SMBs: What Content Should You Tweet?
February 22, 2013 5 Comments
To thrive in their communities, small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) need to build personal connections with their customers and prospects. Twitter is a great way to connect and drive business. It is essentially a free local, regional and internet listing that takes just a few minutes to set up. But once you have an account, the big question is: what should you tweet to produce the right kind of results?
First things first, think about what you want to achieve. Yes, you realize you need to be on Twitter because everyone tells you so, but do you have a defined expectation? For example, do you want to provide support to customers? Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Do you want people to buy something? Do you want your brand to be top-of-mind for whenever decisions are made? Once you have determined this, much of your content strategy will fall into place.
The most likely goal is that you want to sell products and services. However, you should keep in mind is that, instead of overtly trying to promote, on Twitter your initiative should be to help and engage. This will ultimately result in long-term relationships and sales.
You need followers to read your tweets and one of the best ways to acquire and engage them is by posting links to quality content. That means you have to know your audience to share the information that interests them. Relevance is how you become known as an authority and a resource. For example, if you are a fashion expert, you don’t want to retweet something about the latest automotive trends. Furthermore, your news should also be current, not from last week or last month, because someone else has probably already shared it.
Another important consideration is that there is a correlation between the amount of personality a Twitter brand has and the success it achieves. This is one of those forms of communication in which it is beneficial to relax and let some of your personality show. People who use Twitter read and post about a wide range of subjects, not just business concerns. But you should still remain professional.
Lastly, use #hashtags. When you do, your tweet will not only be seen by your followers, it will be included in a larger stream of tweets with that same hashtag, which exposes you to many potential new followers and leads.
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