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It may seem that social media sites may not bring a great deal of customers to your business – compared to search engine results or pay per click campaigns, for example – but Facebook and Twitter are your word-of-mouth publicity for the digital age, and you shouldn’t underestimate them. Creating a Facebook profile and sharing photos and videos is usually the first port-of-call for businesses trying to build a social media presence online, but Twitter can be just as useful a tool for engaging with your existing clients as well as any potential customers. Here are just a few tips on how to use Twitter when marketing your company.

Build Your Brand

At its most basic level, Twitter allows you to expand your brand to another area of the internet. Twitter is hugely popular, and although it can be a challenge getting your message across in 140 characters or less, it gives you a chance to communicate with people on both a mass and individual level. Making use of hashtags and trending topics will also help you to locate users that could be interested in your business but who don’t yet know who you are. It’s also an opportunity to be a bit more creative and show your company’s fun side; post unique images, ask your customers questions, or start a Twitter contest in order to gain new followers. The characters you can type may be limited, but that doesn’t mean your ideas have to be.

Improve Your Customer Service

Twitter is great for communicating with customers. Don’t just follow your clients back, though; engage with them. If they ask you a question, reply (as soon as possible) – they’ll remember this and think of you (rather than your competitors) the next time they want something that your business sells or provides. You can make use of private messaging for more individual requests, but replying via a Tweet will show others that you care about your customers, and that you take the time out to respond to them on an individual basis.

Create Useful Online Relationships

This can be both in terms of customers and other businesses; Twitter can help you to build relationships with others that will benefit your company. It can be as easy as following users back, Retweeting their messages, and encouraging others to follow them as well. If you help to promote one of your suppliers, for instance, they’ll more than likely return the favour, and it may help your communications in the future if you need to discuss business matters with them.

None of this is rocket science, but it can end up taking up a lot of your time, so be selective in what you use Twitter for; some businesses Tweet about all kinds of irrelevant things that go on in their office, for example, but if you don’t have the time, don’t do it – it can make a company seem ‘cool’ and ‘real’, but it can also annoy your followers.

By Chelsey Evans

Follow @AmpheonLtd