redboxoffice

Twitter.  Ain’t it great! Yes, I admit it.  At first I was sceptical about it’s potential, but six months in I’m a huge, huge fan.  It’s a great way to promote Red Box without having to be on line every minute of the day.

I also encourage my clients and you to get stuck into Twitter in order to develop strong business relationships and find new customers and clients.

However, there are rumblings from certain quarters that Twitter can be intimidating, confusing and even a waste of valuable time.

I would say ‘not so’ and here are my Top 5 Twitter Tips (v.ably supported by Nikki Pilkington).

1) Get Your Picture Up. If you are going to use social media as a marketing tool, take the time to find a picture of yourself for your profiles. Social media marketing is about interactions and building relationships. People want to “see” that there is a real person behind your business.

2) Go Ahead And Brag! Maybe your first few Tweets shouldn’t be direct selling, but we want to know who you are and what you do, so do tell us about your business, what you are currently blogging about and how your clients love you!

3) Autofollow Those Who Follow You. It’s a good idea until you get the hang of Twitter to Auto Follow those that follow you.  Use  Tweetlater (a great tool) to automatically follow everyone who follows you. Take the time to read your new follower’s tweets and get to know them as much as you can.  If in time you decide that they’re not your cup of tea, you can unfollow them.

4) Use the URL Shortener. 140 characters or less.  Blimey!  So while we are trying to condense our love for this month’s new chocolate into 140 letters, you can shorten any URL you want to use through tinyurl or other search engine shorteners. It makes such a difference.

5) Key Phrases. Like any other part of your SEO, when tweeting, remember your key phrases.  Google and the other search engines are picking up on tweets and there are lots of Twitter focussed search tools, too.  So if you want to use Twitter for your business, remember your key phrases. What are others typing in that means they could find you?  Play around on Search Twitter and Twellow and see what you come up with (it’s also a helpful tool to find your competitors, too).

Twitter is an amazing and powerful marketing tool. Interact, be nice, ask & answer questions, listen and add value. Be yourself and have a little fun! Twitter can be automated, to save yourself time, but if you’d like support setting up Twitter for your business, do get in touch. I’d also recommend the Tweet Mentor course (below) to get you started.

Useful Tools
Tweet Mentor
Tweet Later
Tweet Deck
Twitter Counter
Hootsuite