Twitter, the 140 character micro-blogging site, is known for its short conversations, massive content generation and user’s rants about almost everything. It is also a place for people to network and meet like-minded people. And hence, it has also become a source for generating leads for businesses. In this post, we look at the why and hows of local businesses using twitter for lead generation, sales, marketing and customer support.

Why twitter for local businesses:

Huge user base: Twitter in India has over 16 million twitter users and that number is growing daily. My personal experience on twitter leads me to believe that a vast majority of the twitter users are urban middle class and have high disposable incomes. They are the audience that the brand should primarily reach out to, as most twitter users are influencers in their circles. I reached this conclusion by assuming that as early adopters [through joining twitter] they are more open to trying and exploring new things and would pass their opinions and experiences [both positive or negative] on to their offline circle.

Location based search: Twitter is the only social network that allows location based search, something that other networks and traditional media largely miss out on. By searching for relevant keywords or bio’s in the “local area” or “target area” the brand can optimize their conversion rates.

A simple e.g. would be: A car service station in Mumbai can search for “car service” near “Mumbai” and interact with users only from Mumbai. Some spillover is bound to happen but the hit and miss ratio is not that bad.

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