How to Use Twitter Removal DM Restrictions in Your Marketing Strategy

In July, Twitter announced that it was removing the 140-character restriction on DM’s and allowing, instead a 10,000 character chat message. At first, marketers responded with a “Ho-Hum” attitude. After all, they already had live chat on their sites, conversations on Facebook, and the ability to connect personally with readers and customers on their blogs. It didn’t seem like that big a deal, frankly, especially when they had been successful using the SMS feed and getting followers into the conversion funnel. As the ramifications slowly began to set in, however, marketers have realized that, while longer DM’s may duplicate Facebook and blog conversations, as well as email campaigns, there are some followers who only use Twitter, some customers who want contact through Twitter, and some great opportunities to divide out communications using DM. Here is a list of the important facets of DM and how you can use these to your advantage as you revise your Twitter marketing strategy. Segregate Groups Based Upon Conversion StatusesYou can use the SocialBro tool that allows you to target specific followers or groups of followers based on filters and tags that you set up, and you can change those filters and tags at any time. But now you are no longer limited to 140 characters, and you can send up to 250 DM’s on any given day.

• Some followers or groups of followers are already customers. You will not be offering the same content to these followers as you would to newbies. You will want to focus on new products or services, on digging into their questions and issues with your current products and services, and providing a great customer service experience. You want to maintain the good relationships that you have already established with these followers
• Some followers are in the conversion funnels but are not actual customers. This group needs different incentives and different content. Now that you have 10,000 characters to engage them further, you can provide a new special discount, conduct a survey, and give some good educational information about your products/services.
• You will also have brand new followers who have found you or been recommended to you, and you need to begin the careful process of defining your brand to them, of soliciting questions, of providing information about free trials only available to new customers. You may want to offer a free e-guide which your other followers already have.

Respond to Individual Followers Yes, you already have the capacity to do this through phone, email and live chat, but here is yet another platform for followers who prefer Twitter. You may have struck up individual conversations with a follower on another platform, but you not have the chance to continue that conversation via Twitter DM. You can respond to specific questions and individual customer service issues. You can answer questions that others have already asked and had answered. Offer Rewards and Incentives Based upon Level of ConversionYou can now divide up your groups of followers for rewards and incentives.

• If you have loyal followers who are already customers, you may want to reward them with something special – a shopping window of time around the holidays with specials only for loyal customers, for example.
• You may want to offer a specific incentive to those followers who have shown interest, who have asked questions, who have responded to a survey, or who have taken a free trial but have not become fully converted.
• You have a third group of followers who have recently come aboard and are still in the exploration phase. You want them to get a “feel” for who you are and you want a better “feel” for their pain points and needs/desires. This group need “massaging” and relationship development, and small posts via DM will help. Offering a free trial or a newcomer discount might be appropriate too.

Hosting an Event There are times when you may be hosting an event, either locally or online. The event may be appropriate for only certain of your followers. You now have a method to target just the group(s) of followers you want to attend, and you have the character length to give some detailed information about why they should attend.

Customer Service Made More Effective 140 characters has never allowed for effective and efficient customer service. If you received a Tweet with an issue or concern, you had to immediately change platforms to serve that customer satisfactorily. Now, through DM, you and your customer can discuss any issue in much greater detail (10,000 characters) and probably resolve it without ever leaving Twitter. Customer is happy and you have saved time!

Some Other Important Considerations as You StrategizeNow that you have this additional platform, it is easy to get excited and jump right in. Here are few cautions:

1. Keep your “brand image” pure and consistent. Think about your Facebook posts that get lots of response and comment. Fashion your DM’s in the same way.
2. Recognize that back-and-forth messaging only goes so far. There are limits. If your followers have complex questions and/or issues, moving over to email or direct phone conversations may be warranted. DM is not the answer to all customer service.
3. Don’t reach out to followers just because DM is there. They may see this as a bit “creepy.” Send a regular Tweet first that announces a forthcoming DM and it subject matter, encourage them to read it and respond with any comments or questions. When they know to expect it, they are far less suspicious of your motives.
4. Remember that there is often a fine line between DM and spam. Be careful not to cross it.

The end of restrictions on DM can be a huge boon to your marketing strategy – it adds just one more method of connecting with your followers in groups and individually. If used correctly, it can really promote your brand and conversions.

from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1XByB48 via transformational marketing
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