Twitter for Business: 10 Tweet Ideas for Novices

Posted by Sarah Mitchell on 22 September 2010 | 6 Comments

Tags: Twitter, social media

"I've got a Twitter account for my business but I don't know what to say." Does that describe you? How about, "I'm afraid I'd do something wrong and hurt my business"? Twitter seems to garner the most attention of the social media tools and cause the most anxiety. For the Twitter novice, figuring out how to use those 140 characters for the benefit of their business can seem daunting.

In an excellent post at FasTake , Yacine Baroudi makes an astute observation.

" In my experience and despite its incredible power in channelling information and connecting people, Twitter is for novices one of the most difficult social networks to approach. You can almost bet on the possible reaction following the explanation of the benefits of Twitter: instant addiction or flat rejection. Facebook, beyond its sheer mastodon size, is `pretty': plenty of picture, avatars, movies and all around pleasant experience to anyone looking to idly be taken from a link to another without much effort, it's like watching TV. In comparison, Twitter is like reading a book, it takes effort but, so they say, is more beneficial to one's brain. Most people will always choose the easy way."

He's right on three points:

• Twitter is a great way to distribute information about your company
• It's an excellent place to network
• It can be difficult to know what to do

More than anything, Twitter is about communicating. You've probably heard people say Twitter is like a cocktail party. I don't know about you, but I don't find cocktail parties that appealing. Personally, I think it's more like a business conference. If you start to think about it in this way, you'll know exactly what to expect and what you want to do. Use your Twitter account to

• Learn new things
• Meet the influential people in your field
• Eavesdrop on your competitors
• Spend a little bit of time talking about what you're doing

Getting Started
Starting a Twitter account for your professional life doesn't have to be difficult. A simple plan will help you to formulate what you want to say. After a couple weeks, you'll know intuitively what to do.

1) Set up Google Alerts for the key words and phrases you use in your business. Every day you will get an email listing about 20 items from the internet relating to those keywords. Share the articles you find most interesting on Twitter.

2) Find the Twitter accounts for the leaders in your field. Browse their tweets and retweet anything you find useful. Consider looking for international experts; they may have a different view to what is being said where you live.

3) Ask questions as a way of doing research. Open ended questions work best. I'm always surprised at the information that comes back to me.

4) Tweet information about your local community including festivals, exhibitions and even road closures.

5) Every day, put out one or two tweets with a link to your website. Promote a blog, advertise a special or mention a product. More than a couple mentions will give you the reputation of self promotion so be sure you're providing useful content.

6) Reply to other tweets and add your own comment. In other words, enter a conversation someone has already started.

7) Tweet something of general interest such as a funny cartoon, a great photo, or local news.

8) Retweet an article out of your local newspaper. If it relates to your business, all the better.

9) Send out one tweet showing support or empathy. If someone says they're having a bad day, commiserate. If someone is celebrating, congratulate them. With only 140 characters, just a word or two is all you need.

10) Give a recommendation or endorsement. If you have a favourite restaurant, a great barber, or know of someplace doing a good job with customer service, tweet them up.

The Take-Away
If you send 10 tweets a day, you'll be on the path to Twitter success for your business. Sending one tweet from each of these 10 suggestions will guide you while you find your own Twitter rhythm. Make sure you reply to every single tweet directed at you. Whatever you do - and this is important - don't schedule tweets or use auto responders. Behave like you would at a business conference and you won't be a novice for long.

What other things could you tweet about from a business account?

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Related posts:

• 6 Practical Ways Twitter Can Help Your Business
• Social Media Dos and Don'ts

*Image courtesy of Jeff Turner (respres) at www.flickr.com.