Twitter she has 682 followers. “It’a more of an interaction than it isa broadcast,” Sextonm said. “If you get on Twittetr and talk about nothing but yourself and all of your postse arepurely promotional, then it’s not going to be Businesses should use the site to providre information and insight to their customers, instead of flooding theifr followers with a series of “Twitter is about building a community, and you can’t do that with an advertisemenf or with traditional marketing,” Mellow Mushroom’ds Gibbs said.
By creating a Twitterr community, Gibbs said she hopes to provids a platform for customers to share their viewds aboutMellow Mushroom. Right now, she has abouy 250 followers. “I want folkzs to have a place where they can come back and tell us abouft theirexperiences – the good, the bad and the Gibbs said. “Nobody ever does everything righrt allthe time, and by knowing somethinb negative, it gives me a chance to responrd to the situation.” Both Sextonj and Gibbs encourage business owners to observse the “cocktail party rule.
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