Why & how to use Twitter as a local small business

Twitter is what is called a ‘micro-blogging’ platform. Once signed up you can ‘tweet’ messages of less than 140 characters that can be seen by anyone ‘following’ you, and you can follow whoever you choose and read their tweets as they create them. It is one element of the social media scene that is becoming part of every day life to many computer users, young and old, and yet a complete mystery to many others!

Twitter got a lot of publicity around, and following, Stephen Fry’s appearance on Jonathan Ross’ show and Ashton Kutcher’s appearance on Oprah earlier this year and hoards of people have signed up since. Having said that, many people sign up and then do nothing. Inbound marketing experts, Hubspot, have recently released a report entitled ‘State of the Twittersphere’ following analysis they have done using their ‘Twitter Grader’ and they discovered that: 54.88% have never tweeted; 55.50% are not following anyone; 52.71% have no followers. A year ago using similar analysis they determined that 80% of the users had biographies completed on their profiles, this year only 24.14% have completed their bio, which to me says that many of the new ‘users’ (not that we can call almost half of them actual users!) merely signed up and then either lost interest or have no idea what to do next!

So, as a local business owner why might you use Twitter? Well, I tweeted ‘As a local small business owner, why do you tweet?’ and I got the following responses (the @ indicates their Twitter name):

I use twitter to brand myself to increase exposure and traffic to my blog. @JoyceOladipo
Have already swapped mutual links with other users and meeting lovely local people. Best online networking medium I have found @vitalflow

I tweet to get more visitors to BNI and it works great. @BNIpioneer

Rule 1 of advertising is keep it concise. Tweeting helps me learn to make my messages brief, meaningful and effective! @lemezma

for the immediate online networking – another layer – and works a treat to get to know new and local biz people – v. relaxed too @babssaul

So the consensus is that it is a great online tool for networking, which you should know is all about building relationships that can lead to partnerships, referrals and sales and not at all about direct selling. And, what a convenient way to do it: no having to travel to an event, no cost, no never-ending small talk, no having to try and get away from boring networkers by using the ‘I need to use the little boys’ / girls’ room’ technique!

In the US where Twitter is more developed as a tool for small business there are great examples of its use for business building, which is starting to happen over here too. I often quote the story of the Houston coffee shop, CoffeeGroundz, that has really embraced Twitter to double their clientele. There you can order from your seat using Direct Messaging on Twitter – how cool is that?! I’m really looking forward to when I can do the same from my local Starbucks! There is also the story of the cookie shop that ‘tweets’ when they take a new batch of cookies out of the oven, and that results in a queue out of their door, almost immediately, of eager purchasers.

So, how can you use Twitter in your local small business alongside the obvious networking opportunity that it provides?

How about offering discounts for people who follow you on Twitter – you just need to tweet a code or comment for them to quote when they buy from you.

Reach out to potential joint venture partners, who offer complementary services or products to yours

Ask for help

Give help

Do quick ‘market research’ surveys by asking questions of your followers

Become known as an expert in your niche / local area by providing useful information to your followers

Use Twitter Search to find people who are tweeting about your niche / local area and follow them to keep abreast of latest developments. A local optician is keeping up to speed with the latest developments in glaucoma research using this option.

If you are still unsure, remember in 1994 experts said the Internet was not a viable business application. Once upon a time no one had a mobile phone! Can you imagine doing business without those tools now? I would suggest that Twitter (along with many other online tools, that we will cover in future articles) is another example of one of those seemingly complicated “fads” that they said “wasn’t needed” and “wouldn’t last” but will continue to weave its way into “the way we do things round here”. Mark my words!

I didn’t ‘get’ Twitter until I downloaded and started using Tweetdeck to manage and facilitate my tweeting. I have recorded a video showing you how I use Tweetdeck.

Originally published in the Kent on Saturday: Sat 27 Jun 09

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Tagged as: Micro-blogging, Social network, twitter, Web