Not a surprise, right? This Mashable article does a great job of teaching the best ways to utilize Twitter for business. The article addresses a study that came out today showing that most Fortune 100 Companies just don’t get Twitter.
The study cites that because these companies are “lacking in personality” on Twitter, they fail to engage their customers and are missing business opportunities. The majority of the accounts from Fortune 100 companies had no personality, but instead focused on brand only, which on Twitter had them show up as a faceless non-entity.
Below are some excerpts from the article:
Missed Business Opportunities
The most popular use of Twitter from companies using it, is as a newsfeed or for developing brand awareness. But companies seem not to understand how to use the service to increase sales or they don’t believe that it’s possible. Though Dell (33 on Fortune 100 list) has used Twitter to sell millions of dollars worth of products, only 16 percent of Fortune 100 accounts used Twitter for sales, special Twitter offers, coupons or other special offers.
Another effective use for businesses has been using Twitter for customer service. For example, Best Buy (56 on Fortune 100) uses its @Twelpforce for customer service and has some 14,000 followers. However, only 9 percent of the Fortune 100 accounts use Twitter for this purpose.
Because so many of these companies aren’t using Twitter effectively, if at all, it makes sense that 68 percent of the accounts had fewer 1,000 followers. This seems to indicate that the accounts do not provide much value, which can come from a dialogue with followers, a service the account provides (such as coupon codes or customer service), and the quality of information being shared.
Being engaged and active on Twitter usually translates to more followers because it gives an account more exposure and chances of being retweeted and seen by other users (assuming the information is valuable).