Social media is evolving with the speed of light, and so are customers’ communication expectations. Prospects and customers expect businesses to quickly respond to an enquiry or complaint on twitter. Not doing so is like hanging up the phone on customers. Publicly.

Being in the spotlight, you would expect that the social activities of the 50 fastest growing tech companies should reflect the most advanced social strategies and trends. But is that the case? Our report, ‘How social are you?’ benchmarks how the Deloitte Tech Fast 50 are approaching social media to answer this question, and offers some tips on how to communicate on social networks in order to turn customers and prospects into allies.

The annual report examines how these fast growing technology brands’ use of social media has evolved in the last 12 months. This year the UK Fast 50 companies impressed with their increased level of engagement on twitter. While on other social networks activity tends to be more about pushing out information in a broadcast manner, the social use of twitter has doubled over the last 12 months! This year’s report found that half of the companies are attempting to be more social on the channel.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise as twitter’s openness offers big potential for a two-way communication for both B2B and B2C brands. The companies making use of this communication opportunity have been successfully engaging their public on topics like company news, customer support and employment opportunities in the last year.

Here are our five top tips for how to get twitter engagement right.

1. Don’t be cryptic: With only 140 characters at your disposal, it’s often tricky to get ideas across, but being clear and concise is crucial in keeping your followers engaged.

2. Give followers a reason to click your link: Include a link in your tweets whenever possible and keep your tweets interesting to encourage click-throughs.

3. Convey your personality through your tweets: Don’t be afraid to use a lighter tone on twitter. The more approachable you are, the more likely you are to build relationships with your followers.

4. Create lists of useful industry contacts: Use twitter lists to put together useful groups of relevant people. This will help you build links with these influencers and will also act as a useful resource for your followers.

5. Respond to replies quickly: If someone directs a message at you on twitter, do your best to respond as quickly as possible. Even if you don’t know the answer or need to find more information, you can still set expectations.

To learn from the UK Fast 50 companies’ wins and losses of using social networks download ‘How social are you?’

photo credit: wonderferret