Twitter is one of the most powerful marketing tools for small business owners, with millions of potential customers at your fingertips.
Unlike Facebook and Instagram, Twitter is all about the here and the now, with users encouraged to post as many times as they’d like, keeping their followers up to date on what’s going on in the office, the latest news from their industry, and more.
But as more and more small businesses take to Twitter, how can you stand out?
Below, we’ve put together ten tips for taking your Twitter account to the next level…
Post lots of content
Businesses who post regular content on Twitter are likely to do much better than those who post once in a blue moon, so schedule posts in advance to keep things ticking over.
Where you might post only once or twice per day on Facebook, you can effectively post on Twitter ten or even twenty times per day without annoying people, as timelines are structured to show the latest (or best) posts, meaning you won’t appear as spammy.
See also: How to curate content for social media posts
… but not too much
Whilst you can post a lot more on Twitter than you can on other social networks, you should still know when to stop.
Don’t post more than five to ten times per hour, otherwise, Twitter users will become frustrated and may choose to unfollow you.
As like most things in the digital marketing world, it takes some time and experimentation to work out how often you should be posting, so see how your engagement fares when you go from posting ten times a day to one.
In some industries, posting less often, but posting quality content may be best.
See also: How to speed up social media scheduling
Take part in Twitter hours
Twitter hours are always good fun, and they allow you to speak to other people who have the same interests as you.
What’s more, they allow you to network with other business owners, which makes them perfect if you operate in the business-to-business niche.
Say you’re a florist, for example; if you take part in the #UKBizHour Twitter hour, you’ll be able to put your services in front of potential customers and find some new clients.
It takes time, but it works.
Follow people back
If you want to create a community and encourage new people to follow you on Twitter, then be sure to follow people back.
It’s courteous and allows you to form relationships, and keep on top of their content, too. It can be easy to follow thousands of people and end up with a timeline full of things you’re not interested in, but it’s worth making the sacrifice to find new followers and you can use lists to overcome an overbearing timeline.
More on that below…
Pay for followers
If you’re struggling to grow your Twitter account organically, then one option is to buy followers.
Of course, this shouldn’t be used as a long-term solution, but temporarily it allows you to boost your follower account and encourage other people to follow you. Indeed, if you have 1,000 followers, your account instantly looks more established than one with only 100.
See also: How to grow your follower account on Twitter
Retweet other people
Retweeting not only allows you to share other people’s messages and content, but it gives you a chance to meet new people.
If you retweet another small business owner’s content, they’ll be more likely to check out your account and retweet one of your posts, so it’s worth doing.
Don’t retweet too often, though; people should still be able to see your posts when they visit your profile, and if it’s full of retweets, they may wonder what sort of content you actually create.
For every retweet, post at least ten of your own tweets to balance things out.
Respond to messages
Whenever someone tweets you, respond. Not only is it courteous, but it allows you to form new relationships and find new clients.
Even if you don’t think they’d be interested in your business, it’s still good to have them on your “good side”, so to speak, so make the effort and set up alerts on your phone so you know when people have sent you a message or tweet.
Don’t sign up for automated DMs
Automated direct messages allow you to thank new followers and spread the word about your business, but they’re bad news in the long run.
People quickly become annoyed when they’re met with automated content, and may choose to unfollow, block, or even report your account if they see you’re posting using automated techniques.
Be real with custom messages.
Utilise lists
Lists are a great way to organise your Twitter account and see tweets from the people you care about.
You can set up a list of your customers, for example, and check in now and again to see what they’re getting up to and interact with their content.
The same can be done for news outlets and media organisations – a list of industry news will allow you to stay ahead of the competition and be alerted should there be a news story you need to cover/retweet.
Sort out your profile
Finally, take a good look at your profile and see what needs to be changed.
Check that you have a good biography, you’ve got a strong header image and you have linked to your website.
Add a custom colour to your profile that matches your company logo and branding, and consider adding a new pinned post to offer information about your business.
Your profile is the first thing a potential customer may see about you when they’re researching into your business, so it should be clear, concise and easy to understand.
Tweak it until it’s perfect.