IQ Survival Guide: Twitter (for business)

Twitter(for business)

Twitter is a unique open social media platform. It allows you to follow and interact with celebrities, businesses, friends, family, sportsmen... pretty much anybody; providing they have a Twitter account.

Twitter is being used more and more as a networking platform for businesses. It allows organisations to see any potential employees and also promote their own service to a wider audience. Here are some of our favourite tips for businesses using Twitter...

1. Back to BasicsIt might sound simple, but understanding the basics of Twitter will get you and your business a long way. Refresh your memory with these fast facts:

• Each tweet is made up of 140 characters

• You can include links, photos and videos in your tweets

• #Hashtags are a way of getting your tweets seen by a wider audience. Make sure you use them.

• See which tweets are trending, what is the world of twitter talking about? Voice your opinions, join in with the debates.

• Learn the lingo – make sure you know the difference between @replies, @mentions and direct messages. When you create a tweet with @username at the beginning, it is an @reply. When you have the @username in the middle of the tweet, it is an @mention.

2. Make a ListTwitter has a list feature that allows you to filter individuals, which can help you to keep track of separate groups of people. For example, you could make a list of your work colleagues and a different list for celebrities – it will keep both of them separate. You can make these lists public or keep them private. People will be able to add you to their own lists too.

3. Use a Social Media Marketing Tool

Tools such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow businesses to keep track of all their social media accounts in one place. This is an advantage for businesses that use various platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. You can track everything in one place and even compose and schedule posts.

4. Shorten Your URLs

There are only 140 characters allowed per tweet, so you don’t want to use them all up with a huge URL that can look unprofessional and make people skip over a vital tweet.

There are websites available that will let you shorten your URLs – most social media marketing tools will also allow you to do this. However, you can also use a website called bit.ly, which will not only shorten your URL, it will let you track and analyse the engagement of it too.

5. Be HumanPeople like to follow businesses and other individuals who have personality. So make sure that you engage with your followers and tweet about topics that aren’t just selling your service or product, give your audience something a bit different that will make you stand out.

Remember that it is quality over quantity and takes time and patience for your follower numbers to increase on Twitter.

Be engaging, don’t spam people and have personality in your tweets.

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