Simple ways to use Twitter to promote your small business.
Are people already Tweeting about your business?
Twitter has seen explosive and unprecedented growth over the past year and is rising to the top of the social media marketing world. You may be thinking what many others have been wondering too. How can I use this to my benefit and promote my business?
Well, I'm here to tell you its being done every day and more and more businesses both small and large are realizing the potential of social media marketing, viral marketing via online and internet marketing in general. Most large businesses now have an Online Marketer on staff. Now is the time to jump in on the early stages of this developing trend and to make sure your business stays competitive.
As you read through this page I am going to give you some information and resources to learn and use to keep your small business relevant and thriving in a new digital age. I'm providing the general information here free to you, because this is a passion for me. Some of the resources I refer you to may not be free, but internet marketing is booming because it works and it is an area that most of your marketing budget should now be directed towards.
Here are a few items I will also tell you about; how to learn if people are already Tweeting about your business, how to acknowledge and reward them, how to find local Tweeters, how to get your clients to follow you, simple ways to promote your business through Twitter and more!
Twitter has seen explosive and unprecedented growth over the past year and is rising to the top of the social media marketing world. You may be thinking what many others have been wondering too. How can I use this to my benefit and promote my business?
Well, I'm here to tell you its being done every day and more and more businesses both small and large are realizing the potential of social media marketing, viral marketing via online and internet marketing in general. Most large businesses now have an Online Marketer on staff. Now is the time to jump in on the early stages of this developing trend and to make sure your business stays competitive.
As you read through this page I am going to give you some information and resources to learn and use to keep your small business relevant and thriving in a new digital age. I'm providing the general information here free to you, because this is a passion for me. Some of the resources I refer you to may not be free, but internet marketing is booming because it works and it is an area that most of your marketing budget should now be directed towards.
Here are a few items I will also tell you about; how to learn if people are already Tweeting about your business, how to acknowledge and reward them, how to find local Tweeters, how to get your clients to follow you, simple ways to promote your business through Twitter and more!
Before we start:
Do you have a Twitter account yet?
If not, you need to get that before we get into the details. Go to Twitter and set your account up now.
Make sure to put a link to your website in the Web section, you could be creative or use a company slogan in your Bio section. If yours is a company or product that others may mimick to try and steal away some of your web traffic, you may want to note that it is the Official Twitter Profile in your Bio section also.
Make sure to put a link to your website in the Web section, you could be creative or use a company slogan in your Bio section. If yours is a company or product that others may mimick to try and steal away some of your web traffic, you may want to note that it is the Official Twitter Profile in your Bio section also.
Now for a quick check of your company's Twitter popularity:
An introduction to search and the hash tag or #search.
From your new Twitter homepage you will see a small search box on the left side of your screen. You can type your business name or products in here and search for any tweets containing those words. When the results come up you will see any of those keywords in bold and who has tweeted about your products or business.These findings will be broad and probably more casual mentioning in conversation. If you want more specific results you can use the #in front of your search term. For example it would look like this, #RedBull as seen in the picture. This is usually when people want other people to find what they have written about your products or business. It may be a blog post, a hot topic, or many other reasons that they are promoting you.
Twitter Backgrounds:
Create a custom backgound.
You can create a custom background with your logo on it and use it as your background on Twitter. This will give your profile that professional edge and represent your business. I used a 570 x 1200 pixel jpg and it works well for me, but it may take some tweaking to get it right, depending on what you are using. I suggest looking through some profiles of companies already doing this for some good ideas and ways to arrange your logo and text. If you're up for the challenge or want to have it professionally done, you could also make it available for download on your website for others to use. It works well if you have a product with a "cult" like following, like Redbull for example. That advice can be used on other social media sites like MySpace as well. Get some Followers:
Now your looking good, but is anyone seeing it?
There are many ways of doing this, as with everything. I am only going to focus on three options.
- Get your customers to follow you! Start adding the URL's to your social networking sites everywhere you would put your website URL. I truly believe this is going to be the future norm. You will already notice a lot of businesses creating links from their websites to their social networking sites, but don't forget about your print material as well. Right now it seems Twitter and Facebook are the two most popular for this. Here are some more places you could add these; business cards, letterhead, email signature, in your advertising, on your receipts, etc...
- Follow as many people as possible and hope they follow you back or are at least interested enough to find your link and head over to your website. If you are a National or International brand you could just follow anyone, but if your business is primarily local you will want to find locals. This can be done with Twellow. Look under the Twellowhood Tab and you can search down to the city level and find Tweeters in your area.
- Get some advanced training! Unfortunately I can't type everything here that would benefit you, so you may want to do some studying if you truly want your comapny to benefit from the social business movement and get your company "viral".
Need more information?
Here are a few Downloadable Resources:
Twitter Rockstar. Authoritative Guide To Marketing Your Brand Or Niche With Twitter. 11 Video's, 4 PDF's, 2 Mindmaps, And A 20 Minute Audio Session, All Conveniently Located In A Members Area For Viewing Or Download. The Most Comprehensive Twitter Guide On The Internet.
Twitter Traffic Machine - The Automated Growth & Money Making System. The System Explains How To Grow A Twitter Account Rapidly W/total Automation Via 5 Videos. In Video 6, We Then Show How Create A Viral Affiliate Business.
Twitter Traffic Machine - The Automated Growth & Money Making System. The System Explains How To Grow A Twitter Account Rapidly W/total Automation Via 5 Videos. In Video 6, We Then Show How Create A Viral Affiliate Business.
There are also some great Twitter books on Amazon.
Make your Followers your Marketing Department!
Create a Twitter contest:
Why not use your Followers to get more Followers? One of the best ways to do that is to do a Twitter contest. You can create a Twitter contest with specific wording and a specific hash tag that must be tweeted in order to be entered in the contest.
This is great because when your Followers Tweet to their friends and followers on Twitter a lot of them are also spreading the word to other synced accounts like Facebook. This lets you reach an even wider audience with little effort on your part.
This is great because when your Followers Tweet to their friends and followers on Twitter a lot of them are also spreading the word to other synced accounts like Facebook. This lets you reach an even wider audience with little effort on your part.
Here is an example of one I just entered.
Last but not Least.
Be interactive and social.
This is after all a social networking site. Respond to your Direct Messages in a timely manner and thank people for following and tweeting about your company. People now want to interact with the places they do business on a more personal level and build trust and a perceived friendship.The power of networking, is now the power of social networking and that power is in the social presence of your company.
Further Reading:
Twitter Means Business: How Microblogging Can Help Or Hurt Your Company
Millions of Internet users have fallen in love with the Twitter microblogging service, which lets them swap brief text tweets. Now companies are embracing the service to engage customers, promote products and monitor what is being said about their brands. p Given the passion and high profiles of Twitterverse denizens, the service has evolved into a vital early-warning system for businesses seeking to stave off criticism, and as a way to build better relationships with customers. That is why companies need to know Twitter. Embracing it can help a business thrive; ignoring the service could well hurt it. p For companies unfamiliar with Twitter, this book serves as a field guide. They will get a Twitterverse tour, and learn about the dozens of firms big and small that have harnessed Twitter as a powerful, flexible business tool. The bottom line: Twitter means business.
by CarlJordan
I'm a social media junkie, obsessed with SEM, SEO, networking, blogging and I'm glued to the web on a daily basis! I have a background in business man... (more)
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