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It seems like most startups on Twitter use one of two strategies:

1) Broadcast links & information about the company.

2) Broadcast links & information about the industry related to the company.

Or a combination of both, in many cases.

I'm interested to hear if anyone knows of unique strategies that you've seen startups -- or even just businesses in general -- use on Twitter.

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6 Answers

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Interesting people, with something interesting to say in an interesting way. No one wants to hear from a company. It's like getting a form letter in the mail.

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I found this one interesting: http://bit.ly/5mqylr

Basically the strategy is to tweet when you are in a venue and show that to the waiter and get free stuff. The venue spends little -maybe a coffee or beer-, and gets publicity in exchange. Don't know if this ultimately works, and it probably is difficult to measure conversion rates, but it's definitely creative.

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Here's one use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_MtLrjwOaA

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up vote 4 down vote

I think using the word "broadcast" is not the best Twitter strategy.

A good strategy uses Twitter to connect to customers and potential customers. Of course you'll broadcast things like interesting links, but what about RT'ing things your customers or followers say which are interesting to others, thus connecting people to each other and rewarding them for talking with you?

Best is if you empower people with new ideas, tools, techniques, and connections.

If you think of Twitter (or a blog) as a way to establish expertise and create a group of people who trust you and to some extent each other, that creates the "valuable thing" which then leads them to your product or service.

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I agree. I guess I kind of took the interaction with other Twitter users as a given on the platform, but there are certainly companies who don't engage. I should have been more clear and I should have used a different word than broadcast. I definitely think what you're talking about is the smart way to go, but I'm interested to see if they are companies using Twitter in a way that people would find surprising or out-of-the-ordinary. – Aaron Q Dec 12 '09 at 19:42
Right. Dell comes to mind -- they're successful but they just broadcast coupons. That's fine for them but not what you're asking about of course. In my experience the companies who are successful are actually individuals who are successful, and who work at a company. :-) – Jason Dec 13 '09 at 17:05
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I know this guy who was making twitter backgrounds for celebrities (for free) to initiate a conversation and then politely asking them to take a few snapshots of celebrities endorsing his products. The guy then plans to use those images to boost his marketing efforts.

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That's pretty clever. Thanks for the response! – Aaron Q Dec 12 '09 at 19:43
Very interesting. Did this work for him? – JoshSamBob Dec 15 '09 at 16:22
You can follow him here - twitter.com/scopial – Arpit Tambi Dec 15 '09 at 17:18
Nice, Jim Carrey is in ;) – Arpit Tambi Dec 15 '09 at 17:19
up vote 1 down vote

I've seen some companies run contests/give-aways that required participants to either follow or retweet them. If the price is worth it, it can create a huge viral loop.

For instance, SitePoint gave away a free eBook for following them on Twitter.

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