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Blog
5 Ways to Start a Conversation on Twitter – And Keep it Going
By ideba | May 20, 2013
Some analysts argue that traditional business conversations are happening less frequent today than they once were, but in other ways today’s technology is creating new styles of conversation that extend around the world - take Twitter for example. It enables conversations between you and your followers and can drive real engagement for your business. For any company looking to join the “Twitter conversation,” here are 5 tips to help you get started:
1.) Introduce yourself! Just because Twitter is an internet medium, that doesn’t mean your followers don’t want to know who they’re talking to. @Dell includes a side bar with pictures of the staff that are tweeting to the account. For your company, try tweeting behind the scenes pictures, introducing new team members, and sharing your own thoughts every so often. It’s nice to know who is behind the keyboard.
2.) Tell an interesting anecdote. It’s important to be engaging on Twitter and to keep your followers entertained and informed. Create a catchy title and link to articles that are relevant in your industry. For example @WholeFoods tweets great recipes with the tag #WFMdish, while @Huffingtonpost keeps users up to date with daily articles which drive traffic to their website. Your business can follow suit by linking to any blog posts or news releases you have and monitor news accounts for interesting articles to share with your followers.
3.) Listen. @DeltaAssist is replying to tweets 24/7 to help travelers with questions or concerns about the airline’s services. @EMCProven retweets updates from followers who have passed their IT certification exam and publically congratulates them! Let your customers know you are listening by answering any questions they have. Reply with positive comments and mention followers while thanking them for their support. Your followers will appreciate being acknowledged and heard.
Work
Denali HP Microsite
Category: Consulting
Client’s Pain Point
“How can we communicate the benefits of HP networking to our clients in a competitive market?”
Ideba’s Approach
Built an HP Networking specific microsite, with video evidence and other value-added content, highlighting the benefits of HP over competitors. The microsite is scalable, modular (to accommodate evolving content from HP) and seamlessly integrated into denaliai.com
Results for the Client
- Recognition at the annual HP Partner event
- 3.1% visitor rate of all Denali site traffic over its first full month (more than triple the typical vendor microsite traffic of Denali’s Motorola, Citrix, and other partner sites –which typically average less than 1%)
FortisBC Mt Hayes Event
Category: Consulting
Client’s Pain Point
“The good news is we want to celebrate the completion of our new $200M-natural gas facility.
The bad news? It’s in a remote location, you’ll need the approval of multiple decision makers and you have 4 weeks to execute.”
Ideba’s Approach
- Planned, coordinated and oversaw logistics and collateral needs during an abbreviated 4-week timeframe
- Provided comprehensive event direction, management and production – including vendor sourcing and management
Results for the Client
- A flawlessly executed event featuring over 200 senior client executives, First Nations representatives and local community leaders
- Collateral pieces are now permanently displayed on-site and throughout corporate offices
FortisBC Testimonial Video
Category: Marketing
Client’s Pain Point
“More and more of our customers are asking for proof that we can deliver integrated geoexchange solutions for multi-unit and multi-building developments.”
Ideba’s Approach
Planned and executed a series of testimonial videos that provided an un-scripted view of the energy system in action with real-world customer success stories
Results for the Client
- More Geoexchange development inquiries, and thus, revenue opportunities
- Videos influenced and elevated the quality of press for the customer’s up-and-coming development and provided valuable content for case studies and event presentations
Tsuwassen Spring video | Summit Pointe video | The Hudson video
FortisBC Sales Enablement Materials
Category: Marketing
Client’s Pain Point
“Everybody – the public, our customers, our employees – thinks we’re just the gas company. How do we get them to see we’re now so much more than that?”
Ideba’s Approach
Developed a set of customer-driven, customer-focused sales tools:
- Project overviews
- Modular presentation slides for sales use in 1-to-1 and 1-to-many situations
- Developed internal reference guides to support sales process and drive increased consistency
- Created and directed demand-generation campaign to support sales efforts
Results for the Client
- Consistent Sales message now being delivered internally and externally
- Increased sales of Alternative Energy and Integrated energy Solutions, creating a back-log of orders for fulfillment
Microsoft Virtualization Research
Category: Research
Client’s Pain Point
“Why are there so many queries into our Product Management Department – with more all the time? What’s influencing our customers’ licensing decisions?”
Ideba’s Approach
- Conducted worldwide qualitative research study, involving 1-to-1 interviews
- Provided detailed analysis of findings, identifying gaps and opportunities
- Offered actionable recommendations for how the client could decrease the number of queries coming into their PM team, and improve its position in the desktop virtualization space
Results for the Client
- A double-digit reduction in the number of queries coming into PM team
- Newly-identified internal subject matter expert for future leverage
- Incremental qualitative data that can be leveraged to improve future Windows 7 marketing campaigns
VicTrans Website Development
Category: Consulting
Client’s Pain Point
“Victoria’s automotive repair market is so competitive and drivers are now so well-informed. We need to improve our web presence to connect with our customers and help attract new business.”
Ideba’s Approach
- Led/conducted multi-tiered qualitative and quantitative customer research, and carried out online research to guide recommendations
- Developed new customer-friendly content, optimized for search engines
- Created webpage design and navigation that caters to known customer needs
- Developed social media strategies to reach and engage multiple customer demographics
Results for the Client
With the website live and other core aspects of the Marketing Strategy in place, Victoria Transmission & Auto Care was able to realize the best quarter in the history of the company, in terms of revenue.
Watchguard Security Pays Campaign
Category: Marketing
Client’s Pain Point
“We have a channel incentive program in place, but there seems to be a lack of awareness of the program, with many partial sign-ups, and incomplete registrations.”
Ideba’s Approach
- Developed integrated, direct response campaign with multiple touch-points across various media, including: html emails, postcards, posters, Web banners, and social media
- Focused on the simplicity of participation and high potential for reward
- Created scalable foundation elements to support future waves of the campaign in 2012, based on learning from 2011
Results for the Client
- Double-digit increase in new registrations in the Americas
- Significant decrease in the number of incomplete registrations
- Extension of campaign into EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia) in Q4, 2011 and Q1, 2012 based on success in Americas
WatchGuard Seminars in a Box
Category: Consulting
Client’s Pain Point
“We need a consistent approach to recruiting, planning, marketing, and tracking seminars and webinars”.
Ideba’s Approach
Leveraged Marketo® software, created a “Seminars in a Box” campaign, which included a consistent messaging framework, value proposition, event best practices, technical instructions, communication plan and cadence, registration forms, and post event surveys. In addition to these tools, Ideba created industry-specific web banners, recruitment emails, follow ups, and more.
Results for the Client
- A consistent approach to event management, resulting in:
- Reduced time required to create materials
- More targeted and effective messaging, using a consistent tone and manner
- More qualified leads, to fuel new business development
- Increased traceability of the value of event expenditures
Providence New Pregnancy Care Model Testing
Category: Consulting
Client’s Pain Point
“What are the perceived benefits and barriers to acceptance for a new team-based pregnancy care model?”
Ideba’s Approach
Conducted a research study including 1:1 in-depth interviews with 33 women in the Portland area and online surveys of 75 women to include both commercial and Medicaid insurance populations.
Designed multiple surveys to accommodate different respondent groups which were then analyzed accordingly to present in-depth findings.
Results for Client
- Reduced sample size requirements to decrease study costs by 33%.
- Research results identified key marketing actions that were required for the model to be adopted, such as increased education on how the program worked and information to counter existing misconceptions.
Cooper Pacific
Category: Research & Marketing
Client’s Pain Point
“As we continue to recover from the impacts of the 2008 economic downturn, how can we facilitate investor retention and growth?”
Ideba’s Approach
- Qualitative research to understand clients’ pain points, which led to a marketing strategy with increased emphasis on regular, personalized communication to inform/educate investors.
- Leveraging research to create a new value proposition, messaging framework and brand guidelines to drive consistent communications.
- Executed investor Open House as a part of broad effort to engage customers at a one-to-one level, and encourage open dialogue.
Results for the Client
- Dialogue with investors via mail, email, one-to-one meetings and an Investor Open House, has driven engagement; and acknowledgment that Cooper Pacific has not just weathered the economic downturn, but has done significantly better than many other MICs.
Clients
- Avaya
- BMW
- BMW Portland
- Cisco
- Clinicient
- Cooper Pacific
- Denali
- DTI
- EAI
- Fortis BC
- Huxley Construction
- Iovation
- Island Floor Centre
- Microsoft
- NECI
- Providence
- SAP
- Symantec
- Tom Harris
- Victoria Transmission & Auto Care
- Watchguard
- WickinnishInn
Expertise
Video
We develop animated and live-action video for product demonstrations, customer case studies, and educational stories.
Sales Tools
We build the hard-working sales advisors, configuration tools, and interactive widgets that drive customer engagement and leads.
Social Marketing
We craft conversation strategy, design and infographics for social platforms that extend your marketing and build customer interest.
Customer Insights
We learn what your customers need to improve marketing, from purchase and usage through support and satisfaction.
People
When you engage with Ideba, you work with senior professionals. Our consultants have deep experience, specializing in technology, and understand the importance of driving measurable results and ROI.
Meet Team Ideba: Click the LinkedIn icons to learn more about each of us, or the star icons to find out what has caught our attention recently.
Lee
Sumner
Research
Community
Ideba strongly believes in supporting the communities where we work and live with education initiatives, activities that promote local businesses, and best practices to support the environment.

