Small-firm tips for using Twitter … by Twitter

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Larry Bodine
Dolan Media Newswires

The authors of “Twitter for Small Business — a Guide to Get Started” should know a bit about how to use the ubiquitous social-media service to its maximum potential; the guide is published by Twitter itself.

Here are some highlights from the 21-page booklet, available for free download:

• Listen firstThe ease and prevalence of tweeting make it tempting to start right away. But before you begin, it’s a good idea to follow and observe other firms to see what they are doing well, and to learn from their mistakes. It shouldn’t take long — with the speed of today’s technology, trends that used to take months to recognize now can be spotted in a week.

• Offer your readers somethingTweet an offer of a tangible representation of your firm, such as a white paper, webinar recording or checklist.

• Use @username mentionsInclude the @username of whomever you want to mention in your tweet; it will appear in the “mentions” sections. All @username mentions are clickable and link to the person’s profile.

• Be responsiveAs with traditional RSVPs, it’s simple courtesy to reply to tweets and send tweets thanking others for their re-tweets.

• Tweet at least once a dayTwitter is not your father’s — or perhaps even your older sibling’s— social media. Unlike phone calls or even emails, tweets take so little time to construct that there’s no excuse not to check in on a daily basis.

• If running a promotion, plan out your tweets over a week’s timeDecide what point or discount you’ll offer each day, and make them appear to be part of an overall campaign.

• Use the question-and-answer techniqueFor example: “What are the top 10 things to do after you are in an auto accident?” Answer: link to a blog post about the subject.

• Share photos and videos in your tweetsThe premise here is no different than a century’s worth of good old newspaper headlines: People like art. Quite simply, visual footage will increase the likelihood that your posts will be re-tweeted.