How To Use Twitter For Business Success

Twitter packs a punch.  In my humble opinion (and this is purely opinion), Twitter has got muscle like no other social network.  It has the ability to create connections and networks quicker than any other platform, it gives you a unique opportunity to establish yourself as an authority on any topic through social proof, and allows you to connect quickly and personally with those who have chosen to be associated with you and your brand.  Using Twitter for business is a sure way to muscle your way right to the top of your field. 

Be A Real Person

First things first.  You are using Twitter for business, but people want to connect with other people, not some business entity that seems cold and impersonal.  Make sure you include a picture of yourself as opposed to a logo, and give people a name they can call you.  If you are set on creating a business account that has a logo and just uses your business name why not include who the tweets are by in the bio.  For instance saying, “all tweets are by @sallyjoe”.  This is a way that people will still feel connected to your business and can actually talk to you by saying, “Hey Sally, how was your weekend…”

Tweet To Inspire

It doesn’t matter what field you are in or what type of service you are providing.  People want to be moved, they want to be inspired.  When you tweet inspiration and people connect with what you are saying they are highly likely to retweet you, which will expose your business to more people.  Don’t bog your followers down with boring information and links.  Inspire them, move them to react, respond, and most importantly retweet!

Tweet To Inform

Using Twitter for business means keeping your followers informed and up to date about your business, your products, and your services.  It is an easy way to keep your followers in the loop about new products and services, and also inform them about trends in your industry.  Provide them with helpful information, not just information about your business.  You want to inform them and give them something of value, not just push your products.  If you have a blog, which you should, you should be tweeting the links to your blog posts to give your followers easy access to the great info that you are pumping out on your blog.

Follow Back

Unless you are Justin Beiber or Kim Kardashian you are not going to develop a cult-like following for no reason whatsoever.  You are going to have to follow people back or eventually they will unfollow you.  Using Twitter Lists can help you reduce the “noise” of following so many people, but general rule of thumb and common courtesy is to just follow back-easy enough right?

Ask For What You Want

Use your influence to ask for what you want.  Once you establish a following and a relationship with your followers you can use your influence to ask for exactly what you want.  Need more email subscribers?  Ask for them.  Need more Facebook fans?  Ask people to like your page.  Make sure you offer to return the favor.  Don’t spam them and hope people click the link, just ask. You may be surprised at the response you get from simply asking for what you want.

Mind Your Manners

Just because you are using Twitter for business doesn’t mean that you don’t have to mind your manners.  Say thank you when someone retweets or mentions you.  Welcome new followers.  Say please when making a request.  It is also a common courtesy to keep profanity out of your timeline.  Some people find it offensive and will unfollow you.  Another great courtesy is to suggest to your followers an awesome account to follow.  You can be sure it will not go unnoticed or unreciprocated.

So now it’s your turn.  Tell us how you have used Twitter for business and how you’ve been successful at what you do.  Don’t forget if you like what you read to share it with others and your followers on twitter. And follow us @divabusiness on twitter! We’d love you to come say hi!

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