Twitter was established in July 2006. Since then it has grown rapidly into one of the key social networking sites available today. With a revenue of $140 million, over 600 employees and well over 300 million users, it’s something that is now attracting a wide range of users.
We’ve talked about how to use Twitter for business before on the SMEketing online marketing blog, but we thought since we’ve started a new year, we should do a quick refresher post on how you can use it to help grow your business.
How To Use Twitter For Business, Top Tips:
- Make sure your account has been fully set up: Add a proper photo or logo and relevant information. Make sure your profile page is as informative as possible. This is the page that a lot of people will view before following you – so make sure you make a good impression!
- Take your time: Don’t immediately follow every person/account that follows you. Make sure you’re following the right people – people in your industry, competitors, customers, thought leaders. Who you follow says a lot about your online marketing strategy – make sure you’re giving the right message.
- Share valuable information: Sharing links to information which helps promote your product or services is great. But make sure that’s not all you tweet about. Try and make your Twitter feed well rounded – include industry information, customer/service updates, news and advice.
- Be consistent: Make sure you have time to manage your Twitter account. This means replying to any messages or @ replies, conversing on a one to one basis with other users, sharing other users information (retweeting). This must be done on a regular basis for it to have any positive effect. Done correctly and consistently, you’ll be able to create long lasting relationships and create an impression of thought leadership.
- Don’t be negative: As much as you might want to sometimes tell the world about some immoral methods of your competitors, or a poor quality delivery from a supplier, try to resist. What you tweet reflects on you, and it’s always good to take the high-ground. Don’t air your dirty laundry in public!
- Take advantage of the tools available: At SMEketing we love Hootsuite – you can use this to schedule tweets in advance, track any clicks of your shortened links and monitor all messages, @ replies and keywords you make want to track. Another tool we love is TweetDeck.
- Be patient: You’re unlikely to take any orders or make any sales on your first day using Twitter. So be patient and consistent, and you’ll find sooner or later it’s paying off. If your goal isn’t to make sales, you could track things like interaction, visits to your website from Twitter, RTs etc.
Remember, you can follow SMEketing on Twitter: @SMEketing.
If you want more information on how to use Twitter for business please get in touch with us, or visit our social media management information page.