Twitter for B2B Technology CompaniesIf you’ve been questioning whether Twitter is a worthwhile marketing investment, check out these statistics…

According to the “Tweets in Action: Mobile/Tech” survey, 59% of people who have seen a tweet from a B2B technology company have visited the company’s website, as compared to 40% of Internet users who have not seen a tweet.

When it comes to conversions, the survey states, “The impact of tweet exposure is even more noteworthy on lead generation than site visitation, suggesting a correlation between tweet exposure and lead quality … While 4% of average Internet users completed sign-up on a B2B tech site, Twitter users converted at more than double the rate (11%).”

However, opening an account on Twitter and sending out the occasional tweet or new product announcement isn’t enough to see these results. Here are seven ways that you can use Twitter to bring more leads to your website and increase your conversion rates.

1. Make Twitter a part of all of your marketing.

If you create lots of content and use multiple channels, it can be easy to forget to share something on Twitter. That’s why Twitter needs to be integrated into all of your marketing. Every time you develop a new piece of content, have your copywriter create tweets to go along with it. For example, every time I write a blog post for one of my clients, I provide them with two or three tweets that they can use to drive their Twitter followers to the post. Using a similar process will ensure that Twitter becomes an integrated part of your marketing and no content gets left behind.

2. Automate some of your tweets.

This advice is controversial, as many marketers feel that auto-tweeting is not authentic. However, I see nothing wrong with auto-tweeting or scheduling content that you want to tweet regardless.

For example, Hootsuite has an AutoSchedule feature that determines when your tweets will get maximum exposure and allows you to pre-schedule tweets to go out at these times. The TweetOldPosts WordPress plug-in auto-tweets your older posts to bring more people back to your blog. In addition, you should set up your blog so your new posts are automatically tweeted as soon as they go live.

If you’re using tools like this, just be sure that you’re also going on Twitter every day to respond to people and engage in discussions.

3. Follow. Follow. Follow.

What’s the key to growing a large following? Following others. An easy way to find followers is to search for hashtags that your ideal customers follow or for keywords that they use in their bios. Twitter also has a “Who to Follow” feature that sometimes makes good suggestions.

4. Get some PR.

In addition to following customers and potential customers, you can also use Twitter to connect with the media, bloggers, analysts and other influencers. You can get on their radar by sharing their content and mentioning them in tweets. Just don’t ask them to share your content until you have an established relationship. However, once they decide to share your content, you can gain a lot of exposure with your target audience.

5. Make it easy for people to follow you.

In addition to following others, you should encourage others to follow you. The best way to do this is by posting great content that others want to share with their followers. The more this happens, the more you multiply the people who interact with your content and follow you.You should also include Twitter “Follow Me” buttons on your website, on your blog, in your emails and in your other social channels where possible. The more you cross-promote, the more you will increase your followers.

6. Advertise on Twitter.

Twitter’s advertising features allow you to promote specific accounts, tweets or trends. Promoting your account helps you grow your following, while promoting your tweets helps you get clicks. Promoting a trend is the ultimate in Twitter advertising, as it gets your hashtag on the trending list that is visible to everyone on Twitter.

7. Hold Twitter chats.

While you want to share all of your content on Twitter, you should also consider doing something unique for your Twitter followers. One fun way to use Twitter is to hold Twitter chats, where you invite your followers to log onto Twitter at a certain time and ask one of your experts questions or engage in an informal discussion around a specific topic.

And finally, don’t forget to share others’ content. Ideally, you should share your content 10%-20% of the time and engage in discussions and share others’ content the rest of the time. Doing this will provide your followers with more value and useful information, as well as build goodwill with the people whose content you share.

What about you? How do you think B2B technology companies can use Twitter? Feel free to share your comments below.

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