11 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Twitter for Business

I have to admit that I am relatively new to Twitter. Sure, I have had various accounts for few years now but it was only this year that I started using it to promote myself and my brand.

And it’s not easy. Gaining followers and building a reputation on Twitter is difficult. It takes time and a good deal of effort. However, if you’re like me, time is what you may not have in abundance and unless you know what to do and what works with Twitter you might end up wasting it for no result.

So today I want to share with you some tips that I have been following and have been working for me when it comes to building my Twitter presence:

1. Listen and be helpful. Everyday thousands of people ask questions on Twitter, and there is a chance that many of those will relate to what you do. Use Twitter search to find subject related to your niche, listen to people there and answer their questions.
2. Post regularly useful stuff relating to your niche. Of course we all know that you can’t have 10 or so useful insights a day about your niche that you could share every day. But you don’t have to. You can simply share news and stories relating to what you do and what your clients and prospects would be looking for. TIP: Set up Google Alerts on specific topics and subscribe to as many blogs relating to your niche as possible. Retweet interesting posts you will find there. But here is a catch, don’t just retweet, read each of those posts you selected and add a comment about them to your retweet. Show your followers why you selected that particular post for them. Also, make opinions about them. I generally retweet posts that I find extremely good and helpful, however from time to time I warn my followers from reading something that is a total waste of time. I make opinions and I am not afraid of publishing them, even if sometimes it makes me an enemy or two.
3. Let the number of followers grow naturally but seek out like minded people at the same time. One of the greatest things that will happen to you on Twitter is that you will be found by people interested in similar topics as you. However, this is a slow process and sometimes it is good to become more active in searching for like minded people. You can do it manually via Twitter search or use various software that can automate this process for you. I personally use TweetAdder to seek out interesting people in my niche.
4. Build relationships. As I mentioned above, listen and respond to people. Stay in touch with them afterward, build relationships. Of course you won’t be able to do it with everyone but you will pick few people initially and add to it so your circle of friends will grow naturally.
5. Create a good profile page, include a picture of yourself and a solid description of your business. John Paul offers some really interesting tips on getting the best from Twitter profiles in his wonderful ebook “Twitter Dummy”.
6. Simply use it. Here is the biggest mistake small business owners make with Twitter, they set up the account and don’t use it, every. There are thousands if not more Twitter business profiles which are empty. Your prospects can still find them, especially when they research you. What image of your company do you think an empty, abandoned profile will give?
7. Incorporate Twitter into your customer service strategies. Let your clients ask you questions through it. One of the greatest advantages of this method is that both you and your client have to be very focused as both of you have only 140 characters to use per message. This makes you formulate your points much clearer and straight to the point.
8. Add your Twitter URL to your business cards, email signature, website and any other marketing materials. Let people who are interested in working with you find your account.
9. Always thank people who did something for you on Twitter. Did someone retweeted your last blog post or your tweet message? Thank them straight away.
10. Reward your followers. In time you will find that some people retweet your posts and messages quite often, or that they comment and initiate or join discussions with you. Reward them. Mention them to your other followers, or with the famous Follow Friday (#FF).
11. Don’t count on money directly from Twitter. You have probably heard those stories of sales in thousands happening on Twitter, well, in reality sales like that don’t happen. Remember, if you really want to use Twitter to promote your business, don’t be there for sales. Be there to build your brand by helping others and developing great and strong relationships with other people who may in time become your clients or your strongest allies.

As said, these are the things that work really well for me. But if you want to learn more about Twitter (from a complete beginner to advanced Tweep) have a look at John Paul Aguiars ebook:

“Twitter Dummy”

It’s packed with enormous amount of great content and guides you by the hand through the whole process of using Twitter, gaining new followers and utilizing it into your marketing efforts. Highly recommended.