Making Twitter really work for you

So, you’ve set your business Twitter account up and it’s running nicely and you’re gaining some followers and attracting some attention.

Now it’s time to ramp it up!

Here are some ideas to make Twitter work better for you; to get the message out there more effectively.
As I covered in a beginner guide to Twitter, there are a few unwritten rules and if you don’t use them it irritates people and they are less likely to follow.

This is a community and you need to know how to interact in it.
You should also be aware that the followers you gain won’t all be your target audience. Far from it. But they will know people who know people etc and the word is spread around in a halo effect.

But essentially you should remember, people will only follow if you:
o are interesting/fun
o share information (and not just about yourself or your company)
o engage with others
o keep it ‘real’

How to grow your Twitter audience:

1. Take off your corporate hat
Be a real person. Talk about the coffee machine or a colleague wearing a bright shirt to work today or that you got your fingers stuck in an Airwick thingumyjig.
They may seem totally frivolous and pointless, but if you drip them in amongst your other Tweets, it makes you seem human and less faceless and part of the twitter community. These sorts of Tweets will help others warm to you and want to follow as you are not just talking shop all the live long day.
DO NOT be overtly ’spammy’. If you are blatantly marketing people just won’t follow but if you do it in an interesting and engaging fashion, they will.
Ask yourself: would you want to read that Tweet if you were in your reader’s shoes?

2. Talk to people.
If someone includes you in an @ Tweet answer them. If someone sent you an email you wouldn’t ignore it, so don’t ignore Tweets.
Unless of course you’re Oprah or Demi Moore and then it’s allowed! And don’t feel you have to push a link on them. Just talk, chat, chew the fat, show that you are genuine and not just trying to push the company onto them.

3. Take pictures.
A little more time consuming but it does add another fun element to the account and, again, makes you look human and gives that ‘what a great place that must be to work’ feeling.
Snail racing, fundraising events, something funny someone wears, something interesting that arrives by post, a Halloween dress up day – if you think to yourself ‘I must tell my friends about this’ chances are it will make a great Tweet.
Innocent (the drinks company) does it really well, turning the process of making new labels for their bottles into something interesting and fun!

To upload pictures you can use Twitpic which is used through your Twitter account. You just sign in with your Twitter user name and password and then click on upload photo. You can also add a message and then post it. Really easy.

4. Go out into the big wide blogosphere.
In order to ‘tell’ people that you are on Twitter you need to get out there and rub shoulders will other bloggers/writers/Twitterers.
If you read an interesting article and you think it’s relevant to RB, Tweet it.
Show that you are out there and engaging.

5. Have fun
Tweets don’t have to be straight down the line informative. You can play around with them and make them more interesting.
Try to be less corporate.
Don’t just say: We’ve got some new products in: Check them out
Say: If you thought XXX was groovy/inspirational/funny, check out our newcomers: www.linktoyourstuff.com
Live and breathe marketing/HR/R&D?. Check out our job site etc etc
Who knew an empty smoothie bottle could solve a wobbly table
Colleague Jason is blogging about being blue and her inner demon! Pop over and comment if you’re suitably intrigued.
It’s only Haribo and coffee keeping me going today.
Basically you need to give people a reason to come over and follow, over and above just reams of information about the company.

6. Use lists to find followers.
In November 2009, Twitter added a new function to it’s profile pages which allows you to draw up lists of your followers.
It means you can easily store away your followers in manageable ‘folders’.
But it’s best use for companies is that it makes it easier for you to find new tweet accounts to follow.
So for example, if you go into an account you are following that you think is a really good connection and click on ‘listed’ (top right hand side next to ‘following’ and ‘followers’) it gives you a list of where that person has been listed and the name of the list they are in: Work at home mums, or local businesses, or green causes or business mavens etc.
If you then click on that list you have a whole load of twitters similar to the one you are following, along with their recent tweets.
It just makes the haystack that little bit smaller!

7. Be relevant when linking to other articles
If you read something really interesting and want to link to it, make sure you say why it’s interesting or why it’s worth a read or how you feel about it. Don’t just post a link and say: read this. Would you click through?

8. Make yourself heard.
If you are tweeting a link to an article you found interesting, don’t you want the person who wrote it to know you’re talking about them? They may just come over for a visit to find out more about you. They may even decide to follow. But they can’t do any of these things if they aren’t aware that you have been singing their praises.
Check to see if they are on Twitter. Check their home page to see if they have a ‘follow me’ Twitter widget or if do a Twitter search for them.
Then add them to the tweet: Reading ‘How I grew my home business into something inspirational’ by @kerrywillis

9. Remember why you’re tweeting.
It sounds obvious, but sometimes you need to go back to basics. What do you want out of Twitter? Do you want to interact with customers, share information, offer tips, show what it’s like to work at the company?
Have a plan and stick with it.

And happy Tweeting!