Twitter For A Small Business

The webinar I chose to participate in was “Twitter for SmallBusiness” put on by Erica who works at Constant Contact. This webinar went into a how to use Twitter and what Twitter is good for. Erica made the comparison of Twitter being like a cocktail party, where you can make all sorts of connections.  In a cocktail party you do not want to pay attention to just one person, you want to work the room and make connections with other people. This struck me as smart, and also made me think of my internship and how networking is the key thing to getting a job or your foot in the door. Twitter is the same thing.

Erica talks about how Twitter has the same manors you would use if attending a cocktail party, she calls these manors Twittiquett. To have proper Twittiquett, you want to be polite, and mingle the social site. You also do not want to tweet about yourself too much. You should use your judgment and use general social rules. 

Here is some advice when starting your account.

• ·         Use your real photo
• ·         Complete your bio; you should include your interests and personal details about yourself. You should also use key words, when you use key words you seem more human, and it is easier to connect.
• ·         Fill out a website, if you do not have a website, then add you linked in URL

For a small business, Twitter is used as a listening tool. Some ways Twitter is good for a business because it…

·         Promotes awareness

·         Gives costumer service

·         Shows thought, and leadership

·         And gives business intelligence which is earns media customer attention.

Twitter is all about followers and getting the word out about yourself or your small business. To get followers you need to follow other people. Look at the key words you have in your bio and search for people with the same words. You should also look at the people who you follow and who they follow. People with the same interests tend to run in the same circles. Just remember gaining a following takes time and patients. Like most things in life you are not going to be a success over night.

Some advice I found helpful, was to type your tweets in word first so you get the correct spelling. This works if you have access to word when you need to tweet but not when you are tweeting from your phone. Another piece of advice I found interesting, is that although you have 140 characters to tweet, you should try to keep your tweets to 120. The 120 rule is to gain retweets. People might want to quote your tweet and add their own stuff to it; if you keep it around 120 characters you are allowing people and customers to do so. 

You should try and tweet at least 3 times a day that way you gain followers. To help with the three times a day rule, using a free platform is advice. Also if people tweet to you, you should respond back.

You should make sure your tweets are…

• ·         Honest
• ·         Casual
• ·         Real
• ·         Funny (humor is always good)
• ·         Relevant
• ·         And HUMAN

Erica advises people to just get out there and start. The best way to learn is to do, something that applies all things in life. If you want to talk to Erica or see how she tweets, her twitter handle is @constantcontact.