5 Types of Tweets to Boost Your Biz
Posted on 02. Apr, 2010 by Matthew Toren in Entrepreneurship
Made up of a little bit art and a little bit science, proper tweeting is essential if you want your Twitter account to work for you, and not against you. There are a lot of opinions out there about the right way to tweet. Like so many things, it really comes down to the fact that there isn’t a single answer. It depends a lot on the type of business you have and what you’re trying to accomplish with your Twitter account. So how often you tweet and which combination of the types of tweets you use is not addressed here. But it’s just as important to explore the different types of tweets and know what your options are. So here’s a breakdown to get your brain working:
Personal - Twitter is for connecting with your audience. One of the best ways to do that is to let them get to know you. The type of business you’re in will dictate the nature of these tweets. For instance, if you’re a blogger, you can afford to be more personal, as you’re probably on a personal level with your readers anyway. If your business is tax consulting, you might be more concerned about how your clients will see certain kinds of tweets. That doesn’t mean you don’t tweet personal stuff, but you might be more inclined to tweet about your son’s soccer team winning last night, and less likely to tweet about the cool iPhone game you just found. The key is to show your human side, while adding some value in the form of insight into your life or maybe something entertaining. Tweets like, “Had a bowl of cereal for breakfast,” while personal, are probably of little to no value regardless of your goals.
Useful 3rd party information – Posting a link to a blog post, video, e-book or other useful tool or information will help your followers and show them that you’re interested in more than just self-promotion. If you have a way people can save money or learn something interesting, share it, and they’ll keep checking your feed for more.
Re-tweets – Re-tweeting is saying that what someone else had to say was of value, and you’re letting your followers know that you respect the person whose tweet you repost. This adds value to your followers by passing on useful or entertaining information, and it lets the original tweeter know you appreciate them, which strengthens bonds on both sides.
Thank-yous – Mom was right – saying thank you is always a good idea. You can tweet thank you messages to thank people for following you on Twitter, which is a good way to connect, but might be difficult to keep up with, especially as your followers grow. Another way to use Twitter for a thank you shout out is for off-Twitter deeds. If someone wrote a guest blog for you or has agreed to speak at your event or webinar, for instance, thanking them on Twitter will accomplish the thank you, and it will get the word out about the blog or event as well.
Promotional – It’s no accident that this is last on the list. Twitter folks are very leery about people using Twitter for blatant self-promotion. That doesn’t mean you should never post a link to your products or services. It just means you need to be careful that you don’t turn anyone off. There are a lot of supposed “golden ratios” out there, ranging from 1 promo post per 3 other posts, to 1 per 10. The “right” one is probably somewhere in the middle, and again, it depends on your business and your goals.
If you want to see someone who uses a combination of all of these to effectively market her business, check out @MariSmith‘s page. Everything from her page design to her tweeting strategy are outstanding. Then again, she’s a social media consultant, so she’d better get it right! Do you have other recommendations for optimizing your Twitter efforts? Share your thoughts below in the comments.
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21 Responses to “5 Types of Tweets to Boost Your Biz”
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Payday Loan Lenders
02. Apr, 2010
I am still trying my luck in twitter though till now I was not so successful. I would surely try what you have written above. Hope something works out!!
Jarrod@ Optimistic Journey
02. Apr, 2010
Thanks for the information. I especially have to keep in mind the self promotional idea. I also don’t show enough of my human side, most of my tweets are centered around light self promotion, @replies and retweets.
I rarely dive into personal tweets because a lot of my readers and traffic ends up following me on twitter. I guess in my mind I try to be professional. But this sheds some light for me. Thanks for sharing!!
rahulrockerdwor
03. Apr, 2010
Well i found this information very convincing and accurate about how we highly we are dependent on the social networking sites for letting us convey our thoughts to our blog members and fellow followers.And that information about Mari Smith’s page at twitter was very helpful in learning how to tweet and make our site popular to our audience.
real estate sales
04. Apr, 2010
It has become a customer driven world and every company who does not take action in social media marketing will be left behind by their customers and will be outperformed from smarter competitors who use social media tactics.
sell your property
04. Apr, 2010
B2B and B2C customers do not want to be disturbed anymore through the old school marketing tactics of yesterday. They decide if and when they want information about products and services.
Samantha Milner
04. Apr, 2010
Hi guys,
I really don’t use my twitter account that much for business. I only post links to my site every blue moon and I retweet every now and then. I’m just not that much into tweeting. But as I constantly read blogs about tweeting I think that I should start tweeting a little bit more.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
CameraBags
05. Apr, 2010
I use tweet deck and use many of the items mentioned, I think it is as simple as showing inerest. If I am interested in them the will respond.
Evan Nelson
05. Apr, 2010
As a young entrepreneur, I found your post on the different types of tweets to be very informative and interesting. When Twitter first came out, I thought of it as a venue for vain celebrities to talk about themselves and ignored its possibilities as a marketing tool for businesses. As social networking sites have grown and evolved, I recognize they have become excellent tools to contact customers indirectly and let them know about updates and promotions. However, your points about the different types of tweets and how they can be useful opened my eyes to a range of possibilities on my own Twitter account. I was aware that Twitter’s main purpose is to connect with followers, which can be accomplished through personal tweets. It was interesting to understand that a company must take their target audience into consideration when putting out personal tweets. Which demographic do you think is most affected by Twitter?
I was impressed that you go on to address 3rd party information and re-tweets. I never thought that directing followers to other blogs, videos, or tweets would be a good way to help your own company, but you point out that this will cement more loyalty to your account because people are not turned off by pure promotion. By providing followers with interesting tweets, they will be more inclined to participate with a brand. Also, I agree that thank you tweets are a great way to connect with those following or supporting your business by showing that you care about their involvement. Promotional tweets can be successful in directing customers to a product or website but similar to Facebook updates, too much pure promotion may turn a customer off from a company. One trend I have noticed, which you fail to address, is humorous or witty tweets to attract followers. Recently, I have seen more businesses and artists, especially those in more informal industries, use humor to generate a following. Do you believe that humor, used in the right context to the right audience, is an effective way to boost support?
portable sauna
05. Apr, 2010
Twitter don’t help me in my sites, i depend on some other social sites.
Legitimate Work From Home Jobs
06. Apr, 2010
I have trying to figure out a way to promote my business without being labeled as a self promoter, so thank you for these tips and ideas.
Social networking / marketing is here to stay, so it is important that business owners utilize these mediums to their benefit – but following the accepted etiquette is vital.
sell your property
07. Apr, 2010
This is just one tip that can add more visibility for your business. Check out the 26 week Online Visibility Secrets program and learn step by step how to boost your visibility to attract more traffic, more leads, more client and more opportunities for your business!
Credit Girl
07. Apr, 2010
Great info! Twitter is a great method for a business to use to market their product. It’s another way to get your name out there!
Ballet Moves
07. Apr, 2010
With all the celebrity’s jumping on board promoting their brand, I guess it’s no secret that twitter is an exceedingly effective way of marketing… if you know how to.
These are some quality tips, and definitely something I’ll be adding to my arsenal.
Thanks guys.
Ultrasound Scanner
09. Apr, 2010
This is my first time visit here. I found interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! Keep up the good work.
Romantic Room
11. Apr, 2010
I’ve found twitter best for driving traffic to a blog. Unless you have a major brand or are a celebrity, having interesting and currently relevant tweets with links to your blog is the best you can do. Mixing it up is definitely something I need to do more of.
rosario
13. Apr, 2010
I was impressed that you go on to address 3rd party information and re-tweets :)
Josh
15. Apr, 2010
Great tips you have provided us here Matt, I am fairly new to twitter and yet still to discover how to use its full potential, but this has given a good head start!
chalikovas
20. Apr, 2010
Superb information about tweets. Thanks for sharing
Game Critic
23. Apr, 2010
I just retweeted this post, I hope I get more followers. NOM NOM!
Kelvin | Forex Indicator
27. Apr, 2010
What a wonderful post about twitter. I am planning to get a retweet button for my blog and work harder on tweeter.
I always thought that twitter is for personal use and now I know 4 other ways to make use of this tool to enhance my blog and business.
Email Marketing Blog
19. Jul, 2010
@Game Critic – LOL. Someone has been playing Left 4 Dead a little too much.
Saying thank you seems like a pretty good idea as then you raise awareness about your current projects.