Focused on Twitter – Learning to Use Twitter for Small Business

One of the things that I have really struggled with in my business is what to focus on when and how to prioritize tasks.  You can see my work flow matrix and prioritization model, I am still tweaking this approach but so far it seems to be working pretty well.  Using this model I decided that Twitter needed to be a high priority current focus.

I have had a Twitter account for years but never been very active, to date I have 36 followers on my personal account.  I do recognize the opportunity and potential to reach and broadcast my message to a vast network of people in a relatively short period of time, so I figured I better get busy and figure out how the hell Twitter really works and what its good for.  This is partially motivated by my friends over at the INTERNET BUSINESS MASTERY ACADEMY who use Twitter as a tool to get traffic and exposure early on in their courses.  Half way through my first Twitter focus month, I feel I am gaining a much better understating of how the system actually works and how I can make it work for me.  Take a look at the down low of what I have learned so far.

  • You have to be careful with Twitter – If you are too aggressive or spammy they will ban your account.  This has happened to me once when I followed too many people too quickly using  TWEET ADDER auto follow software.  I simply sent Twitter an email and asked them to reinstate my account and toned down my following.  Through conservative use of TWEET ADDER I have managed to add a fairly sizable number of followers in a short amount of time.  I have yet to really determine if these auto added followers will bring any value.
  •  You must interact – This doesn’t have to be overly time consuming but it is the best way to give your Twitter feed a life of its own and really build trust and make connections.  I check in about twice per day for 15 to 30 minutes at a time and re-tweet, respond and favorite.  When I come across interesting information throughout the day I will forward it to my Twitter feed.
  • Use Hootsuite – Part of my initial problem with Twitter was that it just didn’t make any sense.  Hootsuite simplified this for me allowed me to understand what was going on  and keep tabs on my interactions.  Hootsuite also allows you to schedule Tweets which is extremely helpful, it only takes about an hour to sit down and schedule a month worth of Tweets.  Consistence is key.  I have yet to link any other social networks into Hootsuite but I will in the future when those particular networks have been selected as my monthly focus.
  • Twitter takes time – You don’t build a huge following over night and once you do build a following it will take a while to develop the trust of your following.  I am currently working to develop trust by bringing value, insight and humor to the platform.  I see so many people that flood the feed with affiliate links, links to only their blogs or just boring useless junk.  I try not to be one of these people.

I still have a lot to do on Twitter before my month is up and even after.  I will continue to interact on a regular basis and build my following.  Still yet to come:

  • I will add my Twitter handle to all of the Twitter Directories, TWELLOW, TWIENDS, WEFOLLOW, and any others that I can find.
  • I need to identify several of the larger players in my market and focus on building relationships with them in particular.  One retweet from one of these users could potentially get my name in front of a very vast network and really help build my following.

Here are a few resources that I have found very valuable during my Twitter monthly ramp up.

Look forward to another Twitter update in a couple weeks.  I will keep this post updated about my progress on Twitter and what it is doing for my business.