Our guide: How to use twitter for business

So you have signed up for a twitter account to help promote and advertise your business…what to do next?

1. Make sure your profile is filled in with the essentials by adding:

  • An avatar or you will be left with the plain default egg image.
  • A nice background and header image related to your business, eg. A cake maker may add an example photo of their cakes.
  • A location, being able to know where a business is in a glance is very useful.
  • Your website address or if you don’t have a website a social media link eg. your Facebook page.
  • A short description about your business.
  • A strong password.

2. You need to add followers to gain followers

3. Start communicating with your followers

  • Start tweeting, compose new tweet > write your message, to direct it to a person include their twitter ID eg. ‘@thenorthwesthub Hello, how are you?’
  • Check your direct messages a few times a week. Watch out for spam messages, don’t click on any links just delete the message/tweet and block the person who sent it.
  • You can receive email notifications and/or mobile notifications to keep up to date with your activity. If you are getting too many notifications go into these setting and uncheck some of the notifications you don’t need.
  • Don’t just wait for people to contact you, look through your followers tweets by clicking on ‘home’. To reply to a tweet which interests you, hover over the tweet and click on ‘reply’. If you don’t have time to reply you can always ‘favourite’ the tweet for later.
  • Be-careful what you tweet, keep it business based and lighthearted.
  • Don’t try and sell too much on twitter, try using it instead to promote your testimonials, clients, useful relevant advice etc.

4. Get your business noticed more by using hashtags

  • When people search twitter for useful information they may search for a #hashtag.
  • For example if I am looking for a plumber in Manchester I would maybe search the hashtags #plumber #Manchester together.
  • There are many twitter hours that are aimed at promoting certain businesses / topics with the hour stated. They do this by using a unique #hashtag. Here are some useful #hashtags for north-west businesses:

North West Twitter Hours / Hashtags

#NWhub and #NWFollowers (anytime) – This is ours, use it and we will retweet your message to our followers

#Cumbriahour (Monday 7-8pm)

#Cheshirehour (Monday 8-9pm)

#Prestonhour (Monday 8-9pm)

#Sthelenshour (Monday 8-9pm)

#Merseybiz (Tuesday 8-9pm)

#Lancasterhour (Tuesday 8-9pm)

#Chesterhour (Tuesday 8-9pm)

#NorthWestHour (Wednesday 8-9pm and Friday 9-10pm)

#Lancashirehour (Thursday 8-9pm)

#Blackpoolhour (Thursday 8-9pm)

#Manchesterhour (Thursday 8-9pm)

#Liverpoolhour (Thursday 8-9pm)

#Merseyhour (Saturday 1-2pm)

5. Enjoy and have fun building contacts / connections!

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Useful twitter links

Twitter for beginners

The 10 Essentials of Twitter Etiquette

Twitter Tutorial: Basic Navigation (Video)

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Please post any questions on social media you have below or email [email protected]

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Get help boosting your twitter followers and business

Get help setting up and personalisation of a twitter page

Author: Donna Petch

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