Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

Let’s Get Tweeting! (in 3 easy steps)

By: Nicole Lowe

If the title of this article left you scratching your head, you’re not alone.  But if you’re a small business it’s time to stop wondering and start participating in Twitter.

Twitter may not deserve all the hype it’s getting, and it’s not going to make or break your business, but when the only cost is your time why not use it to strengthen the loyalty of existing customers and try to attract new customers?

1. First things first – go to Twitter, set up an account, load up a background and image and select your colors.  Remember, this is the voice of your business and should reflect your brand.  If your Twitter page looks generic, how will people connect it with your business?  You might want to consider hiring a company like Logoworks to design a custom background and image, and set up your account.
2. Here’s the hardest part (and it’s actually really easy).  Post updates, I recommend at least one a day, which are 140 characters or less.  What do you post about?  As a general rule, post things that are relevant to your business and industry, but don’t keep it too dry.  If you run a lawn mowing business, posting about how frequently you should be watering your lawn during the season’s changes, how to winterize your lawn, and other lawn care tips are very relevant to your customers.  Also let them know when you’re running specials, or additional services like aerating.  To add a personal touch, share when you’ve added a new vehicle to your fleet, or hired a new employee.  Talk about new products you’ve tried and liked, and those you haven’t liked.  Share a funny story (strangest customer request?) or a happy one.  Realtors can tweet about new home listings, open houses and tips for buying and selling homes.  Restaurants can tweet about daily specials, new menu additions and coupons.  Massage therapists can tweet about the ‘recommended stretch of the day,’ last minute appointment openings and general health tips.  No matter what your business, many of your existing or potential new customers are on Twitter, and you should be connecting with them.
3. Twitter is not about throwing your tweets out there and ignoring the rest of the Twitter world.  Make sure you are regularly searching Twitter for mentions of your business.  If the mention is bad, ask for details to improve your business.  If it’s good, thank the Tweeter, and possibly offer a discount or some other incentive for repeat business.  Give timely responses to direct messages sent to you, with questions or comments about your business.  Twitter is about participation, and when you participate in the community its residents certainly take notice and appreciate the effort.

Hopefully this article got your creative juices flowing about what you could be Tweeting about for your business.  Your customers are out there on Twitter, so start Tweeting and connect with them!

Posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.