In our last blog post, we talked about the importance of Twitter for your business, even if you don’t use it! At aprompt we believe that the best way to make use of any social media channel when it comes to marketing and growing a business is to be proactive. By taking the initiative you can proactively find new customers, build relationships and grow your business.
Here are 5 clever ways you can use Twitter to grow your business:
1. Follow and interact with potential customers
Twitter was designed to be able to follow people you have an interest in - and hopefully, have an interest in you! (if they don’t have an interest in you then you may need to review the value of the content you are posting but we will save advice on that for another blog post!).
By following potential customers and interacting with their content you are not just saying ‘We are here’, you are also showing an active interest in them. If you are a company selling to other businesses, for example, you might reply to posts about an upcoming trade show by saying that you are looking forward to it and hope to see them there. If they have posted an inspirational quote you might want to share it with your followers and even respond saying that you agree that it’s a great quote. Small interactions can make a big difference.
2. Take it to the next level and refer
Imagine the scenario, a potential customer on Twitter says they are looking for a new accountant, or that they are struggling with managing paperwork and finances. If you recommend an accountant or bookkeeper that you know then you are helping them out AND being a great help to the accountant or bookkeeper that may return the favour sometime in the future. Referring someone can be as simple as a post saying ‘hey @ABC you might want to consider @ZaccountingFirm. We have been using them for 5 years now and they are great!’.
Even if you only do this 2 or 3 times a week, it doesn’t take up a lot of time and can make a huge difference by interacting with over a hundred different people each year!
3. Make a list
This isn’t a Christmas list that you need to check twice (sorry Santa)! Twitter allows you to make a public list of Twitter profiles that other people can subscribe to and see only the tweets from these people. If you are a keen business networker, for example, you might set up a list of local businesses in your area (or numerous lists per area) so that you can use it to interact with just those businesses.
It’s also possible to set up a private list which other people can’t see such as:
- Potential buyers: Filter potential buyers so you can easily interact with them and build up a relationship with them
- Competitors: At a glance, see what other competitors are posting about so that you know what they are up to and can plan how best to react
4. Run a competition
It’s easy to run a competition on Twitter that helps you build followers and make your content go viral. A competition would look something like this:
"Share this post and follow us for a chance to win £50 worth of ABC"
ABC (the prize) could be services that you offer or you could offer a chance to win your product or services for free. With the right hashtags and image, you will be able to reach a lot more people and get your brand noticed more easily.
You might also want to use Twitter Ads to promote your competition even further!
5. Hashtag your way to success
Just to be clear, we don’t mean like this: #buy #our #products #we #are #great!.
Using the relevant hashtags, correctly can help to make your posts seen by the right people. There are local hashtags you can use such as #Swindon and #Wiltshire to promote your business locally and you can join chat ‘hours’ such as #WiltsHour and #CotswoldHour.
There are also other hashtags that may be relevant to your business such as #TravelTuesday, #Charityweek etc.
If you need help deciding which hashtags to use or with using Twitter in general for your business, then get in touch. We would love to help.
By using the above 5 clever techniques we are confident you will grow the presence of your brand on social media with a view to long-term success. Remember to get in touch if you need any help from our website designers in Wiltshire.
