Entering the world of Twitter or indeed any social media platform can be a very daunting prospect particularly for the average small to medium business owner. A common argument that often rears it’s head amongst the inexperienced is that Twitter is merely a form of escapism for many wishing to post a litany of random things they are doing throughout the day. Many do not recognise the true business value & networking opportunities that exist within Twitter. The question is how does one harness this potential with limited time & resources?

The first piece of advice we at Superior Internet Marketing relay is that one must be willing to devote some time & energy to establishing a Twitter profile. In this name of the game patience is certainly a valuable virtue. Another common misconception that exists amongst business owners is that as soon as you sign up to a social media platform such as Twitter customers are going to miraculously fall from the sky in their droves. Suddenly you will be inundated with more business offers than you can handle. However, Twitter is a bit more challenging than this to master but that’s what makes this unique conversational hub both engaging & interesting!

Frustrated small business users of Twitters usually fall into two categories. Frustrated business owner number one feels like Twitter is akin to entering a large conference or cocktail party where they don’t know a single soul. Despite conversations happening all around them they feel overwhelmed by the sheer numbers & more often than not leaves without engaging with anyone. Disgruntled Twitter quitter number two is the complete opposite of number one. She will join Twitter, see all of the conversations going on, and assume Twitter’s prime purpose is a direct marketing tool. It isn’t long before she begins sending out many spammy messages, informing about their great products and prices. She will typically stop using Twitter when to her dismay nobody follows her back and she doesn’t receive one @ reply.

Naturally enough nobody logs on to Twitter only for an endless amount of products & services to be unashamedly flogged to them. People enter Twitter to learn new things, to engage with informative content and to keep up to date with topical & current issues. Bearing that in mind, here are some tips on how small business owners can utilise Twitter to their advantage.

1. When using Twitter always keep to front of mind that first & foremost Twitter is a place to connect, learn, engage, listen & be heard.
2. When starting out always define your goals e.g. building your brand, find new readers for our blogs/articles, attract the attention of potential clients, engage with like minded people in your field etc…
3. To initially build contacts on Twitter start following people/organisations who are authoritative in your field, influencers & thought leaders in your industry & people/organisations who share useful, informative content & build from there.
4. One of the unique benefits of Twitter is that it allows you to interact with individuals who you ordinarily might not come into contact with. If you want to interact with a celebrity or a person with a huge following then send a simple @ message or comment on something they are doing. If you get a response you can then take it from there.
5. If you’re interested in connecting with someone you might want to try ReTweeting some of their messages before you introduce yourself.
6. Make sure to personalise your profile by uploading a photo of yourself or your business logo. You can even create a personalised background using a photo or personalised image.
7. Utilise a Twitter photo-sharing site like TwitPic or Instagram to share cool photos from your typical business day, or while plying your craft, so that people get to know you. It helps to build social trust.
8. Use Twitter Search with keywords to find information and conversations that are relevant to your business. It’s also a good way to find out if anyone is talking about you or your company.
9. If you are sending DM’s to your followers with something related to your business, make sure to use your social capital wisely. Overwhelming fellow Twitters with DM’s can result in a rapid loss of followers.
10. Do interact and connect and don’t hesitate to @ message folks who have 10 times or 100 times the number of followers you have.
11. The more interaction you have & the more informative content you share the more you will grow your number of followers.
12. Employ sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit to find, and share amongst your followers, interesting stories from your particular area of business.
13. Create connections don’t spam. You most likely would not just walk into a crowded venue where you don’t know anyone and say, “Hi my name is Rosemary and I can help you with your digital marketing.” This method does not work very well on Twitter!
14. Twitter is only one of many areas online where you can begin to build a well distributed social media footprint for your business. Make sure to integrate it with other powerful social media platforms such as Facebook & Linkedin.
15. Finally, it takes time to build up a network of followers but remember it only takes one inappropriate Tweet to alienate every one of your followers & end up back at square one. So do Tweet with caution! Don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want seen on the front of a newspaper or a hugely popular website.

These are just some of the things for a small business owner to consider when embarking on their Twitter journey. It is certainly not an exhaustive list but hopefully will shed some light on the do’s & don’ts of Twitter for small business owners & indeed for any individual new to Twitter!

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