Twitter for business - tips to start tweeting

Time is always a pressure and trying to find time to do your own marketing is never easy.  With so many social media channels though, which do you do?  Once apon a time, you could choose to not do twitter or Facebook because 'its not for you' but now, how can you afford not to?  As the image shows, people do engage with businesses and buy as a result.  Ok, its based on US data but we in the UK follow on, usually quite quickly so don't be surprised that you'll soon be hearing of this from the UK if you've not already.

With the drive to find new customers an ever increasing battle, getting the time to post is not easy.  Harder still is working out what to say!  'Be yourself' you're told.  Well, if you're like me, for a private person, being myself wouldn't see me posting anything online!  Working out what to say then isn't always easy, is it?  For some it is and they're the lucky ones I think.  In 140 characters, how do you say all you need to? Its not that easy, and even when you have loads you can say, where do you stop?

Working that out is part of the plan and getting a balance is the key.  A few top tips to start you off:

• Be private, post only about your business or something you're interested in - not everyone wants to know what you ate for breakfast so you'll find people who follow you will like your posts about your business or interest
• Follow back - its social media for a reason, be socialable and follow people who follow you and RT (re-tweet i.e. post out to your followers) what others post, they'll like you for it.
• Listen before speaking! Like everything in life, listening is an art.  You can 'search' by looking for conversations and areas of interst by going to the search box and putting in the hash-tag and word after it - twitter will make some helpful suggestions too.  Find conversations and listen and join in.  You can also then follow people who like what you do
• Grow your followers - by finding interests you like, you can follow those people as I've mentioned above.  Equally, finding local people or businesses can be helpful too.  Quite often you get a great community in the area you are in.  Often your competitors can have a great list of potential customers too.
• Keep at it! Keeping going!  You can, if you're disciplined, get your social media done in about 2-3 hours a week.  Careful not to consume your life but equally, keep at it.  A little here and there to post and comment on lets people know you're there.

For more tips and training, contact us on 01900 268281 or email info@flameconcepts.com