Twitter for Businesses

I've been telling you about how businesses should be taking advantage of social media networks such as Twitter, but I haven't explained exactly how to do so.

So first off, how do you set up a Twitter account?

1. Go to www.twitter.com, and click “Get Started-Join”
2. Fill out form using First and Last name (or supply exact company name if creating a business account). For username, pick any name you would like, but for a business account I would recommend using the exact name of your business in order to prevent confusion. Develop a password and supply the email which will handle the twitter-related traffic. Click Create my account.
3. Log in and start Tweeting! Express personality by posting “Tweets” into the “what are you doing” form. Using the ‘Find People’ tab, search for those of interest to you, follow them, and hopefully they (and others) will follow you. Using the guidelines highlight in this blog, you can successfully give some personality to your business, answer questions, and see what consumers think of your company or products.

Not so difficult at all..

But now what do you tweet about? Well, according to the article Tweeting for Companies 101, there are a number of possibilities:

• Thoughts & Reflections from the perspective of your business' personality.
• Your business' and others' events
• Contests - it is always entertaining, and who doesn't want to win stuff - people will follow you like crazy.
• Replies to other people (make sure to use proper Twitter Lingo as described in the article)
• Direct replies - discuss an issue with a consumer on a non-public basis
• Blog posts (your's and other's) - make sure not to gloat your own posts, but also to focus on other people's posts you find of interest.
• Company announcements
• Overhear something interesting or utterly hillarious? Share it.
• Internet games - show some personality and humor in your Tweets
• Lyrics and Quotes - once again, keeps your company's profile interesting and different
• Links to media you (and other people/businesses) create
• Shout outs - give thank you's, draw attention to others, etc. They'll appreciate it.

Again, I strongly suggest reading the entire article - it's very detailed and interesting.

That's all for now,

IMM, LLC