7 Tips For Using Twitter For Business

Twitter, Facebook and other social networks like LinkedIn were originally personal social networks. Businesses quickly spotted advantages to taking an active involvement in these communities, and word began to spread like a wildfire. However, Twitter was and still is, a community where people can post updates about their daily life. Every day people use it as a way to keep in touch with friends or keep them updated on upcoming events.

When looking at Twitter as a tool to grow your business, you need a consistent strategy for growing your Twitter and making the most of the platform. There’s a lot of power to be harnessed from Twitter and social media sites, so how do you get your fair share of the pie?

1. Build trust, inspire, and brand

Branding is critical for any business. If you want to be successful, you need to brand your business so that you’re recognized and respected in your industry. Branding is a way for you to create awareness and build authority. Luckily, social media sites like Twitter are prime stomping grounds for building your brand. Twitter has enormous potential for branding, especially since the introduction of buzzwords, which are still increasing in popularity. If your business can effectively publish updates on Twitter that are meaningful and engaging to followers then Twitter could be your rise to authority. Building a reputation is everything because once you are recognized, your content is instrumental to the lives of others. People will hear what you have to say, believe in your message, and be inspired by your words. Branding is how you accomplish this and it’s certainly not easy, but Twitter creates a foundation for success.

2. Engage with your followers and reply to mentions

As a business, it’s important that you don’t over engage but you still need to maintain a strong presence. Replying to mentions is a great way to demonstrate your presence on social networks. Twitter is about building relationships and you need them if you plan to be successful. Recognize the supporters that you have by interacting with them, as these actions will extend your branding even further.

3. Tweet professionally, but not corporately

Twitter is an environment to be social and impersonal tweets that don’t connect with users are not going to get you far. Twitter users want to see a business that cares more about the people than they do about themselves. A good way to personalize your Twitter presence is to have separate accounts for key figures of the business. Let your employees showcase their personalities; this is what people want to see.

4. Automate only what is necessary

In today’s day and age, there is a tendency to want to automate everything. Don’t. Automate only what is necessary, such as tweets which showcase your blog posts. There are several tools available that can create an automated tweet when a blog post goes live on your website. This can build your brand and direct traffic to your website and it’s one of the few cases were automation is useful. Automating other tweets will create an impersonal experience for your followers and is likely to damage your reputation.

5. Follow responsibly, not blindly

With social media, there’s a temptation to think the more the merrier. Following users blindly will only jeopardize your account and put your image at risk. Follow other companies and industry professionals who tweet about relevant business topics. This will create a network that you can market to and it will attract industry targeted followers to your page.

6. Provide value in your message

It’s important that each message you post carries value. Posts intended for humor can connect with audiences, but followers will lose interest if that is the only content being provided.

7. Take time with your tweets

Twitter is micro-blogging at its best. If your messages are powerful and well-constructed, Twitter can be an incredible asset for your business.