A Beginner’s Guide To Twitter For Small Businesses (Part 2)

Article from DISRUPT Media

DISRUPT Media is a full service social media agency for social strategy and complete social media management for businesses. They help funeral professionals, worldwide; interact with today’s consumers by truly embracing the Internet and engaging in conversations about their funeral business online.

In Part 1 I really wanted to focus on the bare essentials that will save you from being ignored or un-followed on Twitter. Today I wanted to go in to a little bit more detail and provide a few more tips for beginners on Twitter.

Work on that profile some more – Fill in any final details you might have missed first time around. Then find a fitting image for your cover photo (the background image to you profile description). Make sure it represents your brand and looks professional. Also, avoid images that make your description hard to read.

Finally, you’ll want to change the background to your page. This is possibly the least vital thing to change but it’s always advised to, at the very least, change it from the default. Leaving anything to the default setting can make you come across as either lazy or a total beginner (which you might be but there’s no need to let others know!)

Using the “@” – The number of symbols and links on Twitter can be confusing at first glance but they’re not as complicated as they look. The @ symbol goes at the front of someone’s username and can be used to mention them in a Tweet or to reply to one of theirs. Mentioning someone in your Tweet will alert them to it so it can be a great way to have your Tweet seen. But use it with caution, you don’t want to over do it and come across as a nuisance!

Using the “#” – Hashtags are probably Twitter’s most famous export. Even if you’ve never been on Twitter before, chances are you’ve seen them somewhere. While some people may use them as a humorous side-note, (#ilovelattes!) their primary use is as a means to follow a larger conversation.

On the left of the main Twitter page are trending tags. These might refer to a current event, TV show or topic of conversation that multiple people are engaging in. Clicking a hashtag will first show you the top uses of the tag and will then start providing you with a sort of live feed.

As a business you can either use hashtags that people are using already or you can attempt to make your own. Making your own has the added benefit of giving your tweets some organization. Let’s say you sometimes tweet inspiring stories, you could end each one with #DISRUPTinspires, then if a visitor clicks the tag, the other times the hashtag has been used will be displayed.

Don’t just broadcast a message – It’s all too easy to think you can send out tweets advertising your business but the truth is that if you do nothing else, then your followers will lose interest.

Find the perfect number of tweets – We all hate spam and posting too many Tweets can become just that. However Twitter also has more breathing room than other platforms. 8 posts in 1 day on Facebook is just too much but on Twitter it might be perfect. Due to it’s nature your followers have to be online at the right time to catch what you post. So posting regularly should provide the best results. Experiment and see how many work best for you.

Make friends – Don’t forget the social part of social media. Get talking to people, it’s what we did when we hit the site to see if anyone else had some tips of their own!