How to Use Twitter for Your Business

Why Twitter?

Send 140 character updates to people who want them.

It's a free, yet powerful marketing tool. Publicize blog posts, company news, special offers... Engage with potential customers. Generate feedback. See what people are saying about you and industry-

related issues. Follow trends and act on them. 25% of Twitter users are high-earners.

Sign-Up

Twitter's sign-up process is very simple.

But don't rush through it.

Use your real name. Your username

should be one word. It will become your Twitter URL.

You can create more than one account.

Create a Profile Don't start following

people until your profile is complete.

Upload a picture or a logo. Don't leave the default Twitter icon.

No one will see your e-mail address.

For local businesses, you'll also want to check the “Add location to Tweets” option to give you better local visibility.

Create a Profile

Your one-line bio should reflect your company's personality or mission in 160 characters or less.

You can change your bio to reflect current projects or new promotions.

Follow First

Click the “Who to Follow” button at the top right corner.

Use People Search Invite Friends Be selective! Identify the experts Target potential

customers.

What to Tweet?

When first starting out, it doesn't matter much (i.e. “just joined Twitter”).

Remember that you want to reflect your company's personality and add a human element.

Offer advice and solutions. Become part of the conversation.

Introduce new blog posts as part of those conversations. Sales copy doesn't work well on Twitter.

Replies, Retweets, and DMs

Have conversations with people: use “@username” to send messages.

Like what someone else tweeted? Share it with your followers (RT @username...)

Use Direct Messages like e-mail. (Only visible to you and the person you sent it to.) Often used for spam.

#Hashtags

Hashtag = A keyword marked with a “#” symbol. (i.e., #amwriting)

Helpful for following discussions and chat sessions.

Often used for breaking news. A great way to become part of a Twitter

community. You can create your own hashtags.

URLs

Include URLs in posts to link to interesting content.

Use URL shorteners like tiny.url and bit.ly to save characters.

Third-Party Tools

Twellow – a Twitter directory. TweetBeep – get alerts whenever

someone talks about you. TwitPic – allows you to post pictures. Trendistic – track trends on Twitter with

graphs. TweetChat – great for creating or

participating in scheduled chat sessions.

HootSuite

My favorite Twitter tool. Great for business. Follow trends, discussions, mentions, all

in one place. Metrics. Use Hootlet (a browser plug-in) to share

web pages with multiple social media sites.

Keys to Success Become part of the conversation. Don't spam or overload your tweets with selling

copy. Give followers something of value – show your

expertise. Use metrics to see which Tweets worked and

which didn't. Respond to people who talk about you –

regardless if it was positive or negative. Remember that you're ultimately representing

your company and not yourself. Don't expect thousands of followers overnight.

For More Help...

Find me at:

whoelscher@bullseyewriting.com

828.290.9314

www.bullseyewriting.com

Facebook Page: Bull's-Eye Writing & Editing Services

Twitter: @BullsEyeWriting