How Enterprise Technology Firms Can Leverage Twitter

Since its introduction, Twitter has gained tremendous authority as a significant platform for creating brand influence. All kinds of brands, ranging from consumer durables, automotive, healthcare, technology and many more now use it.

Talking specifically about technology brands, it is not just consumer technology firms who use Twitter, but enterprise technology firms have taken to using the platform extensively as well.

As the name suggests, enterprise technology firms are in the B2B market catering to an organization’s technology needs. They cover a wide range of products and solutions such as cloud computing, virtualization, data management, security etc. Some examples of these firms include Symantec, Cisco, CA Technologies, and many more.

So how does Twitter really fit in?

Firms in this category use it to create awareness about them, create thought leadership, build relationships and engage with the right set of influencers. There are some brilliant examples of companies who have utilized Twitter to do all of the previously mentioned tasks..

One of them is the IBM Big Data Hub.

The IBM Big Data Hub, managed by the IBM Information Management social team, is a site that brings together thought leaders and experts in the field of Big Data and Analytics.

They extensively use their Twitter handle to create conversations and engage with influencers. Here’s how:

Twitter chats: Their #CXO Twitter chat is a weekly chat (every Monday at 12 pm EST) which focuses on different aspects of customer experience optimization. Some of the topics they have covered include ‘Tangible Customer Connections’, ‘Personalizing Healthcare Byte by Byte’ etc.

The IBM Big Data website is a storehouse of information from both IBM as well as other subject matter experts. They regularly share and discuss featured articles and blogs from their website on Twitter.

Events: IBM recently concluded the IBM Information on demand conference in October in Las Vegas. The event featured discussions by numerous experts on topics related to information management. In order to create a wider audience for the event, live tweeting was done using the IBM Big Data Twitter handle (hashtag #IBMiod).

Given this, here are a few ways enterprise tech firms can utilize the 140 characters at their disposal:

1. Twitter chats: One of the easiest ways to create engagement is through a Twitter chat. Not only will this help you showcase your expertise, but also help you get more relevant followers. The most important thing to remember here is to create an appropriate hashtag. Other examples of companies who conduct Tweet chats regularly include CA Technologies (#Techviews), SAP (#SAPChat).

A Twitter chat can also be a great tool to discuss a new report as well, done very well by Symantec during the release of their Internet Security Threat report (#ISTR).

2. Create buzz about content: Utilize Twitter to publicize blogs, research reports etc. Given its global reach, it becomes all the more important to include this in a firm’s communication plan. Again, in order to optimize search, it is important to use the right hashtag.

For example, if you have a new report coming up on Mobility, the relevant hashtags will include #technology, #BYOD, #Mobility and more, depending on the content. Companies like Infosys utilize their Twitter handle to talk about their whitepapers very often.

3. Converse: Twitter is a great platform for engaging with potential clients, decision makers and influencers such as journalists. Given the nature of the industry, analysts also play a very important role as influencers and companies should use Twitter to actively engage with them.

In fact many companies have a separate Twitter handle for analyst relations (Symantec-@SymantecAR, Fujitsu- @AR_Fujitsu).

Content is key to creating conversations here. Share updates about latest research, blogs and new developments at the company. Besides the official company Twitter handle, employees should also be encouraged to take up Twitter and engage with the relevant audience.

4. Talent Acquisition: Every company wants the best talent. With everyone, especially the youth taking to Twitter, it becomes all the more important to use it to spread awareness about your work culture and attract new people. A company which is using this strategy very well is Capgemini India who use their Twitter handle (@CapgeminiIndia) extensively to publicize job openings.

Twitter has a lot of potential and is clearly brand/product and industry agnostic. With almost every person who is an important part of the firm’s ecosystem on Twitter, this might very well be a good platform for initiating contact. So whether it is a well established firm or a new entrant, Twitter should definitely be a major focus of the firm’s engagement strategy.