How to run a successful small business on Twitter

While many benefits exist in running your own small business, there are important challenges to consider. Large corporations, by their very nature, create a fiercely competitive environment, in which a small business hopes to thrive. 

One way in which you set yourself up for success, is in how you communicate with your target audience? Some communication channels must ensure a two-way flow, a safe space for your customer to provide valuable feedback. This will engender loyalty. 

Twitter is a great place to connect with your customers and potential customers. It’s also a great way to advertise your business. Increasingly, companies are taking advantage of the value available via a Twitter account. This platform is economically prudent for a small business. Once established, critical to your progress is mastering what makes a great tweet. This truly is a subtle art and quality time on this will be well spent. If this step is overlooked, what you say will not be heard by those you hope will listen. 

Engage with others

A variety of engagement methods are available on Twitter, further enhancing your audience’s experience. 

You could share a variety of individual insights into one of your presentations via a mini-campaign. Including a link to the full presentation should drive your audience there.

Use a Twitter poll to ask your audience to share their opinions about something specific. Inviting engagement and then sharing key outcomes will ensure ongoing curiosity about your brand.

Audiences are interested in your business, past, present, and future, so ensure a mix of stories over time. 

Visual content undoubtedly grabs the attention of Twitter users, so make sure to include an image, video, or GIFs in your tweets.

If you are too busy to engage, or your team is too small and can’t manage engagement, you could always try something like Twesocial, which is a growth service that will actively engage with users on your behalf to promote organic growth. This service has seen great success with clients who want more exposure but don’t know where to start. Do your research and you will find the service that works best for your business and will help you gain more followers in a fraction of time.

Start by using hashtags to get your tweets noticed

How do we use hashtags to get our tweets noticed? Let us start by understanding what a hashtag is. It consists of 2 elements. The # symbol, followed by a keyword or phrase, e.g., #OlympicGames. Importantly, notice that there is no space between the words. This is always the rule. Hashtags can be included anywhere in a Tweet. 

Hashtags enable tweets to be grouped into specific categories and help them reveal themselves more easily in a search. Users can then more easily follow their topics of interest, by simply searching for a topic, without having to wade through lengthy and diverse feeds. Notably, hashtags increase engagement with your business, as users can discover you simply via your hashtags, where your business name is largely unknown to most.

You should consider the most apt hashtags for each tweet, which will depend on your tweet objectives. If you are drawing attention to a unique selling point, or an upcoming webinar, your selection will be different. Always consider relevancy, i.e., will my audience appreciate a post about this subject? 

Check for trending and popular hashtags on Twitter and other available sites, including for example, which hashtags influencers are using, which relate to your business. In this way, you can identify which hashtags are most likely to lead you to your audience, help you find stellar influencers, as well as your competitors.  

If you do not use hashtags, your tweets are likely to drown in a sea of tweets. Similarly, overuse will deliver its own disadvantages. There are times when a hashtag should not be used. Experts advise against the use of hashtags when you are trying to drive traffic to your website. A hashtag may well distract and divert them elsewhere. 

Use Twitter for Sharing

Twitter is superb for sharing individual elements of important activity within your business, which you may have previously shared via more cumbersome and costly marketing avenues. You may want to let your audience know about current developments within your industry using an apt hashtag, e.g., #europeanconstructiongrowth. Telling them about your participation at an upcoming trade show may elicit their attendance, using, for example, #baseltradefair2021. Sharing a diverse range of relevant topics, should engender an interested audience and will increase your brand loyalty and conversions.

Expand your Network

Following others on Twitter is very often as useful as being Followed. Observing how customers, prospects, competitors, and persons of influence engage within your industry, will provide many nuggets which, if well analyzed and their opportunities applied, will enhance what you do and how you do it.

Your Twitter account should be an interesting place for a member of your audience to visit. Do not underestimate the critical nature of content that captivates. This requires regular and ongoing planning which will serve your small business well if done with purpose and on purpose.