Twitter is a great social networking tool that can connect you with many new customers and contacts, so how can you use it to expand your business?
Elena Price, content creator for Ulster Bank’s Small Business Accounts section reports:
If you are entering the world of business start ups, one of the best social networking tools that you can use to spread the word and make connections is Twitter. This website offers a “micro blogging” service that allows you to broadcast simple 140 character messages known as “tweets”. Since Twitter was launched in 2006, it has gathered over 200 million users, who deliver 65 million tweets per day.
You can choose to “follow” other Twitter users who are of interest to you, allowing their tweets to show up in a continuously updated newsfeed. Other users can follow you and be updated on the tweets that you post. Many businesses use Twitter to make connections with others in their industry and to expand their customer base.
It’s easy and free to set up an account, and you will be up and tweeting in a matter of minutes. Be sure to upload a profile picture that reflects your business, and write a short description of what you do so people know whether or not they want to follow you.
Here are a few ways that you can use Twitter for your business:
If you write a blog or have a website, you can use Twitter to release announcements of your latest blog post, press release, new product launch or other material. However, be careful not to make all of your tweets about self-promotion, or your followers will be turned off. The Twitter community thrives on personal interaction as well. You can balance out your self-promotion by promoting others as well, and they will likely return the favour. What you hear on Twitter is just as important as what you say, so be sure that you are listening to the conversation. Find the most important people in your field and read their tweets and click on their links. You will start to get a sense of what they are thinking about and what the current issues and developments in your industry are. Start up a conversation. Twitter has the “@” function that allows you to direct a tweet towards someone and in doing so engage them in a dialogue. Just like at a real life cocktail party, spot someone who looks interesting and try starting a conversation with them. You might just end up making a great Share valuable content. When you find a blog or an article that is relevant to your industry, most will have a “tweet this” button on the top. With one click you can share this information with your twitter followers. (You should also add such a button to your blog, so that others can share your content). Make sure that you are only sharing good content that is relevant and interesting, because sharing a lot of junk is a good way to make your followers not want to click on your links next time. Ask questions. Twitter is great for sharing insight, so if you are struggling with something your followers will likely be able to help you out.
Twitter is a great tool, which you can use to establish a presence for your business online.