How to use Twitter to promote your business

Although the integration of social media, such as Twitter, into a company’s marketing strategy is vital for online marketing success, it requires both time and expert knowledge.

In spite of the fact that using Twitter may seem to be a pretty straightforward process, anyone who is interested in learning how to use it, in order to successfully promote a business, will soon find out that it is not as simple as it looks in the first place.

Create an attractive Twitter business profile

An attractive Twitter profile can become one of the most powerful online assets owned by a business.

While regular and consistent tweeting is the cornerstone of establishing your brand identity among the millions of businesses with a Twitter account, creating an impressive, detailed, and dynamic profile page can really multiply the effect of any promotional effort that you make for your business on this amazing social marketing platform.

An interesting Twitter update is the first point of contact between a business and the vast community of Twitter members. If other members on Twitter really like a profile update, they will possibly retweet and favorite it and they may finally become fans of the person or organization that posted it.

However, no matter how captivating a Twitter message can be, other Twitter users may not be attracted by the Twitter profile of the user that posted, and this can be a strong reason for deciding not to follow that person or organization.

There are various reasons why a Twitter user decides to become a follower of a specific business or person. The first two reasons on the list have to do with whether that business or person has created and maintains an attractive Twitter profile, or not. Therefore, the first step of optimizing a Twitter profile is to make an effort to meet the requirements and satisfy the expectations of other Twitterers, when it comes to the appearance of your profile.

For example, keeping the standard option of an “egg” as the background image of your Twitter business profile will put off your prospective followers.

On the other hand, if you choose to use the trademark of your company or even buy a good quality, relevant picture from a website that sells professional images, such as Shutterstock, iStockphoto, etc., this can help you make your company’s Twitter profile more recognizable and appealing to its targeted audience.

Businesses will do their best to design and upload state-of-the-art images and graphics, in order to ensure that their virtual “shop windows” on Twitter, i.e. their Twitter profiles, are quite unique and serve as a sample of the company’s brand image.

Optimize your company’s Twitter profile

You should follow these five steps to optimize your company’s profile on Twitter:

1. Link out from your Twitter profile to your company’s website, blog, or any other company-related landing page

2. Link out to your company’s Twitter profile from anywhere on the web, where you or your marketing staff leave comments, such as blogs, forums, etc.

3. Include photos and videos in company updates, and not just text messages.

4. Get verified by Twitter. By authenticating your company’s Twitter account, you will help Twitter members and other web users spot any fake Twitter profile that is allegedly associated with your company.

5. Use relevant hashtags. This can increase dramatically the “searchability’ of your company’s Twitter profile in Twitter search results for the specific terms and keywords that are included in the hashtags.

By following the above steps, you will be able to increase the page rank of your profile. There are Twitter profiles, such as those owned by celebrities or popular brands, which have a high Google page rank. The Twitter profile page of Kim Kardashian, for example, has an astonishing Google page rank of 6 at the time of writing this article.

The starting point for creating a successful Twitter presence for your business is to establish a well-presented and informative Twitter profile. This is the place to post the main details and activities of the business, and the ultimate goal of a successful Twitter business profile should be to enhance the visitor’s experience by offering any information that he or she may be looking for.

Therefore, a Twitter business profile should look like an advanced version of Yellow Pages, with the extra benefit of being connected to the profiles of the same business on other online social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., and also offering links to other relevant sources of information, for example, YouTube videos and blog posts, articles, and comments.

In other words, a successful Twitter business profile should be a place where existing and prospective customers can find plenty of information about the company.

In this way, they could become real fans of the company.

Get a verified Twitter account for your business

If you want to avoid any nasty online surprises, such as becoming the victim of a fake Twitter account, you should consider getting your business verified on Twitter, in order to protect it against this sort of problems.

What is more, a verified Twitter account will add to your company’s recognition and status among other Twitter users.

Spread the word about your company’s Twitter presence

Existing customers, business partners, and employees should be the first ones to be targeted, in order to become the base of the company’s followers on Twitter. After this initial number of followers, it will be easier for the company to increase the number of its followers in the future.

It is therefore important for a company to let all of those people know about its Twitter presence, and if possible, get them engaged by posting updates about the company.

Use Twitter Ads

Using Twitter Ads can be a nice option for businesses that may have built an impressive Twitter profile, but lack the time, skill, and content to maintain an active presence on Twitter through regular posting.

Despite the fact that Twitter Ads have the obvious disadvantage that you have to pay for them compared to normal Twitter posts that are free, they offer considerable advantages to businesses that may decide to use them.

For example, they can be targeted according to various factors, such as keywords, geographical areas, and demographics.

Even better, they work pretty much like Google AdWords, so the advertised business is charged only when a Twitter user clicks through the post link.

A business does not need a massive number of Twitter followers, in order to be able use the paid post option, and its promoted posts will be displayed to its targeted audience, regardless of whether they belong to its followers, or not.

Success on Twitter is the result of consistent, ongoing effort

Posting updates regularly is the first step of a successful business presence on Twitter. It requires a substantial amount of effort and time to monitor reactions and responses to those updates, and reply to and/or retweet them.

Since real-time interaction is probably Twitter’s single most important feature, it can be really worth for a business to hire the services of an expert in social media, in order to keep its presence “alive” and prevent it from getting lost in Twitter’s vast stream of updates.

Sources and further reading:

Twitter Ads

Twitter

How to use Twitter to promote your business

12 powerful Twitter marketing tips (that actually work)

Why use Twitter for business? An introduction to Twitter for business

How to use Twitter effectively & grow your brand

How to Use Twitter for Business: A Practical Guide