When talking about social media, Elvis had it backwards. One of the biggest reasons social media is effective is because you are able to have a conversation with your peers and potential clients. Twitter has often been compared to a room full of people shouting and it is your goal to be heard, however as a business owner, it is important that you are also listening, listening to what your consumers are in need of. One way to do this is by monitoring specific keywords that are related to your industry and following the conversations that are happening around those words.
One way I like to do this is by creating a column within HootSuite.com (which I use to manage most all of my social media accounts) and enter 3-6 keywords; keywords that people would be using to find your product or service. Take a salon for example: if there is a local salon in Denver Colorado trying to monitor keywords that their audience is using, they might watch words and phrases like “salon in Denver” “massage in Denver” “need a hair lady in CO”. You might have to play with what keywords deliver you the best results. Once you see someone post a tweet that has the keywords you are monitoring you can quickly respond introducing yourself and solve their problem by giving them your address, setting an appointment, sending them to your website, etc.
Another way to participate in the conversations is through search.twitter.com. Twitter doesn’t have the best search capabilities, but this site does make it easy to hop into a relative conversation quickly. Just enter the keyword or key phrases that someone would use when looking for you or talking about your product/service and see where it would be appropriate for you to engage.
Finally, Twitter Lists are a fantastic way to filter through all the millions of Twitter users and hundreds to thousands of Twitter users that are following you. You can either create a list or subscribe and follow one that has already been created, but just make sure it is a list where you would find your perfect client. Mashable has a fantastic post about How to Use and Create Twitter Lists, I highly suggest you check this post out.
Remember, social media is about building relationships so make sure you aren’t only talking but also listening, all while jamming to Elvis




