Over 5 ways on How to Use Twitter for Your Small to Medium Business

Twitter is a great resource to establish your brand, increase visibility and inspire loyalty. Not only does it give you a platform to connect with your customers while they're away from your business, but it also allows your customers to talk about you or share you with their following. After all, even when people are out and about they’re constantly updating their social media with what they’re doing. All you’ve got to do is “put your business out there”. Here’s how...

Brand Building on Twitter: Creating an Account & Establishing Your Niche

When creating your account use your business name as your Twitter handle. You always want to stay recognizable. If your business name is long, shorten in. Be sure to include your location in the appropriate field and link your website as well. This is key point where you can drive followers to your website to learn more about what you have to offer.

Your picture should be a well-placed logo and your cover photo should coordinate with it in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Depending on the image sizes, your photos may be stretched or cut off. If so, find an alternate image or adjust it so that when it’s uploaded it looks presentable. Nothing says ammature like a lazy setup. It also gives the impression that you don’t care for the details. You may also change your background color to match your photos - of course, the classic blue is just fine as well.

Never skip over your Bio. You only have 160 characters to say who you are and encourage people to follow you. Your Bio is searchable in the twittersphere, so choose your keywords wisely. Rather than use hashtags, make a statement and include your niche - a little humor is never a bad idea.

Remember, your company’s Twitter profile is for your business, not your personal life. Every action you take on your Twitter should be expressing your niche and representing your company. If people want to hear about your kids first day of school, they will follow your personal account. Otherwise, it’s best not to mix things up since it may deter followers.

Producing Your Own Content On Twitter: Providing Status Updates

Twitter is a massive platform for sharing and engaging in conversation. While it’s great to retweet and converse with other users, be sure to include your own content as well. This shows that you have something to offer to your followers.

Tweet your about businesses upcoming events, new stories and specials. Let’s say you have happy hour or live music every Wednesday, be sure to tweet about it every Wednesday. Though it may seem repetitive, it’s effective and it will keep your new followers or semi-active followers in the loop. Additionally, including a picture in your tweet will make it more likely to stand out.

Hashtags and Trends on Twitter: Yes, There’s a Right Way to Use Them

Twitter newbies don’t always understand that function of a hashtag. A hashtag is used to join a conversation or tag your tweet under a specific topic. Tweeting a hashtag like #drinkingcoffeeeveryday or #wemakethebestcoffee is utterly useless as it's not something that people would necessarily search for. Something like #coffeeaddict or #morningbrew would be more searchable. Many websites have created lists for the top used hashtags per topic. Discovering these top hashtags will only take you a few min to find and implement in the future.

Implementing your own unique hashtag is a great idea to get people talking about you. Using the coffee shop example, create a hashtag unique to your coffee shop and write in on your menu board or display at your shop. When people come in for their cup of joe they’ll be encouraged to include it in their status update on twitter. Now you won’t be the only one spreading the word about your business!

Getting Social on Twitter: Finding & Connecting with Your Audience

The whole purpose for your Twitter is to connect to your customer base and have them keep you in mind. Be sure to follow your followers, including everyone that has talked about your business. Retweet or respond to people who have mentioned you and thank them for stop by. Like your followers tweets.

Though Twitter is large, you can easily find your targeted audience using the Twitter Advanced Search: https://twitter.com/search-advanced. You can search a keyword and input your city to see what locals are already tweeting about that relates to your industry. Like these people's post and make some friends.

Where there is internet, there is always trolls - especially on Twitter. There shouldn’t be any major concern so long as your don’t “feed” the trolls or get fired up by their controversy. Always respond in a polite manner and don’t let them drag your professionalism down with them.

Being Consistent with Twitter: Creating a Schedule for Your Tweets

There’s a common theme when it comes to losing followers: being inactive on Twitter. If people follow you, then they want to hear from you. Otherwise they feel that they’ve wasted a follow. This doesn’t mean you need to be posting every single day. However you should be posting consistently.

Live-tweeting isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. And sometimes you have some really good tweets that you’d like to save for later. If this is the case, you can save some preconceived tweets in your drafts and post them at a later time. Some people will set a period of time aside and write all of their tweets out for the next week or month. Then it only takes them less than a minute to go back and tweet it at the desired time. This way you don’t have to feel the chore of creating content in the back of your mind.

Promote Your Twitter at Your Business or on Other Online Platforms

List your Twitter handle on your website, business cards and display somewhere at your physical locations. Always make yourself available for customers to find. If you are active on other social media platforms (like Facebook or Instagram) you can easily link your posts to your twitter. Your Facebook post can be automatically tweeted. This saves you time on managing multiple accounts.

Beyond Twitter: Further Advice Personalized for Your Small Business

We hope that this article has been of benefit for you. We‘ve been helping small businesses succeed since 2004 and provide them a variety of resources. To check out more helpful tools and tricks, check out our industry page for your business to see how you can continue to grow your business and reach your optimal potential.