With the limitation of 140 characters, it’s not surprising why a lot of business owners do not see twitter as an effective platform for marketing. However, not being on it means missing out on communicating with millions of potential customers. Twitter, after all, is the fastest-growing, most talked about social media site.
So, how can you leverage on the power of Twitter for your business? Here are 5 basic tips to get you started:
1. Make a complete profile: Fill out all the details and provide a good, concise description about your business and what it offers. Also, don’t forget to include a link to your company website!
Additional tip: If you have a customer service arm, it may be beneficial for you to set up 2 twitter accounts—1 for corporate messages and the other, for customer service. @BestBuy is the perfect example of how to utilize twitter as a platform for customer service!
2. Listen and Learn: While it’s fine to use the same posts that you make on Facebook and publish them on Twitter, it is recommended to go beyond just using it as an additional channel. Listen to the influencers of the industry where your business operates. For example, if you are in the restaurant industry, you may want to follow top chefs like @GDeLaurentiis and read about what they post and share them to your own network—chances are, your food loving community would find the post interesting too.
3. Sharing is Caring: Retweet posts from industry influencers as well as regular people on Twitter. Respond and converse with people.
Run a quick Twitter search on your company and answer queries and say thank you to those who talk nicely about your business (you can even go as far as Retweeting and adding their posts on your Favorites list) everyone loves social media love.
4. Generate Interest: Run a twitter contest, give out coupons or start a # hastag conversation. Start blogging from your company website and post the links on Twitter with relevant # so people can easily search them.
Additional Tip: Did you know that you can geotag tweets? Meaning, you can further refine the kind of conversations happening within Twitter on specific geographic locations. This is highly beneficial for local businesses.
5. Promote: Generate followers by posting your Twitter account on your company website and other social media pages. Another important tip would be to include your company’s Twitter button on offline marketing collaterals as well (i.e. fliers, packaging, etc.)
By investing 2-3 hours a week on Twitter for your business, we guarantee that you will see results. So, #getonit now!
