Using Twitter for your Small Business

The nice thing about social media is that small businesses can effectively uses it for a small investment of time and and a very small investment of money. One of the easiest social media tools to adopt as a small business is Twitter.  Many other social media tools (like blogs and facebook) can require months of consistently contributing quality content to build a following, but on twitter, you can build a following and have an impact relatively quickly.

There are numerous uses for Twitter that a small company might be interested in.  These include:

• Getting market research. Twitter provides the fastest way to get feedback for your ideas, word of mouth topics, or new products.
• Find leads. Using Twitter search allows you to find people talking about your industry’s key terms in real time — making Twitter an efficient way to find leads.
• Build a following:  If you follow key players in your industry (or in potential client industries) there is a good chance they will follow you back. 
  

Here are some tips I have picked-up that can help a small business get started with Twitter:

1. Create your Twitter name today: I created a personal Twitter account to learn how to use it and then a few weeks later was ready to set-up my company Twitter account.  In between those two dates someone else had signed up for my product name as their Twitter name. Twitter names are free, so sign up for yours today before someone else grabs it.
2. Search for key industry terms:  Search for people talking about issues in your industry and if they appear credible follow them.
3. Observe what people are saying: It is always a good idea to observe the social norms of any social media site before jumping in and actively contributing.
   
4. Search for your name. If someone is talking about you, you need to know it!
5. Search for your product & company name. People will frequently post positive and negative comments about companies on Twitter.  If Someone complements you you need to thank them.  If they are complaining about something you need to address that complaint before it becomes a tidal wave of complaints!
   
7. Search for your competitor’s name, company or products. This can give you an idea of what people are saying about him and give you a leg up on the competition.
8. Search for like-minded people. This can be for local people or anywhere. Networking with others gives you a whole new circle of business contacts. You can search for terms like your city, state, niche, or anything else that might help you find people to follow that could work with you. Again this is a good source of followers as well.
   
9. Search for people who can complement what you offer. If you are great at building websites, but cannot write worth a hoot, then search for writers that might want to partner with you.

Using Twitter can take as little as a few minutes a day and it could potentially allow huge benefits for your organization.
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References

http://www.socialnetdaily.com/twitter/the-best-use-of-twitter-for-online-marketers/

http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/06/02/andys-answers-3-ways-a-small-business-can-use-twitter/

Labels: social media, twitter