Did you know that 84% of shoppers on Twitter use the platform to look for deals and product reviews and Twitter users shop nearly twice as much as non-Twitter users?

Twitter is a social network that I have been using for many years, and have built a strong following that both trusts me as an influencer, and engages with me online.

I know that Twitter does not work for everyone, but if you know that your target audience are actively using Twitter, what are you doing to reach them, and engage with them so that they become customers of yours?

I wanted to share with you a guide to using Twitter for business. I have implemented all of the below, and this has helped me become a certified Twitter user with a following of over 32,000.

The Basics

If you have been using Twitter for a while, you will already have set up your Twitter account, understood how Twitter works, and picked a good Twitter handle to showcase your business.

Another part of the “basics” in my guide to using Twitter for business is having a great profile image, header image and a 140-character bio.

When it comes to writing your Twitter bio, think about how you define your business. Imagine you are in a lift/elevator with Richard Branson. He turns to you and says the following; “what does your business do?”. You have just 20-30 seconds to answer him. What would you say?

Your Twitter bio should be around 140 characters, and be straight to the point. Think about your keywords, and your unique selling proposition and exactly WHAT pain point your business solves for your target customer.

Now that you have all the basics set up, let’s look at Twitter’s best features.

Lists

The biggest problem with Twitter is noise. Whilst I may follow thousands of people on Twitter, there is no way I could use just Twitter’s newsfeed to see what those I follow are saying online. I found a solution years ago and have only recently realised that it isn’t as well-known as it should be.

This isn’t a new feature of Twitter, but it is still as powerful as ever. For me, Twitter Lists has been one of Twitter’s best features.

Creating a Twitter List was my ultimate solution and helped me listen to what was important. Millions of Twitter users have done the same, and with the ability to create 1,000 lists per account, you can take the next step today and get organised.

To find out how to create a Twitter list, see a previous article I have written here.

Polls

At the end of 2015, Twitter announced a brand new feature for all their users: Twitter Polls.

Twitter previously allowed users to ask questions and track their replies within their community through the use of hashtags or asking for ‘retweets’ or ‘favourite’ to cast a vote. This new feature allows you to create your own poll straight from your newsfeed for a 24-hour period.

This tool has been invaluable for me, as feedback from my community is crucial for my next steps when it comes to webinars, events, training and new products I want to launch. To find out how to create a poll, see a previous article I have written here.

Image Tagging

Did you know that you can upload a photo to Twitter and tag your followers in this photo so that they are notified by Twitter? This has been extremely powerful for me, especially when I ran a Social Media Giveaway earlier this year.

I noticed that tweets with an image where I had tagged 10 businesses/individuals that I engage with on a regular basis received over 150% more engagement compared to a text-driven tweet.

Twitter Advertising

Twitter has always been seen to be running behind the likes of Facebook and Instagram, but recent changes to their advertisement options have given businesses a great chance of connecting with customers inside Twitter.

Twitter now offers four different objective-based campaign options:

1. Increase Website Traffic: showcase your business and send your audience to your website.
2. Grow Your Twitter Following: promote your Twitter account, and your specific tweets to encourage engagement and growth.
3. Maximise Brand Awareness: promote your tweets to give your business a boost in brand awareness.
4. Get People Talking: similar to option three, you can ‘promote’ your tweets to generate buzz for your brand on Twitter.

Twitter has also introduced specific ad targeting where you are able to define who you want your ads to go to. You can define this through location, language, gender, interest, device, behaviour, follower count, keywords and geographical location.

If you are looking to run an ad campaign inside Twitter, consider using Twitter cards so that you can attach photos and videos to your tweets to drive traffic back to your website.

After having your Twitter account set up, and understanding the features and how they work, here is a simple strategy to help you use Twitter for business.

Strategy

When it comes to Twitter for business, I always use a tool called Hootsuite to schedule my content. I will post five pieces of content. Two/three pieces of content per day is either sharing my articles, or promoting a webinar/online training. I will use the likes of Feedly to find other industry content to share that has been written by other people.

When it comes to looking at using hashtags, take a look at Tagboard, as this is a great tool to help you understand the hashtags your audience are using to find businesses that sell your products/services.

To sum up, get all of your “basics” sorted including your images, bio and your Twitter handle. Then, take a look at lists, polls, and the different options available for advertising on Twitter for business.

Use Tagboard to understand the hashtags that work for your business and Feedly to find great content written by thought leader in your industry and finally; use Hootsuite to schedule your daily tweets.

Now that you have understood my guide to using Twitter for business, I want to share with you how I have become a verified Twitter user, and amassed a following of over 32,000 business owners.

Twitter is one of the most influential social networks, and if building your online identity, and growing a business is important to you, Twitter must be one of the social networks you are using on a daily basis to engage with your target audience.

To understand whether this webinar is for YOU, I have three questions I would like you to ask yourself:

• Do you know how to use all of Twitter’s features?
• Are you happy with the engagement and traffic you are generating through Twitter?
• Do you know how to find your target customers on Twitter?

If you answered NO to any of the above questions, this will be one of the best Twitter learning opportunities you’ll have this year, and it’s 100% free and certified!

Here’s Why You Should Care:

• 71% of users say they use Twitter multiple times per day
• 90% of Twitter users say they plan to purchase from the small businesses they follow
• 84% of shoppers on Twitter use the platform to look for deals and product reviews
• Twitter users shop nearly twice as much as non-Twitter users

How You’ll Benefit:

• Learn my top 5 ways you can use Twitter for your business
• How to create content that will engage with your audience online
• How you can become a verified Twitter user
• How to use Twitter’s search functionality to increase your reach
• How to research your industry and find places thought leaders to engage with
• How to utilise hashtags to engage with your target audience

Click on the link below to access the recording!