With social media playing such a huge role in modern business, we felt it appropriate to centre this blog on Twitter and the worldwide ‘micro-blogging’ phenomenon.

In particular, we’re going to look at how you, as an SME, have a distinct advantage in social media when compared to the big players in your industry.

Publications and communications consultancy Weber Shandwick recently revealed that Fortune 100 companies are not using social media to its full potential – if at all.

And when we look a little closer, it’s easy to see why.

These huge companies have shareholders, board members, and numerous other stakeholders that all equate to red tape, making it difficult to communicate anything in under 140 characters that doesn’t offend or disagree with at least one party.

Here are three ways to effectively use your SME status to your advantage against the ‘Big Boys’ in your industry via Twitter and social media:

Speed and agility

With fewer restrictions and no bureaucratic procedures holding you back, you can capitalise on topics and keywords that your larger competitors will try to avoid – therefore gaining more coverage and exposure in particular areas.

Not only this, but your personal relationship with followers (the people that actively want to hear from your organisation) can be enhanced by replying to Tweets and becoming more involved in conversation and trending topics.

More than just brand awareness

Another thing that Weber Shandwick found during their study was that Fortune 100 companies used their Twitter accounts mainly to deliver news and increase brand awareness. Only 9% used Twitter to actively communicate with followers on a two-way basis.

Although delivering news and increasing brand awareness is an important part of any social media campaign, the underlying premise of Twitter is to facilitate two-way (or more!) communication – so use this to your advantage. Listen to followers and respond to them on a personal level.

Develop a personality

Due to the carefully-crafted corporate branding of most large organisations, it’s hard for the person in control of their Twitter account to stray from this path without getting into trouble.

This restricts large organisations’ perceived personality on social media platforms (where, incidentally, personality plays a huge role in the success of your campaign).

Do your best to develop a personality through your Tweets and resist the temptation to conform to ‘dry’, unengaging, corporate language.

Implement these three tactics in your Twitter campaign and you will soon start to see why social media plays such a large role in modern business.

Never before have organisations had the opportunity to communicate with existing and potential customers in this capacity, so make the most of it!

Or better yet, let us handle your social media marketing for you, while you focus on what you do best.

We offer Twitter, blog, and article marketing management from just £77 per month.

For more information, give us a call on 07528 372619 or email gavin@midascopy.com.