Twitter For Business

Twitter for Business - A beginners guide

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media networks in the world with 320m monthly active users and 500 million tweets per day on average. Impressive? We think so.

‍Twitter for business can be an extremely useful tool for businesses who want to put their messages in front of the eyes of their customers...or potential customers. If your business is not on Twitter yet here are few tips how to get started.

How to get started

Go to www.twitter.com and sign up. First things first - pick your username. You should choose something that is relevant to your business. Once you make a decision it's time to set up your profile. Every element of your profile should tell your followers who you are and what they should expect from your tweets. Don't forget to show off, make your profile stand out. Put together a clear biography, include a link to your website, upload a profile, background and header images to show who you are. It may be worth adding the times in which your twitter business account will be “manned” for example Monday - Friday 9-5pm.The optimum size for your Twitter header image should be 1024x512 pixels. Consider that your profile picture will slightly obscure the bottom left section though so avoid putting important information there.Now link your Twitter to the rest of your online presence. Add it to your website, Facebook page and LinkedIn profile. Be sure to share content from LinkedIn onto your Twitter profile as this helps to grow both of those networks.Once you are set up there are some basic terms you should get to grips with before starting to promote your business and products:‍

Tweet – 140 characters of text (including spaces) visible to everyone

‍Direct message - A message that will appear in your inbox and is only visible to you.

‍Retweet – Content that you retweet (pass on) to your followers either you own tweet or someone else's.

‍#Hashtag – #Hashtags are used to help filter tweets so that they are easier to find and so that trends can be detected. They also make for good emotion markers or identifying subject/headlines. They also help your messages to reach more people.Lists – You can sort your Twitter followers into lists and people will sort you into their own lists.

‍Favourite – You can favourite a tweet (the heart icon) so that you can quickly give a nod to some content or easily find it later. Favouriting posts lets you put your profile in front of the eyes of potential customers.

‍Follow – This is the action that you take when you follow another user. Concentrate on following relevant profiles - following too many can make you look like spam.

‍Follower – This is when someone follows you.

‍Gif - An animation or short clip of film usually used in a comical sense to explain visual feelings instead of writing a tweet.Poll - Ask a question and give specific answer options to better understand your follower opinion on a specific subject. Think of it like market research but immediate and free!

How to respond to tweets you receive or ones on your timeline:

You receive a reply to your tweet about your business? Thank them for their tweet and if they ask a question respond. Perhaps it’s appropriate to link back to your website if they asking about a product.You receive a tweet with a question but your business does not hold the answer?Link another business into the conversation. Become known for passing on business opportunities and others will link back to you.You have received a tweet giving negative feedback about your business? Twitter has become known for a great place to get quick feedback when there is an issue from something you have purchased or a service you have received both on and offline. Always remain polite, apologise to the customer for their experience and ask them to direct message you or email with their full comments. This takes the conversation offline so you can resolve it but shows that you are responsive and take customer feedback seriously.You have received a tweet celebrating your business?RT, share, favourite and reply! Thank the customer for their comments, if you are business that wishes to build their presence on Trip Advisor or Google reply with a link to give further feedback.

Great ways to use Twitter on the go

When you are attending an event tweet about it, tag the event name and the speakers or use the hashtag associated with the event e.g. #prweek. This helps you to be known and let’s others know you are there so they may seek you out.You are on your way to meeting someone specific or have just left them. Let them know your positive feeling about the meeting -“Great to catch up with Melissa from Airship today some great insight shared on marketing tips for the future”.

Great ways to use Twitter in advance

If you use any form of social media on a personal level you may already be aware of the hours you can lose scrolling. When you consider social media for business it is important to set boundaries; scheduling your content in advance is great way to help manage this.

1. Ensure you check your spelling and grammar - and then have someone else check it too.
2. You can spend one hour a week sending out key messages then move onto other parts of your business. Allow yourself 15 mins a day to look after your interactions, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
3. Scheduling in advance can help you see the variety of content you are posting ensuring an even spread of messages across the week. There are free tools available online to do this or fill out of the contact form below to see Airship’s social platform.

For more information on training, social media platforms and a managed social media presence please fill out our contact form below!