No matter what type of business you own or manage, social media may be the key to expanding your client base and expanding your brand. In this blog we delve deeper into the world of social media as we explore the world of Twitter and how it can assist you to not only strengthen your foundation, but also build your brand by reaching new customers and markets.
The power of a tweet cannot be underestimated by today’s business professionals. There is no better way to reach out to current and potential customers and stay on top of your game than by using social media to your advantage. Twitter has become a titan of the social media scene, and most professionals are using it to stay ahead of the game in and out of the office. Americans are tweeting millions of times a day so why not put your business out there and let Twitter do some of the heavy lifting?
Whether you are currently on Twitter, or you are new comer these tips should help to optimize your efforts:
- 1. Organize whom you follow with lists
Make sure you follow the right people. When using Twitter for business, many times we follow customers, suppliers, neighboring businesses, peers and competitors. In order to ensure you hear important messages, make sure to use Twitter lists. Twitter lists are its most powerful and least-used feature.
Customize your lists for easy access. Some business stay abreast of trends by creating Twitter lists to organize the people they follow so you they focus on the most important people and conversations accordingly. You can create up to 20 different Twitter lists with up to 500 accounts in each list. You can monitor each list separately.
- 2. Update your profile picture.
Your Twitter profile picture appears next to every tweet you send. It’s an opportunity to associate an image with your business in the minds of everyone who follows you. The glitch is that your Twitter profile picture is small and for most businesses your logo may not represent well. So make sure your logo fits into the square size. Cropped-off logos look unprofessional and give the impression that your business doesn’t care about the details. Make sure your logo is readable. You may want to consider a headshot. Twitter is about faces and people prefer faces to logos anyway. Your business will seem more approachable with a photo.
- 3. Change your visual branding.
Twitter allows you to customize the look and colors of your Twitter profile page. You can create a custom graphic and use it for your Twitter background.
- 4. Rewrite your Twitter bio.
Remember Twitter is all about brevity. Your Twitter profile bio tells your business story in the length of a text message. Make sure to tell people what product or service you provide and show a little personality in the process. Mark your calendar and make sure to update your bio every couple of months to keep it fresh.
- 5. Create a Twitter landing page.
Considering that having only 160 characters for your Twitter bio can be frustrating, you may want to consider creating a special Twitter landing page. Most businesses use their Twitter profile web link to drop people off at their website front door or their blog. However, you can create a special Twitter landing page and use that page as your Twitter profile web address. A Twitter landing page gives you more space to talk about your business and about your Twitter use.
- 6. Rethink your follow strategy.
Don’t automatically follow back everyone who follows you. Many Twitter accounts are not run by real people. They are automated programs called bots. And some of them are spammers. There are bots that provide useful information. However, most bots are spewing out tweets from other people and other sources that are not on target for your Twitter business goals. They clog up your Twitter stream and don’t provide any business value. Take a minute and review your followers” pages to then decide to follow them back. If they follow many people but have few followers of their own, chances are they are spammers.
- 7. Publicize your Twitter account.
Make it easy for people to find your business on Twitter by adding your Twitter username to all of your business materials. Think of it as providing them with a ticket to your Twitter. Make sure to provide your Twitter username in these locations:
- -Your website (with a link)
- -Your email signature (with a link)
- -Your email newsletter (with a link)
- -Signs posted in your business
- -Paperwork you give customers (receipts, invoices, statements, etc.)
- 8. Make sure you follow your customers.
Twitter is a great place to interact with your customer. It provides an opportunity for you to connect with them directly. As it is impossible to know exactly which of your customers are on Twitter, it’s important for you to advertise your Twitter account to them first. This way, your customers can find you. Consider offering incentives for them if they follow you. This almost always works and may even lead to increased sales.
- 9. Add photos to your tweets.
People love pictures. Statistics show that people are more likely to read your stuff online if you include pictures.
10. Let Twitter help you with your business challenges.
It takes some time using Twitter before you’ll be ready to put it to work on your business goals. However, once you have built a community and understand the way Twitter works, it’s time to take it to the next level. Think about a challenge you face in your business today. How could Twitter help you solve that problem? Need more revenue? Want to build your client base?
- -Offer Twitter-only special. If productivity is down, offer a special deal (free product or a special discount) for everyone who knows the secret code you tweet out Tuesday at 5 pm, for instance.
- -Reward people who re-tweet you.
- -Is your blog a little lonely? Twitter is a great tool to drive traffic to your blog. Set up a contest or a reward for people who re-tweet your messages about your blog posts.
- -You may want to consider giving away a free 30-minute consultation. Perhaps a free service or product. Whatever business you are in, there is always something you can use to entice people to retweet or follow. The more retweets the more traffic, the more traffic the more business, the more business the more profit. Who doesn’t love profit?
- 11. Expand the Twitter conversation to your blog.
When you have a great conversation going on Twitter, expand the conversation to the people who read your blog. Twitter now makes it easy for you to embed a tweet into a blog post so it looks like a tweet and has the same interactive features it has on Twitter, if a topic is working for you, why not extend its shelf life?
South Florida Business and Wealth wants to make sure your business stays relevant in today’s market place. Stay tuned, as next month we look into the world of Instagram and how it can help you stay on trend and build bridges to new business opportunities.
