As 2012 draws to a close we’ve spent a few days looking at the marketing highlights of the year.  London 2012 and its resounding success from both a sporting and marketing point of view was my highlight by far.  The legacy for me was how it showcased everything that’s good about our country.   Our values, spirit, the volunteers, armed forces; the genuinely talented sports stars from Team GB and Paralympic Team GB who triumphed no matter what their medal colour or finishing time.  I believe we showed the world we can put on a great show, without selling out to the corporate giants.

Other highlights were how events such as the Olympics were shared across the world via social media.  Twitter was undoubtedly one of the most active social media platforms during the Games, giving ‘as they happen’ updates round the clock.  People were using it to share successes and praise the athletes in a more direct way than ever before.

The ‘top’ tweet for 2012 was Barack Obama’s victory tweet: ‘Four more years’.  It was re-tweeted over 800,000 times in more than 200 countries.  One of Twitter’s newest high-profile tweeters is Pope Benedict XVI.  As I write today, @Pontifex has posted only 7 tweets, yet it already has almost 630,000 followers.  What’s this telling us?  Whilst there are still the sceptics about Twitter benefits for business, and there are many, we believe it’s here to stay for 2013, and will form a part of any marketing plan we put together for our clients.  On Tuesday this week, Twitter announced the launch of www.2012.twitter.com, a site which celebrates the impact tweets have had over the last year.  It looks at the biggest trends and most popular hashtags, it’s definitely worth a look.

I don’t know about you, but more and more I think in snippets of 140 characters or less.  We use Twitter for our business, giving marketing tips to our followers throughout the day.  We’re also using Twitter for most of our clients, as part of their marketing activity.  We research, plan and write tweets for our clients, and load them to go out on a regular basis.  We follow the belief that Twitter, within a corporate environment, should be a listening exercise rather than a ‘posting marathon’.    We can gather information about what our client’s customers are saying, and using this to tailor their messaging.  Your customers don’t care what a press release says about a company, they care about what other customers say about your product.

If you’re still a skeptic, or want to develop your Twitter use as a marketing tool, here are a few suggestions.

Listen before you tweet.  Don’t think you have to sit each day and tweet about what’s happening to you or your company in real time.  Follow competitors, influencers and long-time tweeters; understand how they use it.

Share great content.  Twitter is a great mechanism for distributing news, tips and blogs.  We help our clients gain followers and become known as a valuable content source, via the information we post for them.

Engage.  The power of interacting with people in real-time is unparalleled.  Simply thanking someone for following you or retweeting you is the first step in interacting with your audience.   It’s also basic good manners, which count for a lot in social media.

Hone your tone.  If you are using Twitter for business, keep it to business.  You need to define your goals for being on there in the first place, and find your voice in support of those goals.  Share useful content, you?ll soon build up an audience of like-minded people.

Plan.  Don’t write tweets in real-time.  Write them as you would a web page – with an objective, with a call to action and with an audience in mind.  Think from a customer perspective – what’s their pain?  Do not focus on what you offer, but on what people are experiencing, and how you can help them.

Make tweets interesting and useful.  People are very willing to share useful information with their followers, and this is how using Twitter can extend your reach hugely.  Making tweets both useful and interesting will only encourage people to share and engage.

Do it regularly.  This is where we add real value to our clients.  We plan and deliver regular content via Twitter for them.  We don’t get distracted with other business concerns, as this is our business concern – delivering on-going marketing that works for all our clients.

My favourite tweet of 2012: ‘29 gold, 17 silver, 19 bronze – We finished 3rd in medal table after most successful Olympics for 104 years#OurGreatestTeam RT your support’.  67,000+ re-tweets.

I’ll be posting my tweet to sum up 2012 next week, follow me to find out what it is! @debbierushton1

For marketing tips and advice, follow us on Twitter @topmarketingtip (5,963 followers to date!)