I work with small businesses and storefront businesses that want to increase their bottom lines. One of the new marketing tools I encourage my clients to use is Twitter.
First, let’s define Twitter. According to Wikipedia Twitter “is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each others’ updates, known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters,”
So what’s the hub-bub? How can Twitter grow your small business?
1. Twitter is CHEAP. Free in fact. Free is a good word to everyone, especially to small business, especially in a recession. Sign up at http://www.twitter.com. If it’s free, what do you really have to lose?
2. Twitter is FAST. Twitter is like text messaging with a couple of twists. You have 140 characters to get your message out. A few well-planned tweets per day can get you and your business lots of recognition. This type of marketing is called viral marketing because it spreads from the people who read your tweets to their people and so on. Word of your business travels faster than any mode of traditional marketing and for FREE. (Gotta love that word)
3. Twitter is TARGETED. Even though Twitter is viral marketing, you can target your market by using a couple of tools.
The first is Twellow. Twellow is the Yellow Pages for Twitter users. You can sign up and list your business as well as find others who may be looking for your services by entering appropriate keywords into the search field.
While on Twellow, you’ll see a tab for Twellowhood. This is a fantastic tool because you can search for people to follow by geographic location. For example, you can find everyone on twitter within a 50-mile radius on a certain area.
This is huge for small business. Think about how many people can get news about events, new products and new services to name a few. And all with one click. Amazing.
Another way to target your market is to attend “Tweet-ups” These are meetings of local Twitter users. They occur in almost every community. Search #tweetup on your Twitter homepage. Then send a tweet asking if there is a tweet up happening in your area.
Finally, you can search for your city and state in the search field on your home page. However, this will bring up every tweet that Includes your search term.
There are scads of Twitter applications out there and new ones are being added daily. What I’ve presented here are a few of the quick tips I have found and use myself to help grow my own small business. If you have any others that have worked for you, please let me know by adding a comment. You can also follow me on Twitter at @jilliebfree.
Here’s to your success! Tweet on!
