Wondering how or if you can use Twitter to promote your small business? You can–even without the help of a social media manager. You can read the full article “How to Leverage Twitter for Your Small Business” that I recently wrote for Intuit Small Business Blog, but if you’ve only get a second to skim–here’s what you really need to know. Get started and build some followers today!
1. Prove positive feedback. Convince others to give your small business a shot by capturing the Tweets you get from satisfied customers and posting them to your website. When you get a complimentary Tweet, hover over it with your mouse to the see the “more” option. Select “Embed Tweet,” copy the HTML code provided, and post it on your website.
2. Address customer service questions. Provided that you can respond to customer inquiries on Twitter within 24 hours, Twitter can act as a real-time way to answer customer concerns before they “snowball”, and even improve conversion. Tools like Zendesk help facilitate the process so you don’t overlook a customer Tweet.
3. Facilitate “word of mouth” with promotions. Run “flash sale” style promotions that engage current followers, and boost your follower count by way of the promotion. For example, a hair salon might promote business with a Tweet like “Retweet for your chance to win a free spray tan.”
4. Show people what you do. Twitter provides a venue for talking with your audience, as opposed to traditional marketing, which requires that you invest a lot of money to send a message to users who not “pick up” on it. When you’re actively engaged on Twitter, you can share an intimate look at what you do by sharing images, and video, thereby reducing the barriers of formality and delving into that ever important relationship you want to build with customers.
5. Target like a pro. Twitter’s advertising platform (which is self-service and controlled by the advertiser based on budget and needs) allows you target users all the way down to their gender, words associated with their interests, and the device they’re on. It even allows you to select followers of an industry leader or competitor that you’re fairly sure your audience follows on Twitter. (For example, a running shoe store could target all the followers of tarde mags like @RunnersWorld magazine, or a running event that has a Twitter handle). When you advertise, you also get access to analytics and user behavior, so you can find tune campaigns as you go.
6. Learn from the best. You don’t have to know a thing about Twitter to use it for small business, and there is truly no consequence for “testing and learning” as you go. There are plenty of TweetChats that you can get involved in weekly, where you can literally, pick the brains of social media experts and other small businesses who are happy to lend their experience and insight.
