3 Rules of Using Twitter for Business
A lot has been made of Twitter as its popularity grows (significantly, I might add), so have the reasons for having a solid Twitter marketing strategy. In this post you’ll learn the three rules every online and small business entrepreneur should know when using Twitter for business, and why. Without these in place, your experience with Twitter will be of minimal value, and can even hurt your business altogether.
3 Rules of Using Twitter for Business
Ok, so you have heard of Twitter by now, but many questions remain. Why should I use this service? How can it help my business? Let me encourage you to watch how others are successfully using it and follow their lead. Here are three things I’ve observed others doing successfully, and am patterning my own profile after as well. These are general and open ended rules, feel free to comment at the end of the post and add to the conversation.
1.) Have a Strategy
It doesn’t have to be rocket science, but after you get familiar with how the service works, with a few “tweets” of your own, it’s time to think about how to best use it for business. Here are some strategy points to consider:
* Give them a Reason: Are your Twitter updates (tweets) useful to your target market? Do they give followers insight into you as a person, as well as useful information?
* Show them you care: I’m not a fan of a lot of updates in a day, unless it is for good reason (event, or otherwise), many forget to update their status, and as a result become forgotten, unengaged, and unfollowed. I generally have 3-5+ tweets per weekday.
* Mix it up: While building a profile for business, remember people ultimately do business with with people. Feel free to mix up your updates with some of your own questions, observations, or personality.
Your Twitter marketing strategy should address these three areas. As you use it, you’ll find even more ways to enhance your strategy.
2.) Have Targets
Have targets of how many tweets per day, as well as the subject of your tweets. To start out you might only have a couple tweets a day, and build up from there. Beyond that consider what you are tweeting about. Here is guideline of what to tweet about:
* 5% – About yourself
* 50% – Useful information for your target market
* 5% – Thoughtful questions (which create responses)
* 20% – Industry news (other sources) with your commentary
* 10% – Stuff which can make your followers lives better (who doesn’t want better health?)
* 10% – Resources available on your site
If you only tweet about one subject all the time, you will alienate some of your followers. Regular updates spread across several subjects, allows you to remain interesting and valuable.
NOTE: While it is important to have targets, don’t be enslaved to Twitter (or any other tool for that matter)! It can be addicting, and all the more reason you need to have a strategy…and make sure you stick to it.
3.) Plan to Participate
Involve yourself in a two-way conversation. Watch what those you follow are saying, and respond with meaningful comments. Doing so not only allows you to engage in more meaningful discussions, but it creates an opportunity for others to learn about you, your expertise, and your business.
The biggest thing you can do is get started. As you follow these three rules, you will begin to see how powerful and useful Twitter can be in extending your reach and building relationships. As you do, refer to this post as a reminder of these 3 Rules for Using Twitter for Business.
You might also be interested in the Ultimate Twitter List for Online Marketers
Your Turn: What is holding you back from using Twitter for business? What is missing from these rules and your Twitter marketing strategy? Your comments are welcome (hint: please include your twitter ID in the appropriate box 
Image credits to juice digital
Layla on 
DrBermant on 
Sirhcnus on 
Jeff on 
Facebook
Plaxo
LinkedIn
YouTube
Twitter
Skype
Hi, my name is Travis Campbell, I operate this site. I'm here to share what I can from my lessons marketing online. With sizeable investments in continuing education, various software products and services, I have had some winners, and some losers. One way I can extend what I've learned is by writing about it, here... and helping you along the way.
Great solid advice. I feel like from the advice given I am on track for most part but picked up some helpful hints!!! THANKS!!!!!!
Thanks for stopping by Eric. Many are overwhelmed by the amount of info on this subject. Post is designed to distill it down, and create actionable steps for business professionals and online marketers. Glad you are on board and ahead of the curve!
Really agree about 50% should be about them. The corporate stars of Twitter focus on CRM and usefulness not just an endless stream of promotions
Mark Lanigan’s last blog post..Why more is less in email marketing
Good point. One exception to the ratios are for those among us who are *stars* fans want to hear more about them, @the_real_shaq does a good job with pictures and more.
Travis, thanks for this important post. I’m afraid I lack purpose and strategy on Twitter, just pop in and out to lurk and share my own stuff and retweet other good stuff I see.
But I don’t know why I’m doing this other than I hate to miss out! Your post will make me think about this a little further. If I don’t find a higher purpose I know I will drop out, eventually. So will many others, I’m sure.
Your post is excellent and I’m going to write something about it over on my own blog. Your 3 rules have bigger implications. These same guidelines should be applied to business blog content writing.
Patsi Krakoff aka The Blog Squad’s last blog post..Content Marketing Pioneers: The Dawn of a New Era
Patsi-
You make a great point, that I didn’t mention in the post. Without a solid actionable strategy, you won’t find value and drop out (as with anything in business). Great thing is, this is so new, that we all can take corrective action. My big thing is not to be *enslaved* to any tool. This is a guideline, clients, family, and friends get my attention before Twitter does (which is why I sometimes schedule tweets in advance).
Travis, you have done an AWESOME job of boiling down pages worth of advice into three simple rules. I particularly like the percentages you list re: content of Tweets. While it is good to show your human [and sometimes humorous self], it is most important for business Tweets to offer “non-sales/non-promotion” content to address reader challenges. This strategy helps build trust for the brand/company — a huge goal for this online tool. Twitter Rocks! And you suggest: the best First Step is to get in there and try it.
Shari-
Many don’t get it, because they don’t try it. I know, I was one of them. Since I started working a strategy, I have got access to people I never would have beforehand (including some expert interviews on the YouTube channel, http://www.TravisOnYouTube.com).
Some have said it is like a cocktail party, not a sales party, and there are purists mounting on either side of the arguement. I agree with that sentiment to some degree, but the argument will rage on for some time. It’s important for online businesses to get in the game now before it becomes more mainstream.
There are other benefits to twitter that aren’t mentioned here (one hint: web traffic).
Twitter is a great communication tool and an eco-system that offers enormous opportunities for businesses. Nice article. We at Cynapse have been using Twitter to converse with customers, to provide support to users , listening to feedback and feature requests and more.
Anil Prajapati’s last blog post..Help is just a Tweet away
Anil-
Glad you have found Twitter useful to reachout to customers in that way. I believe companies that embrace such a progressive approach will be in a much better position for getting new customers than those who don’t. Are you finding customers more careful with their words since what they post is public (unless a DM)?
Nice, useful and practical tips! Thanks for sharing!
Rabiya-
Glad you found it useful. What was the number one thing that stood out for you in the post?
To me tip #2 hit a spot.. I was paying attention to other things but didn’t really have a defined strategy, you gave me a lot of food for thought !
Great post, Travis! I especially liked the percentages, because you’ve given folks a place to start. Each person can decide how much of each area to focus on. Well done!
Lisbeth-
Appreciate the feedback, subscribers seem to be eager for concrete details when it comes to using social media sites like Twitter. Yes, the percentages are designed to help move people in the right direction.
I agree with your post, but would add that your Twitter strategy should really dictate your content.
i.e. I’ve found Twitter, for me, to be more of a place to find industry information, and less of a place to solicit or advertise. I let that fact dictate how I use it.
Keep up the great work, Travis!
Eric-
Thanks for taking time and offering some good insight. It is important to understand what is valuable to your market, and service that need. As you point out (industry information / research), Twitter has huge potential in providing a lot of useful information for business (and more).
Hello Travis,
This is a very informative post and I think I am doing most of what you have suggested. I haven’t got a lot of time to spend on Twitter so I was happy to hear we need to take a break every now and then. Our posting should be about others and not self and I do not care for those that are always posting about their business opportunities. It needs to be more personal and down to earth. This is what I like and look for in a person. I want someone that is real to communicate with and build a relationship. Thanks for your input and I will visit again soon.
Friends 4 Life!
Eddie-
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on this. Yes, you hae to take a break sometimes…Twitter is getting better identifying and disabling spammy accounts, though it will be an ongoing battle for some time.
If you only entered your Twitter ID in the comment area, so others could connect with you Eddie!
Thanks Eric,
Solid advice to keep me focused on the goal. Keep up the great work & thanks for sharing your success. It is the way things should work for the good of us all. Happy May Day!
John
Hey John-
Thanks for chiming in here.. Happy May Day to you too. Following you on Twitter.
Thank you, Travis. Great tips for anyone looking to become the resident expert at their business or to just get started at a personal level.
Tom-
That’s the idea, just to get them rolling with a plan. Thanks for your input.
We will launch MAPnSAV.com within weeks.
Your 3 points are a really timely for us, because we have just begun formulating our Twitter strategy.
Thanks for your sound advice.
Susan-
Congrats on your upcoming launch. Glad you found the info here helpful. Here to serve.
I like the Targets percentage chart shared in this article. It makes it very clear where to put your attention when sharing information. I’m glad to be aware that only 5% of the Target material should be about me!
My lifestyle as an owner operator in the trucking industry does not allow me the time to tweet every day but after reading your “rules” I understand I need to be more “regular” with my tweets, even if it is only several times each week instead of 2 or 3 times each day.
Thanks,
Clyde
Thanks… this is one of the more reasonable insights to using twitter for business that I've seen
Mirit-
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I guess being “reasonable” isn't such a bad thing, right?
Don't let it cramp your style too much. Be as consistent as your work schedule permits, add value, and remain before your followers on a somewhat consistent basis. That is further ahead than most 90 days after signing up for Twitter.
I agree with you on everything but the amount of times that you should tweet. I have found that you have about a 5 to 10 second window (if that) to capture someone's attention, especially if they follow a lot of people. I tweet once an hour and schedule these tweets ahead of time. I also schedule these tweets around the clock because a lot of the people that I'm connecting with are awake at the time that I'm asleep since they are all around the world.
The short tips are helpful for people. I would also add that using a program such as TweetDeck that allows you to know when someone mentions you so that you can stay connected with everyone is a good idea. It's just a shame to miss someone saying something nice about you and to completely miss it!
Excellent points. I'm testing out some other products that help buy you time back when it comes to using Twitter profitably. I agree, we all need to capture those nice things people say about us! Thanks for stopping by, and taking time to share your perspective.
Is always good to have first a strategy before you start doing your job, to know where you will end up.
*knowing* where you will end up might be a bit of a stretch, at least you know what direction you are headed.
Thanks for this. Your targets bring out the point that one shouldn't just tweet the same stuff. One question I have though is, what's the point in following more people than you can read stuff from? I'm following 164 people right now – and I can't read 20% of the stuff they put out. I dont' really get why people follow hundreds and hundreds of others…
With Twitter lists, you can better organize all those you follow. For the most meaningful conversations, the more you scrutinize who you follow the better. However, if you are targeting a specific market, it is 'polite' to follow back. Idea being if you follow those in your market, they will reciprocate, and vice versa. Not always the rule, but the idea.
Thanks for stopping by Tim!
Thanks for the info, really trying to work out if business is available on Twitter!!!!!
Have a balanced approach, and stay true to your core business, keeping twitter and social networks on the periphery. Once you have on that works, allocate more resources, but not before, ok? See point #15 in this lessons learned series post:
http://www.marketingprofessor.com/misc/12-lesso...
Have a balanced approach, and stay true to your core business, keeping twitter and social networks on the periphery. Once you have on that works, allocate more resources, but not before, ok? See point #15 in this lessons learned series post:
http://www.marketingprofessor.com/misc/12-lesso...