It’s not too late to start using Twitter

Twitter is an effective tool to help increase your business and boost sales.  If you haven’t started using Twitter yet, don’t worry; it’s not too late.  You don’t have to be a millennial or have a lot of extra time to use Twitter to your advantage.  We will help you get started, so read on.

 

Before you open your Twitter account, it’s best to have a few ideas about what you want to accomplish.  Maybe you’ve just launched a new website, and you want to increase traffic?  Or one of your competitors is already well established with social media and you want a piece of the action?  Knowing your goals will help you focus on making strategic decisions.

Ok, now you can open your account.  It’s easy to do, and Twitter will guide you through the process.  You will be asked to choose a username, also known as a Twitter handle.  This should be a name that represents your business and is easy to remember, and it has to be 15 characters or less.  Here at Ancell Marketing we use, not surprisingly, @AncellMktg.

Fill out your profile as completely as possible.  Add your photo or your logo and take advantage of the banner image option – putting in the extra effort shows your customers you are engaged with your social channels.

So now you’ve opened your account and completed your profile, what now?

Here’s a few functions and definitions that you’ll need to know:

Tweet:  Tweets are messages you post that have 140 characters or less. You can say a lot, just make it tight. These 3 sentences are 139 characters.

Retweet:  Retweets are messages that somebody else has tweeted and you are reposting.  If there is space you can add some of your own words to a retweet – remember only 140 characters allowed.

Hashtag:  A hashtag is the number symbol # that you can attach to words when you want to contribute or start a conversation.  For example, the 2014 Super Bowl hashtag was #SB44.  You could enter this hashtag as a search in twitter, and every tweet that has used this will be listed – it’s a great way to filter information.

Follow:  A follow allows you to have your interests, your friends or a business as part of your home feed.  When you follow a person or business all of their updates will be listed for you – this gives you the ability to keep on top of your interests and not necessarily the chatter about last night’s Mad Men episode….unless your friends like Mad Men.

You also want to receive follows to help you get your message out, start conversations and bring attention to your business.  Make it easy for people to follow you by adding a Twitter link on your website.

Twitter gives you another way to reach your customers – it’s about communication and engagement, not pushing.  Twitter is a great way to create or maintain relationships, and as a businessperson you know the value of relationships.