Ten tips on how to use Twitter for business

1. Find

Listen to what people are saying on Twitter. Use the Twitter search function or tools that can tap into the conversations around a particular subject. Learn what your community finds interesting and important.

 2. Follow

Follow the people who are talking about you, your brands, your industry, your issues or your interests. Read their tweets for a few days and get to know what they tweet about and when they tweet. Get more information about people you think might be influential.

 3. Set objectives

Set goals for your Twitter activity. Based on what you have learned, determine the best direction to take with your tweets. Thought leadership, customer service, crisis or reputation management, building relationships with fans or cause advocates are a few reasons to be tweeting. Finding media connections is another.

 4. It’s all about content

Provide valuable content. No one will follow a Twitter feed that is boring. People are on Twitter to get news and information fast—they’re looking for insider tips and insights. They want stuff they can’t get elsewhere. And they want to build relationships with interesting people.

 5. Narrowcast

Don’t treat Twitter like other broadcast media. Twitter is not the place to push out corporate messages. Read what your followers have to say. Comment on their tweets. Get engaged and build relationships. Learn how to use RT, @ and DM.

6. Post every day

Tweet every day if you can. You are building a community on Twitter. When you don’t post regularly people will unfollow you and look elsewhere for their information.

 7. Use Hashtags

Hashtags (#) were developed by Twitter users as a way to tag or label a subject, event or conversation so that it is easy to find all tweets about it. So when you tweet about an event you would put the hashtag at the end of your tweet. Example: The 2012 Olympics had the hashtag #london2012, but what about #businessadvice or #PR?

 8. Trending

Take note of the latest trends and buzz on Twitter. If it is something relevant for you and your followers, comment and contribute to the buzz. If possible add something not yet tweeted about.

 9. Be helpful

While reading other people’s tweets, if you see a way you can help someone, do it. Help them promote their content. Be generous with your re-tweets. Read their blog and comment.

 10. Expand from Twitter

It’s been said that Twitter is like meeting someone on the street (or avenue if you are posh) and having a quick chat. Deepen that relationship. Invite them to your blog or web site, where they can get more content. ‘Friend’ them on Facebook and invite them to join your fan page, or connect with them on LinkedIn. Meet offline in person if you can.

Come along to our session on 11 October in Newcastle. More>>