Twitter: 10 Basic Tips for New Business Users

Twitter is a great tool to stay up to date with peers, clients, and competitors alike. Here are our top 10 basic tips on how to leverage Twitter for business to enhance your marketing communications strategy.

1. Follow your clients, as well as leaders in your industry. Not only will you gain insights into what others are doing, but also be the first to know about breaking news.
2. Search hashtags [#] for areas of interest – an awesome way to find topics of interest, as well as people to follow.
3. When composing a Tweet, add a # before your topic so that others can find this information. Here is an example of how to incorporate it naturally into your tweet; “5 reasons why you should use #responsivedesign for your website”.
4. Search for topics related to your products and/or area of expertise, and engage in conversations about them. This is a great way to increase awareness of your business and your brand.
5. Remember that Twitter is an extension of your overall brand, so ideas and values that will strengthen your online identity should be the focus of your tweets. Even though it is important to remember that you represent your business, don’t be too formal. A friendly, funny tweet has more impact than a stiff, factual one. Twitter allows business to be fun and playful.
6. Use Twitter as a means to showcase information about your business that a person might not be able to find elsewhere.
7. Respond to Tweets where you are mentioned, both the good and the bad ones. This will show you are interested in learning more about what people have to say.
8. Don’t over-promote your own products/services. Interchange your tweets with client achievements, and ideas from industry peers and leaders. Provide helpful tips to use Twitter as a two-way communication tool, vs. solely a marketing tool. As a rule of thumb, keep promotional content to less than 20% of tweets.
9. Retweet interesting posts, and tweet hyperlinks to articles that you come across. Those who find your tweet interesting/funny/worth sharing are more likely to return the favor if you have retweeted something from them or others they follow.
10. Try to tweet at least 3-4 times per week, if not daily.

That’s it! Now you’re ready to take your first steps to becoming a true Twitter Pro. Interested in hearing more? Here’s another quick blog on the trends in content development and social media marketing, and you can check out #businesstweets on Twitter to join the conversation. Want to take the next steps? Reach out and let us know how DesignWorks can help enhance your brand’s exposure through Twitter and other social media marketing strategies.