How to grow your business with Twitter

On March 14th, 2015, I understood I never knew how to use Twitter. It was the same day I cracked some of the secrets for how to grow your business using Twitter. In this post, I’ll share my secrets!

When starting a Business, we instinctively know that we need a Social Media presence, which in 2015, is of course right. But most companies still don’t have a social media strategy. Companies don’t even know which channel to focus on. And companies normally don’t know how to benefit from Social Media.

When using Twitter, this is the trap most companies fall into:

  1. You think your # of followers defines your success
  2. You spend time following people to be followed back
  3. You stress by the idea of Posting every day
  4. You force yourself to follow what others do and re-tweet other’s content
  5. With social Media as one of your many daily task, you simply get overwhelmed.

This behavior is just egocentric and antisocial. And if using Twitter this way, you clearly communicate that you have no strategy. When Twitter becomes one of the daily tasks you just have to do, it becomes a waste of time!

For what is Twitter about?

Twitter is about being social. If have a sales job, but you’re not comfortable with people, people just won’t bond with you! The same goes for Twitter. You need to let Twitter become a part of you!

Twitter strategy

Create your Twitter strategy:

First, Do you really want to invest time & resources on Twitter?

First, define your target market, and see if there is a match between your market and Twitter demographics. If yes, ask yourself:

  • Do I have time to spend lots of time on Twitter?
  • Does someone in your team know how to use Twitter
  • Can Twitter bring me value?

If the answer is no

If the answer is no, you probably still want a Twitter presence just to have one. And you probably want a certain amount of Twitter followers just to give the illusion that you are popular. Having followers might also create some traffic. in any case, you want to avoid having your Tweets look like this:

1- Twitter- Social Media

You don’t want a bunch of fake followers, you want people that are relevant to your industry or that might be interested by your product! To get relevant follower, I recommend you to continue reading…

Answer is Yes

If you want to use Twitter successfully, let Twitter become part of you:

  • Twitter is about being social. Don’t be an introvert!
  • Social people create bonds with people. In real life, bonds are created when you care for others! Be social on Twitter by:
    • Sharing great content
    • Helping out others
    • Give feedback
    • Commenting on posts
  • Be as little self-promotional as possible. Promoting your stuff all the time isn’t being social!

Strategies for Twitter

1) Get followers, but relevant followers

To start with Twitter, try to get at least 400-500 followers for social proof! It’s easier to trust someone once you have some you once you have some followers. To get followers, follow people belonging to your target market, and hope that they will follow you back. In my experience, 1/4 of people follow you back.

To get followers, follow people belonging to your target market, and hope that they will follow you back. In my experience, 1/4 of people follow you back.

Remember: when your followers belong to your target market, they are more likely to share your stuff because it is relevant to them! You can quickly find relevant people to follow on:

  • Relevant Public Twitter Lists
  • Following your competitor’s Twitter followers
  • Follow people using a specific hashtag

I also recommend customizing your Twitter page so that it appeals to your target audience!

2) Interact with influencers

Twitter power

One mention by an influencer can be worth gold! Just think of it this way. You can get hundreds of friends referring you for a job, but that will have no power compared to a reference from Bill Gates or Barack Obama!

If you want to get in contact with influencers, help them out! Share their content, and add value to them. Answer their questions! Engage in conversations! Treat them as your friends!

3) Connect to with anyone

I’ve figured out that Twitter is the easiest way to reach out to people you want to get in contact with! A lot more effective than email and Linkedin! For SEO purposes, it’s a nice method to get in touch with people to see if you can write them a guest post!

4) Lists

There’s a lot you can do with lists

1) You can follow public lists that are relevant to your business.

2) You can create your own private lists. Private lists are great to get a customized and relevant news feed by specific people and industries you follow.

3) You can use Twitter lists as a CRM system. Every time someone mentions you or interact with you, you add them to your lists! This allows you to organize and filter out potential leads. You can also create a lead list of influencer with whom you want to establish a relationship!

4) You can create automated lists with IFTTT and add people automatically to your lists. This is a growth hacking technique as well. Sometimes, people follow you when you add them to a list. It can also be a sign that they’re interested in your product.