How to Use Twitter for Small Businesses
Many small business owners are taking advantage of social media's popularity to make use of effective and no-cost online "word of mouth" publicity. Twitter is one of the newer social media sites that's exploding in popularity, with 19 million site visitors in October 2009 (which is 12 times more than it had in October 2008). Everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Starbucks is jumping onto Twitter to share "What's happening" in 140 characters or less. But you don't have to be a star or major corporation to benefit from Twitter. Small businesses can use this free tool to boost popularity, visibility, trustworthiness and sales.
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Instructions
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Signing Up
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Sign up for a free account. Go to Twitter.com and click on the "sign up now" tab. In the fields provided, enter in your full name or the name of your business. Create a "username" that pertains to your business and a password for the account. You will also be prompted to enter a valid email address (preferably one that you use for your business). Once you have filled out all of the required fields, click the "Create my account" tab.
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Invite your friends. In the next screen, you will be asked if want to allow Twitter to send out an invite to individuals on your email contact list to join you on Twitter. This is your first step in letting the world know that you and your business are keeping up with the industry trends and opening another communication line for your partners and customers.
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Upload a photo. Click on the "Profile" tab, and then on the "Photo" tab. Insert either your own picture or the logo of your business, and click the "Save" button.
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Set up your profile. Click the "Settings" tab on the top right of the screen. Type in all of the information that you want customers to see, such as your business website, a short bio and your location. Click the "Save" button.
Tweeting Your Business
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Write your first "tweet" in the "What's happening?" box. It must be 140 characters or less. Keep in mind that Twitter is a social site and that you will get the best results by remaining social in your attitude, and by not getting too promotional. Continue to provide updates that your potential customers will find valuable and compelling so that they will click on your website and check out what your business has to offer.
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Find Twitter users that could become new customers. Go to search.twitter.com and type in a keyword or phrase that pertains to your business. You will then get a list of all of the Twitter users who have used these words in their updates or in their profiles.
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Follow your potential customers. In the list created from the keyword search you've just conducted, click on the photos of the individuals or organizations that appear on that list. When the individual or organization's profile appears, click on the "Follow" tab under their picture. You are now "following" this person or organization, which means that they are now aware of your Twitter account and they can now choose to follow you back. Every day, follow as many new people or organizations as you can to build up a potential customer following.
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Start interacting. Once you've started building up a list of individuals or organizations that are following your account, check their profiles to see what they are saying, the types of problems they are trying to solve, and the solutions that your business could offer them. You can respond to what a person says by putting your mouse over their "tweet." You will see a "reply" link appear. Click on this link and you will be brought back to a "What's happening?" box, where you can create a comment directly to this person. This individual or organization will see this message, along with their own audience of followers.
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Check out your competitors on Twitter. Twitter can also be used as a resource to gain information from others in your field or to see what the competition is up to.
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Tips & Warnings
When you're filling out the "Settings" form, do not click on "Protect my tweets" tab, which will limit your visibility on Internet searches.
Being overly-promotional is not the right way to use Twitter. Your goals on Twitter should be to provide useful information for your customers and to establish an "expert status" in your field. Constantly pitching your business or products will not help you accomplish these goals.
