Tweet to woo

Real lives
Now we’ve got all this social media, everything else is so yesterday. Twitter is a quick, simple, available and extremely cheap way to boost your business. Su Butcher takes flight

Have you Googled your practice name recently? You really should, because other people will. What they find will tell them more about you than your website. It could be what makes them pick up the phone.

Many of your clients, competitors, and contacts are using online social tools, and in the last year they have been joined by scores of architects, contractors and consultants. Why are they using these tools, and in particular, why the oddly-named Twitter? There are three main reasons, corresponding to three key ways to develop your business: differentiate yourself, be visible, and collaborate.

Twitter makes you visible because it’s the most open social tool; virtually all messages are searchable and indexed by Google. Whatever you talk about can be picked up by anyone – they can dip into the conversation and get to know you.

Many journalists use Twitter to research stories. Rather than spamming them with press releases, follow them and find out what they need. In my first week on Twitter a trade magazine published one of our projects on its website, which doubled visits to ours. In my first six months of using Twitter, unique visitors to Barefoot & Gilles’ website rose 78%.

Add personality
Twitter gives you personality; it’s a tool for differentiation. We know that not all architects are the same but most lay people won’t know what makes your practice different. If someone can look you up online before they ring, they are more likely to be the type of contact you want.

Connect from Twitter to anything you’ve published on the internet – writing on a blog, images on Flickr, video on YouTube – and make yourself available to talk about it. HOK now has an online presence on most platforms and has completely redefined its brand image. Matt Franklin, a one man band from Shropshire, runs ‘Ask the Architect’ every Friday afternoon, and is available to answer questions. Whatever we share online associated with our brand builds up a picture of our expertise.

Thirdly, Twitter is collaborative . It explodes your narrow circle of contacts and finds people who share your interests and concerns. Architecture students share ideas with their peers across the world, helping each other. People are getting recommendations for services and products, organising live-streamed collaborative events like be2camp, finding experts on Radon and the Code for Sustainable Homes, putting each other in touch. Everyone is building new collaborative partnerships.

Promotion on the cheep
And the results for Barefoot & Gilles? We’re promoting ourselves and our clients. Last year architectural photographer Andy Marshall ‘live tweeted’ his photoshoot of the Salthouse Harbour Hotel, attracting interest in our design, his photography and our client’s hotel. This year we’re helping fund raise for the new Ipswich Childrens’ Hospice, another of our clients. We’ve also increased our reach into new geographical areas by turning Twitter contacts into face-to-face introductions. Some are already leading to high value commissions.

The last two years have been tough, and for those of us who’ve stuck it out, these techniques have provided a low cost way to ensure people know that we’re still here, and here to help.

Su Butcher is practice manager of Barefoot & Gilles Architects and blogs at Justpractising.com