Not every social media platform is right for every business or every business owner. So how are you supposed to choose one that’s right for you? It’s not as complicated as you might think. The answer lies inside of YOU!
The secret to being great at promoting your business on social media is actually choosing a platform that you LOVE and feel comfortable in.
Twitter is Right for You IF…
You’re kind of shy when it comes to approaching high-profile people.
If you seize up at the thought of emailing or reaching out to an author or small business influencer because they might ignore you or delete your email or not take your call — Twitter is FOR YOU! I’m really shy when it comes to reaching out to all kinds of people and I love Twitter because its 140-character limit makes it a super low-risk way to reach out and start a conversation with someone. It’s no big commitment on their part to engage with you while it’s super easy to connect with just about ANYONE who has a Twitter account and start a conversation.
You have and love to share content with others
While Facebook has replaced the “chain mail” and silly forwarded emails and quotes, Twitter continues to be a wonderful resource for outstanding and informative content. If you write a lot and you read a lot — Twitter is a super way to share your content and other people’s content.
Take it a step further and comment on the article, ask a question or reach out to the author for a conversation. The results might surprise you.
6 Reasons to Use Twitter
1. It’s EASY
Just about anyone can use @Twitter. It doesn’t really have a learning curve per se. if anything it might seem too easy and people feel like they are missing something! Not only is it easy to post, but it’s also easy to use their search function, tag people, and search for people that would be/could be interested in your business.
2. Even Better on Mobile
Chances are, you have some sort of a mobile device (phone, mp3 player, laptop, e-book reader) and these ALL give you the ability to visit twitter.com as much as you need to throughout the day which means you can tend to things like posting, answering questions, liking people’s posts and more.
3. Messages are Short and Sweet
For some people, they talk too much without really saying anything important. @Twitter sort of forces you to say what you need to say in 140 characters. That’s characters, not words! It’s literally one or two sentences to say what you need to say and send it on its way. If you really hate this and you feel like you want a room to say more, you could always post on FB which has (almost) infinite words allowed, and then post the link TO your Facebook from Your Twitter.
4. Meet Your Next Customer or Friend
Twitter is a sort of unobtrusive lead generation channel. Whenever people “follow” you, they are a lead. They’ve raised their hand in wanting to see what you post. The challenge is that it’s somewhat of a tenuous connection. It’s up to YOU to build on and develop that relationship. The best way to leverage this is by building Twitter Lists.
5. Stand Out in Search Engines
Did you know that Twitter is also indexed by search engines? Your business can increase in rank especially if you use keyword-rich tweets. That doesn’t mean you should spam Twitter with sales messages, it just means that you should make sure you understand what keywords you want to be known for — search out those keywords on Hashtagify.me and use the hashtags you want to be found for.
6. Easy To Connect
Not only is it easy to find people to follow as mentioned above, but its incredibly easy to follow people you already know. You can do so, but importing contacts just as you would for Facebook or most any other website. This will really help build your following and hopefully get more people besides those “friends” and family to follow you back!
Don’t Choose Twitter IF…
1. You want to send a ton of messages
Some people dislike @twitter because it doesn’t allow them to send more than one message at a time to any one user at a time. Now, there are tools that will let you get around this feature — but hear this — DON’T DO IT! Sending sales, marketing, “thank you for following”, “follow me…”, and other kinds of mass messages to everyone who engages with you is SPAM. It will get you unfollowed. Use this as an opportunity to REALLY communicate with people in a human and authentic way.
2. You don’t have time to engage in conversation
One of the biggest complaints from newbies is the fact that it takes a lot of time out of your day to routinely keep up with their Twitter profiles – especially with the 140-character count. But, there is an alternative route. You can use websites like HootSuite and the like to schedule ALL of your posts which will take out a good chunk of your time. You can also use autoresponders for customers that contact you asking questions. This allows you to put the conversation on pause for a little while until you can get back to them at a more appropriate time.
3. You can’t get your message across in 140 characters
Personally, I love the 140-character limit, but there are a lot of folks and businesses who feel hampered by the limitation because it forces you to be vague in your descriptions. At the same time, the benefit of the 140-character limit is that it reduces the impact of spam– and if you spend effort and time building relationships, the impact will be less.
4. You don’t want to or can’t send at least 8 Tweets a day
If your audience is on Twitter and is very active and has a lot of followers or follows a lot of people, Tweets move quickly and can get buried. In a lot of ways, it’s like sending an email that gets ignored. The secret way to get your updates seen is to make and keep them educational, engaging, and fun. This will prompt people to create a special Twitter List and include you in it!
Just remember, Twitter is VERY tool friendly. There are new websites and tools popping up all the time to make Twitter even easier, more efficient, and fun to use.
