To tweet or not? That always seems to come into play when small businesses are looking to grow online. With all the social media tools available it can be overwhelming. What do I say, who do I talk to? Will this really help my business? The real question that you need to ask yourself is what do you want to get out of it? What do you have to offer the community and how will you utilize your space that becomes a part of their space? As a small business owner, time is never on your side and to think about delving into a community that albeit is accepting does take time. It is not like you would be a new hit movie that everyone talks about and wants to be part of. You are new to the space and everyone who sees your profile knows it. People may have been exposed to you offline but the community online is a place where if you enter the space without a game plan on what you expect to gain and see it as only another place to exhale your message you are not welcomed or well, really, a spammer. Twitter does afford a small business exposure outside the local traditional means of advertising … but , there is nothing traditional about Twitter nor any other social media tool.
6 Small Business Benefits of Twitter
1. Awareness. People may be aware of you offline but online is a whole new world. Introduce yourself by sharing, helping and forgetting your sales pitch.
2. Engagement. As you are building awareness, you are engaging. Following new people and jumping in when you can to offer something unique, an article or tweet you found funny or useful. This not only puts you on the radar, it is an opportunity to be recognized for how you help and not sell.
3. Informational. Once you do have awareness, it is not time to sell. It is a greater opportunity to follow new people and also share information. For years we were fearful of even mentioning someone else in our industry for fear of competition. Advertising and social media marketing have changed all this. Sharing others is far better than sharing your own.
4. Being Genuinely Helpful. Searches assist in finding people who are in need of help. Offering a solution allows you to showcase what you do well. People reach out and ask questions on knowing that they will get solutions. This is an opportunity to lend a helping hand and solve their problem without making a hard sales “call”.
5. Resources. Many strategies employ the WIIFM while forgetting that as you are sharing information, others are too. The opportunity to listen and learn from others seems to get overshadowed and is a lost opportunity. Learn from others as they are willing to share.
6. Localization. One of the biggest benefits of Twitter is to meet-up with other locals. This is not just another networking event where people just show up, Tweetups bring together a community of people that are ready to engage and share information.
Twitter is not for every business as those that walk into the space with the bull horn and earplugs will not be successful. The best part about building relationships with people whether it be on twitter or another site, as you are not talking to them as a brand but more like a person and learning so much about other people.
How have you used Twitter or other social media tools for your small business?
photo credit: respes
