The 5 Qs of Twitter for Business
Twitter is a curious beast. Despite all the ‘pundits’, ‘gurus’ and ‘experts’ telling us to move on to the next shiny new social media platform, Twitter remains one of the key ways for millions of businesses all over the world to market themselves. It remains one of my favourites and it is particularly suited to business users. But many people still struggle with using it effectively. That’s why I’ve decided to share with you my 5 Qs that help me use twitter to promote my business every day.
Quality
Check your links; make sure you only tweet quality content. If you think you don’t have time to do this, give up on social media now. Your reputation hinges on the quality of your content. You know those people who keep sharing links that go to error pages or thinly-veiled ads? Don’t be one of them.
Questions
Ask important questions like: why am I on twitter? How do I improve how I tweet? Where is my community? What do my followers want more of? Don’t stop there, though. Ask yourself how you can bring more value to other people on Twitter.
What makes you unique? Make sure that most of your tweets have a connection to your business USP. If you’re a fitness expert, make sure that you share some of your expertise online. When someone tweets that they’re having trouble sticking to their weight-loss programme, perhaps you could suggest ways for them to stay motivated, or exercises that match their lifestyle.
Quantity
Tweeting once a month is not enough. Exactly how often you should share messages and links is different for everyone, but one thing is true. You can’t win this game unless you’re in it. To help our clients find their own tweeting frequency sweet spot I often suggest they try sending different amounts for a few days and track the results. I show them how to measure how many retweets they get, how many people they are reaching and from that decide how many times to tweet. Often this can be vary from day to day and on the time of day too. If you’re looking for more information on this kind of thing, check out Dan Zarella’s blog.
Quarrels
Some people are on twitter to start arguments. Not debates, just fights. You can tell them because go off on one at the slightest provocation and continue arguing long after everyone else has left the building. Avoid them, don’t talk to them, just pity them. Luckily, they’re rare on Twitter.
Quacks
When is an expert not an expert? When he doesn’t have enough followers; when he doesn’t live up to his promises; when people don’t act on her words; when she has to keep telling you that she’s an expert. Don’t follow the advice of the quacks, always check out their reputation first.
The 5 Qs of Twitter for Business – The Next Step
The most important thing to remember about Twitter is that it’s a gathering place. Twitter draws people of every kind. The trick is to identify and attract the kind of people that you need to connect with.
Then, make sure you do connect with them. Talk, share, amuse and charm them with quality and quantity; engage them with intriguing questions; and make sure you avoid the quacks and the quarrellers. Keep doing that and you’ll soon become known as someone that brings value to Twitter, and who wouldn’t want to do business with someone that adds value?
