Comment: Tweeting, Twitter and the art of poking

I’ve become the unofficial spokesperson for social networking here at Sift Media towers.

I have to admit I have become slightly obsessed with the various Web 2.0 communities which have sprung up over recent years and I’m sure certain colleagues will tell you how annoying I can be when I waffle on about Twitter, Facebook and the like.

But despite their complaints, the new generation of social media tools do offer real opportunities to businesses.

Take Twitter for instance. If you’re not aware of it, the service gives users 140 characters to say what they’re doing, reading or experiencing. People who are interested in your thoughts, stories and rants can ‘follow’ you and will receive updates as you reveal - or ‘tweet’ – what you’re up to.

All types of people are tweeting but I’ve discovered that a large proportion are entrepreneurs, my target audience. I use our page at www.twitter.com/businesszone to update my followers on the latest articles we’ve published on BusinessZone.co.uk. In a few months, I’ve attracted 122 fans - not a huge amount I admit but a loyal community nonetheless that is getting bigger by the day.

Facebook has also proven to be beneficial.

As well as allowing me to interact with our communities via our own groups - search for ‘BusinessZone.co.uk’ and ‘UKBF’ – I used the social network to invite applications for The Pitch, the Dragons’ Den competition we ran at the Bristol Design Festival in June. I posted information on the pages of several relevant groups and when asking applicants how they heard about the contest, many said it was via Facebook.

These are just a few ways in which social networking has benefited me in my job and in turn the Sift Media communities I look after.

Like most things, it’s a case of trial and error. Some networks may not work for you and your business but others certainly will. The key to it all is tracking. Keep an eye on your website stats and see from where people arrive and always ask people how they heard about you. Their answer could reveal a community you’ve never heard of but where you or your business is being talked about.

You could also do what I do and allocate an hour or so a week to spend time researching what’s out there. Fridays afternoon’s are a good time for that.

Keep at it and I guarantee you’ll reap the rewards.

Dan Martin is editor of BusinessZone.co.uk and administrator of UK Business Forums.