How to Use Twitter to Promote Your Home Business: WAH Experts Share their Tips
Twitter has become one of the most active social media networks around today. There are so many people using this platform that it’s become a valuable tool to market products and services. This week’s experts have been asked to share their tips and strategies for using Twitter to promote a home or freelance business.
Alina Adams
NYC School Secrets
@NYSchoolSecrets
1) To supplement my business helping NYC parents find the best schools for their kids, I also write an education column for NY School Talk. Twitter is good for getting the headlines out, as well as for engaging with other thought leaders. I can comment on other people’s articles, often linking to my own that either confirm or contradict their thesis. It’s also good for reaching out directly to people who ask a specific question in my area of expert knowledge.
2) With Twitter, search for key words and phrases that will allow you to jump into conversations on specific topics. Be helpful, answer people’s questions. Giving away a little bit of your product frequently leads to customers who want to know more!
Syed Irfan Ajmal
Twitter is something I’ve used with success. I’ve over 8K followers most of which are influencers, leaders, and experts in their fields. I’ve also got a few leads via Twitter and requests to be interviewed on podcast shows and blogs.
1: Better to use Twitter to mostly for conversations and relationship building rather than sharing self-promotional links or sales offers.
2: Abstain from sharing too many links in Twitter, as most users come to Twitter to get value.
3: Follow the 80-10-10 rule. 80% of tweets each week are fully informational. 10% are semi-promotional. 10% are fully promotional.
Michelle Kubot
Ambrosia Treatment Center
@Kubot12
Identify influences and experts in your industry and interact with them regularly. It’s important you focus on building a real relationship instead of worrying about promotion. Retweet, reply to their tweets and ask them questions. This interaction is the real value of Twitter that you can’t get on any other platform.
The best use of ad budget on Twitter is remarketing with their tailored audiences. You can upload customer’s emails and grab non-converters from your website. The direct benefits are obvious; you can efficiently get repeat business or convert leads into actual sales.
Amy Kilvington
Naturally Content
@NaturallyCS
1. Bulk schedule tweets at the beginning of the week so you have content going live several times a day. This ensures your account looks active even if you haven’t had the time to log in.
2. Keep re-sharing content that has performed well in the past, but be mindful of repetitive posting. I try to share my best content once a week, interspersed with original posts, retweets and responses to other conversations.
3. Connect with other Twitter accounts in your industry and keep an eye on their activity. If something works well for them, there’s a good chance it’ll also work for you. Of course, you should never plagiarise someone else’s content – just use it as inspiration.
Michelle Garrett
Garrett Public Relations
@PRisUS
Twitter is one of the top two social media platforms I use to promote my WAH business. I’ve gained clients through Twitter by:
1) Sharing my content (I publish posts on several top PR blogs each month, as well as on my blog).
2) Following prospects I’d like to work with and sharing/liking their content.
3) Participating in Twitter chats, where I meet others and am able to respond to questions. That content is then shared by others even outside
the chat and can lead to new followers and prospective clients who see it.
Note from Leslie:
I’m the first to admit I’m not a huge fan of Twitter. Although I’ve been using it for years, I’ve never quite mastered managing it. With that said, I use Twitter a lot to connect with others. I’ve been known to fuss at businesses and get tech help (HP is really good at helping through Tweets) on Twitter.
The thing about Twitter is that you communicate differently on it than you do with other social media. Sure, sharing your blog content (like I do) is important. But it’s also a way to share other content. It’s a fabulous method to connect with and eventually engage with people you admire or influencers. I think the best way to manage Twitter is to:
- Share your content (helpful tips, etc more than “buy” posts)
- Share other people’s content (to share the love as well as show people you’re up on the latest news and trends in your niche)
- Use hashtags with your posts to help people find your info
- Use hashtags to find quality info for your self
- Use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck or some tool to manage your lists and Twitter schedule.
