If you’re wondering whether or not your online business should be using social media, the answer is yes. Although there is a vast choice of platforms out there, Twitter is one of the most visited websites worldwide, so we think that’s a pretty good place to start. Once you get to grips with what’s going on and realise the potential it has, you won’t think twice about using Twitter to help promote and grow your business.
Below are a few tips and tricks for you to consider when thinking about setting your business up on Twitter. But first of all, let’s look at why taking advantage of this social media platform is a must.
Why Take to Twitter in the First Place
Twitter can help your business reach new heights online. And with its users often posting about a brand or looking to contact a company, it’s definitely a place where businesses can thrive. The benefits of having your business on Twitter include:
- You’re able to get your message out
- You can sculpt and shape your brand
- Your business has a place to grow
- You and/or your team can offer top-class customer service
- You end up being among a network of like-minded people
Pick a Suitable Twitter Handle
When setting up your Twitter account, one of the first things you’ll be asked to do is create a handle (basically what comes after the @). This should be something reflective of your business, as there’s no point going for something that’s totally different. In most cases, you’ll probably want to just keep it simple and use the name of your business. However, sometimes this isn’t always possible. In this case, you may have to get a little creative. It may be best to think of a couple of options and working your way down the list until one is available, though hopefully it will be first time lucky in this case. E.g.
- @example
- @xample
- @examplecompany
- @exampleonline
Whatever your Twitter handle ends up as, it should at least relate to your business. You want it to be easy to remember so that people can easily search for you.
Build Your Profile
An appropriate Twitter handle is just the beginning. Having a professional profile is something that can really help set you apart from your competitors. Though limited to 160 characters, the description area allows you to show off who you are. It doesn’t need to be jam-packed with how your business was set up or what your goals as a company are. Instead, just pick the most important parts or your USP’s. It’s also a great place for you to include a link back to your website – and we all know how important links are for SEO.
Also, remember to make use of the profile picture and background image. Imagery can be really eye catching in these cases, so be sure to choose something that showcases your brand. Most businesses will select their logo as the profile picture while creating something more custom for the header.
Top tip: Remember to keep your profile set to public so that people can easily find you. Leaving your account private means that only your followers can see what you’re posting about.
Follow Similar Businesses
To begin your Twitter experience, you’re going to want to follow businesses or people who work in a similar industry. If you think about it, if you follow them, they may just follow you back (though there’s no guarantee they will). This will enable you to connect with as many others as possible and help you build a respectable following.
Engage with Your Followers
Gaining followers is important, but keeping them is even more essential for success on Twitter. As a platform that provides you with a quick and easy way of connecting with your audience, it’s something you should be taking advantage of. Not only can it be hugely beneficial for boosting engagement and activity, but it also allows you to appear more personable.
Don’t Sell, Sell, Sell
No matter how passionate you are about what you sell or offer, you’ve got to remember that your customers are there for one reason only. And that’s to benefit from what you do. Social media isn’t a place for hard selling your business, it’s more about being personal and inviting followers to get to know you. Now, this doesn’t mean you should be Tweeting about your home or social life on your business page, but you should be looking to grab the attention of your readers.
Constantly posting about your products or services isn’t that creative. You should use your imagination to try and engage with your target market and attract a new audience. You should be showing people why they should be coming to you rather than your competitors.
Using Hashtags Properly
Twitter is where the hashtag originated. The # symbol is used to index keywords or topics being posted about on the platform. It’s a function that allows people to follow something that they are interested in as clicking on the hashtagged word will bring up other Tweets that use the same hashtag.
Making use of the humble hashtag is a great way of getting more engagement. However, using too many can be off-putting to an audience as it appears spammy and makes content hard to read. Research has shown that Tweets that contain more hashtags tend to have less average engagement than those that only have the optimal number of two.
Though primarily used on Twitter, hashtags can be used on all social media platforms. Read more about using hashtags correctly in this blog post: https://www.colewood.net/blog/how-to-use-hashtags-on-social-media/
Be Visual
Unlike Facebook or LinkedIn, Twitter has a character limit when it comes to posting. Each Tweet is restricted to 280 characters, including spaces. If that doesn’t sound like very much, it’s a much-needed improvement compared to Twitter’s old 140 character limit.
Using visuals in your Tweets is a great way to avoid the struggle of sticking within the boundaries and comes with an added bonus of generating more engagement than text-only content.
All of this just goes to show that there’s no denying that Twitter is a tool that all businesses should be utilising. Once you’ve got to grips with your new profile, you can start looking into building a social media presence that won’t be forgotten. Find out more about social media over on our blog: https://www.colewood.net/category/blog/digital-marketing.
