Twitter – A Natural PR Tool

Twitter is all about promoting yourself or your business. It’s basically a broadcasting tool, so it is a natural outlet for public relations. Use Twitter to build a following. To be seen as an expert, regularly tweet about your opinions, the latest facts and any happenings. Provide links not just to your articles but also to articles written by others in your industry or profession. Be an expert commentator and a resource for others. Try to provide value in your tweets—which we admit can be quite challenging at Twitter’s limit of only 140 characters!

One cool aspect of tweeting is that you can easily set Twitter to publish your posts on your personal blog, your MySpace blog and your Facebook account simultaneously. The best thing about tweeting is that you don’t have to read or respond to all the tweets you receive. In this respect, tweets are quite unlike e-mail, and you don’t have that “Oh-no-I’ve-got-to-catch-up” feeling hanging over your head if you ignore Twitter for a few days. Who cares what everybody did yesterday? Tweeting is very much a “happening now” kind of activity.

One MMI client that tweets regularly serves as the primary economic development catalyst for North Carolina’s Wake county and its 12 municipalities. Wake County Economic Development’s purpose is to encourage businesses from outside Wake to expand and relocate there as well as assist local companies with their business expansions efforts in the county. To accomplish those goals, WCED provides a bounty of data about the great lifestyle and economy you find in Wake County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation.

For example, one WCED tweet says, “Over 100 summer camps are offered by Parks and Recreation Department of Raleigh.” http://idek.net/4bh Another tweet says, “Forbes Magazine ranks Raleigh #1 ‘Best Place for Business and Careers’ for third year in a row.” A third tweet: “The New R Line in Raleigh provides FREE energy efficient transportation around downtown Raleigh.” And a fourth: “Check out the Carolina Hurricanes upcoming schedule.” http://idek.net/4be

In short, tweeting is a natural form of promotion for government entities seeking to promote their regions and encourage tourism and economic development.