Making the most of Twitter for your small business

Articles describing why you must use Twitter for your small business must number in the thousands, but I never tire of reading them. However, most of them are concerned with what to do, not how to do it, so that’s what we’re going to cover in this article. There are two simple things anyone can do to dramatically increase their Twitter presence, be real and be professional.

Twitter is a busy place, full of people all vying for the limelight. Like any kind of crowded venue, you have to fight for attention. Fortunately, it’s much more about how you do things rather than how much you do.

The best way to get followers on Twitter is to show personality. It doesn’t even have to be your own. Tweets that amuse, intrigue or invoke curiosity are much more likely to pique interest than bland marketing statements.

For example:

“Check out the blog entry we made about our bike new widget. It’s adds safety to riding and you should buy it.”

or

“Dave fell off a cliff on his bike yesterday and almost died. A little piece of plastic saved his life, check out his bruises here.”

Which of those two statements is most likely to get a response? To get the most out of Twitter and any social networking tool, you have to offer something and give people a reason to follow you. Displaying humor, expertise, niche skills or anything that will interest your intended audience is the best way of getting followers. Then it’s up to your marketing skills to turn them into new customers for your business. The vast majority of tweets are dull and will eventually fall on deaf ears. If you want to make Twitter work for you, don’t be boring.

As well as being interesting, be topical and update often. That doesn’t mean every five minutes, but at least once every couple of days. Each tweet shouldn't be considered a blog post or marketing material. Consider the effect, the content and what you want it to achieve. While the platform might seem frivolous most of the time, it is an important, and useful, marketing tool.

Brand your Twitter presence. A cohesive brand is vital to marketing any business, and Twitter should be no different. Step away from the defaults as soon as possible, use a background, change the default picture, complete the bio and get your Twitter identity looking professional. There are tons of companies out there who can build you a custom Twitter background. Whatever the size of the business, having a polished façade will give the impression that you are professional, even if you’re running around like a headless chicken behind the scenes.

It isn’t difficult to make Twitter work for you, it just takes a little effort. With an audience in the millions it’s a mistake to discount the platform as a waste of time. Converting even the tiniest fraction of users to your cause and you could be launching your business into the big leagues.