A Practical Guide: Learning How to Use Twitter For Business

It’s no secret that the internet is a place where many have sowed and reaped success—and it’s also safe to say that in recent years, Twitter has come a long way in the social sphere, building a platform that connects 140 million users and sees 340 million tweets per day–all in a unique way with freshly enterprising dynamics. It’s not so much a secret, as is a challenge, for many business owners to fully grasp (or find the time to grasp) how to use Twitter and:

1.  General social media marketing can actually help to grow their business and give them a ROI.

2. Where and how to effectively use different platforms to leverage your target audience

3. Why learning how to use Twitter for business (or other top social sites) IS attainable, easy, and will pay off if you take the time to learn the ropes (I hope this article helps).

How to Use Twitter For Business: Participating with 140 Characters?

Social media ROI naysayers aside, with so many avenues and options, it truly can be difficult to decipher and harness the power of social media marketing if you don’t know where and how you should be participating. The biggest key to marketing success online, present-day: Participation makes perfect. Sure, it does take some practice, but participation is what really counts. Participation is never a one-way street. You’re going down the right street if you’re connecting personally with your ideal audience.

Why is Twitter a top social site in my eyes? Numbers speak for themselves, but social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, are all sites that have a user-base that cover just about every market and industry imaginable, and therefore, are ideal candidates for conducting business, casually connecting, and oftentimes both–the secret sauce for Twitter success. While there’s plenty of other social media sites that zero in on niches, Twitter-caliber sites make leveraging your target audience within that one site more convenient, flexible, and creative—certainly with more tools and resources at your disposal. That’s not even divulging into the power that authority social sites like Twitter have to boost SEO–essential to search engine prowess post-Penguin.

Now, How to Use Twitter For Business and See Results?

So if you haven’t caught on by now, you’re not going to get anywhere with knowing how to use Twitter for business if you’re only purpose is to promote, promote, and…promote, your business. Yawn! Heard of bounce rate? Applies to social pages too. As a brand, you must be aware of your audience’s desire to see you in the light you deserve and the best way to do that is connecting with them personally

 

Participating on Twitter is as simple as described above, and should be more of a pleasure than a task. Understanding the basics is easy, but from there, stand out from the crowd in creative ways – and don’t be naïve – listen to the pros advice on do’s and don’ts. If you’re not even sure about the basics on using Twitter at all–check out Twitter’s very own glossary to understand lingo like (#) hashtags, retweets, and mentions.

Here are 12 practical tips that will get your Twitter engine twevvin’:

1. Find a clear tone and image for your brand and stick with it. Fill out your profile, make your tweets consistent, and display acutely (and accurately) what you’re here to share and talk about.
2. Do it!—Share content that is most relevant to what your audience wants and should expect from you.
3. What NOT to do—Only share your own content. Even if it’s non-promotional and just a nice, informative blog post, be sure to follow the 80/20 rule and share lots of relevant and interesting content from outside sources while you leave 20% of your feed to promote your own content. Visitors and followers will notice, and they will appreciate the value YOU add when they enjoy your reading/viewing suggestions!
4. Follow users who are interested in your message or niche. Using search on Twitter makes finding targeted users easy as pie.
5. Treat your followers with personal care—but keep things on lighter notes. Take things one step at a time in connecting (a.k.a. don’t ever shove your services down someones throat) but go the extra distance to answer a question, give a compliment, say hello.
6. Create and organize lists with appropriate followers. When they are notified, you will stand out in their eyes, will make them feel special, and will increase your chance of being remembered.
7. Make your profile attractive–an impressionable profile picture and tweeting style so that you will be retweeted more often; get creative with your background.
8. Encourage sharing. Off-profile, you should use social bookmarking plugins on your blog, for both more exposure and to obtain more links.
9. Use keywords and (#) hashtags appropriately. They can be pivotal in helping others find you when searching  on Twitter. Which you should utilize as well. Don’t be shy with using keywords and hashtags, but don’t overdo it either. Which leads to:
10. Find balance in the range of content you share, how much you mention @ others, and how many retweets appear in your feed (You don’t want your whole feed filled up with other tweeters’ profile pictures). Find the balance that works for you and maintain it.
11. Remain on the right track by leveraging resources, tools, and time. Plan out editorial calendars of tweets and buffer all or parts of your agenda on a weekly or monthly basis. This will help you remain on-topic, widen the your range with thoughtful brainstorming, and help you incredibly in maximizing your time, maximizing your efforts in learning how to use Twitter for business.
12. Monitor and manage. Don’t neglect your ‘Interactions’ section and respond to followers. Use services to monitor your exposure and reach.