Twitter is an extremely popular social networking medium that connects people from across the globe. As a small business owner, you can benefit from the use of twitter in developing and expanding your business. In earlier times, you had to advertise your business either by word of mouth or through media like newspapers and television, which took a great deal of your time, money and effort.
In just a few clicks, your messages can reach hundreds and thousands of people all over the world within a fraction of a second. Such is the advancement in technology today and more and more people are dependent on the Internet services for enhancing their personal as well as professional life.
When you talk of Twitter, the feature that comes to your mind instantly is ‘tweets’ or user ‘updates’ that you can see on Twitter’s home page. But, that is not all there is to Twitter. There are a lot more features on Twitter than you can probably imagine. If you are a small business owner, you are likely to benefit a great deal by using it to your advantage.
For an entrepreneur, Twitter is a very interesting tool that helps in building relationships with existing and potential customers. There is a ‘follow’ feature on Twitter that lets you link to people you would like to know more about. In other words, you can follow people who belong to your category of business owners and have similar interests.
You can use this excellent platform to interact with your clients. You can post messages on the introduction of new products by your business so that it reaches them in no time. This helps in better sales and thereby, an enhanced profitability in your business.
Twitter has proved to be a very powerful medium for businesses to develop healthy relationships with prospective clients as well as existing ones. This is why it is an invaluable tool for the overall development of a small business.
Finding and following interesting and useful contacts on Twitter is another beneficial feature. However, there is no hard and fast rule in the ‘following’ procedure. You choose people who you think have your kind of interests and ‘follow’ them. It is not mandatory for you to follow people who follow you. You have to choose wisely those that would appreciate an association with you.
An easy way to find people who belong to your category on Twitter is to do a twitter search. This enables you to choose good contacts for your business growth and interact with them.
If you are new on Twitter, here is a brief but exhaustive list of things to do to help you become a regular user of this powerful medium:
- Create an account on Twitter with your business name.
- Post messages on Twitter with regard to your current status (the answer to the question ‘what’s happening?’).
- Share online resources on Twitter.
- Give a link to your blog/website so that people get to read your blog posts/articles.
- Express your opinion on any subject like current affairs or the latest news.
- Announce important events of your business like seminars and conferences.
- Inform people about developments or changes in your business, such as a new location when you upgrade to larger premises.
- Prepare a list of people you want to follow based on the kind of information shared by them or some important business issues addressed by them. It is very important to choose the people you follow on Twitter, else ‘tweeting’ will become a time-wasting affair.
- You may find financial benefits in following a few organizations that offer their services to the small businesses like HP, Dell, Microsoft and American Express, etc.
To sum up, Twitter is an effective tool that helps you advertise your brand at no cost and lets people know about your online presence. In Twitter, you have the greatest advantage of quick and real time interactions with the people you follow and your followers. It has now become an all-time favorite of small business owners due to its multifaceted benefits.
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photo credit: New Jersey Birds
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