Fishbowl CEO David Williams was recently featured in a Utah Valley BusinessQ article entitled “twitter-pated: 3 local pros you have to tweet to believe.” He and two other business experts share a lot of valuable insights on how to appropriately use Twitter and other social media in the business world.
I’d like to take a minute to share what I gleaned from them, as well as a few things I’ve learned from my own experience
Avoid Bots – Bots are fake Twitter accounts. They just take up space and are used to artificially amplify follower numbers. Often, bots will be attracted to popular tweeters. Don’t pay attention to them and don’t follow them back. If they become a sizable problem, you can try blocking them.
Start Conversations – You should use Twitter not to throw information into a void but to connect with people. Start conversations with people, ask questions, share valuable insights, and listen to what people have to say.
Build Faithful Followers – Give people a reason (or, better yet, several reasons) to follow you. You can do this through a number of ways: Prove your expertise in a specific field. Give a variety of content pieces, including ones you create and ones that come from other credible sources. Offer freebies, specials, and other deals. There are plenty of possibilities.
Learn from Mistakes – On Twitter (and in life, in general), you’re bound to make a mistake from time to time. That doesn’t mean you should avoid using Twitter or be shy about sharing information. Just try to be careful and learn from your mistakes. You can always remove a tweet, if necessary, or apologize for faux pas.
Find Your Rhythm – Block out some time each day to spend on social media. Try to be consistent and find a good rhythm of activity that you can sustain over the long term. You don’t want to keep people waiting too long to hear from you, nor do you want to deluge them with too much activity. It’s all about balance.
Yes, I agree with you twitter can really help for new businesses!!