We are all aware that Twitter makes a great tool for driving online traffic to your website, Facebook page, etc. But not many of us actually know how to leverage on what Twitter was created to do in the 1st place, i.e. to build connections, and in the case of small businesses like ourselves, connect us to other small business owners.
If you were wondering, there are probably gonna be dozens of ways to do this, but for the purpose of this post, I'm just going to offer you 7, which I think will start you off in the right direction to building meaningful online relationships.
- When you meet a business acquaintance for the first time, you try to break the ice by sharing something personal about yourself, e.g. a hobby or how many kids you have, etc. You do not try to hard sell your business at the 1st instance, right? Do the same on Twitter. Instead of just spamming your followers with product information, consider adding a personal touch to your tweets by sharing something interesting about the organization, like the new coffee maker you just bought. This allows you to connect with others on a more personal level. In the digital world, we often fail to realize that your recipients are often (not all the time though) just another person.
- Help others to solve their problems, even if it does not get your cash register ringing immediately. People like to tweet about personal stuff, and more often than not, these have very little commercial value to your business. However, when you offer advise to someone, you portray yourself as being real, and not just a spambot behind a keyboard. Others (which may include potential clients) may see the more personable and trustworthy side of you, which could lead to strong personal and business relationships being forged.
- Share your thoughts on your industry, business and other topics of interest. This is the surest way of helping portray you as the expert in your field. And people will only want to collaborate with the best of the best. And when you tweet content that is of value, there is a strong likelihood that your reputation (or the number of Twitter followers, at least) will grow exponentially through viral word-of-mouth.
- You could also consider Tweeting pictures of yourself (appropriate pictures, if I may add), your staff, your organization, and your business events. As the saying goes, 'a picture speaks a thousand words' - and more so when people only recognize you as a @abcde on Twitter. Doing so will at least help put a face to your tweets, and would give other small business owners visual insights into what your business does, and what opportunities there are.
- Do not refrain from sharing other people's tweets, links, or articles. As business owners, I suppose we do not see the need as to why we should be helping another entity publicize their content. I am a strong advocate of a reciprocal working relationship. By helping someone, you are in fact, taking the 1st step to building a mutually beneficial partnership that starts on Twitter, but could lead to something a lot bigger.
- Participate in industry events, seminars, and conference. This will give you the opportunity to take the 1st step in sharing content with those who may not have had the luxury to attend. Again, you may ask the question of "why would I want to do that?" My answer remains... besides being able to position yourself as the expert in your field, sharing breeds reciprocal partnerships, especially so in the small business context.
- In order to diversify the viewpoints that others can view your company through, encourage your fellow co-workers to tweet under the company’s name. But do take note though, that regardless of the number of employees who are tweeting, your business should tweet as one voice. It's extremely important to appoint the appropriate staff as official tweeters. And just to side track a little, do ensure that they say the right things using the right accounts. Do not get caught off guard like 1 major media company we know of.
Hope to see you all on Twitter soon @smallbizideasSG.
Happy tweeting!
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