How To Use Twitter For Your Business

Do you realize that if you’re a business owner, that the majority of your customers are more than likely using Twitter?   And especially with the rise of Twitter mobile applications, your customers are finding it easier than ever to talk on Twitter, no matter where they are.

As a business, interacting with your customers on Twitter is a great way for you to see what people are saying about your business, respond to customer comments, and most importantly, keep your business in front of customers which can encourage repeat business.

Here are some tips on how your business can use Twitter to interact with customers and track what’s being said about your business:

1)  Encourage people to join your Twitter profile

People will never know that your business has a Twitter profile unless you, or your existing customers, tell them about it.  Some great ways to promote your Twitter profile are:

• Add your Twitter profile URL to your email signature block
• Add your Twitter URL to business cards / other documents
• Encourage your employees to tell customers about it

2) Create a hashtag for your business

A hashtag on Twitter is a word that has a number sign before it – for example:  #papajohns.  Getting your customers to use your hashtag will allow you to easily follow the conversation on Twitter where people are talking about your business.

Using a hashtag for meetings, events, and other business related activities is another great way for you (and your business) to track what people are talking about.  The conversation on Twitter that’s built around your hashtag will give you invaluable information and feedback about what people are saying about your business, products, and services.  This feedback is basically a real time data stream of customer reactions.

Not only is the feedback valuable for you as a business, but the viral marketing effect of all these people talking about your business is huge.  Each person that says something about your business using your hashtag or business name, directly promotes your business to all of there followers.  And this can open up new prospect connections that may have never before been possible.

3) Send promotion, sales, and valuable updates to followers

Finally, a Twitter profile for your business allows you to instantly send out specials, sales, and other news and information that is directly related to your business.  Your followers will be able to instantly know what’s going with your business.  This is especially useful for promoting upcoming sales, special product releases, and other business related events.

Using Twitter for your business can be a very effective tool to help your business communicate with existing customers, and connect to new prospects.

Twitter can also provide a very valuable customer feedback platform so that you monitor what customers are saying about your business, and respond in real time to customer needs.