Use Twitter to Grow Your Michigan Small Business
It’s no secret that social media sites like Twitter and Facebook can help you promote your brand and increase sales. The question is how do you use Twitter effectively? If you are new to social media and want to learn how you can grow your Michigan small business with Twitter, we have some tips to help you find your way through the social media maze and see some serious results!
Setting Up Your Bio for Twitter
Setting up a Twitterbio is not mandatory but you should consider this imperative if you want to use Twitter as a marketing tool to grow your Michigan small business. You will have the option of putting an image in the background of your bio. A lot people use this background as a place to advertise links to their other social media sites. Although this may sound like a good idea, consider that the background is not clickable so some users may become frustrated by this. Instead, use other images that promote your brand such as logos or other company photos.
How to Tweet Effectively
You are given 140 characters to tweet your message. Tweeting originally started as an answer to the question: “What are you doing?” But more and more, Twitter is used to create customer relationships and increase sales. For example, you could very easily tweet : ” 15% off at Smith’s Clothing Store – Today 11am until 9pm.” Today many Michigan small businesses are using Twitter.
Even though your goal is to grow your Michigan small business, try not to make every message sound like a commercial. It is ok to share some things about your company but talk about other things too such as news and events. If you have read any of our blogs on social media etiquette, we stress this rule for all social media sites. Remember Twitter conversations should be similar to the conversations you hold in person. It is no fun speaking to someone who only talks about themself and doesn’t show interest in other people.
Try to reply to other peeps(people you are following) tweets to keep conversations going and build relationships. Twitter is meant to be more like a telephone then a megaphone. To reply to someone’s tweet, place “@” ahead of the username that you are replying to, then tweet your message.
The Power of the Retweet
Retweeting is when you copy a tweet from someone that you are following and post it into your Twitter stream so that your followers see it. You can even add your own thoughts onto the original tweet. This can be a powerful networking tool as messages can easily go viral.
The correct format of the retweet is RT@username(your comments if you like)
Don’t be afraid to ask that your followers retweet your messages since this is a common request on Twitter. Just be careful not to abuse the retweet. Like most things, moderation is key.
4 Tips to Get Your Message Retweeted:
- Simply ask: please retweet. Remember in moderation.
- Posting about social media and Twitter itself could promote more retweets.
- Include a link to an external website in your original tweet.
- Talking about yourself rarely encourages retweets.
Adding links to your tweets
Recall that adding links to your tweets could encourage retweets. But how do you keep your tweet to 140 characters with these urls that are extremely long? Another useful tip: Use services to shorten links such as: tinyurl.com, bit.ly or ow.ly
Grow Your Michigan Small Business with Twitter
Russ Cuthrell is a Michigan SEO Expert and Social Media Marketer with over 24 years of experience in the Information Technology space. He is the owner of Spyder Byte Media, Inc., a Michigan Website Design company located in Shelby Township, Michigan. He has helped hundreds small business owners in Michigan use social media to build client relationships and increase sales.
More Leads. More Clients. More Revenue.
Recent Comments