The recent riots in English cities have once again brought into sharp focus just how effective and popular social media is at getting a message heard.

While the motives behind the riots were abhorrent, it was yet another signal that social media is mainstream and will continue to play a larger and accepted role in how people prefer to communicate.

Social media is here to stay

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and other social sites have developed to help connect people in totally new ways. These sites are not the preserve of geeks (or rioters) but of increasing numbers of ordinary people and businesses - your customers - across the whole world.

Any business foolhardy enough to ignore social media as a sensible way to connect with their customers may well suffer badly at the hands of competitors who do embrace it.

With this in mind we have compiled twenty tips to help use Twitter as a business marketing tool.

What is Twitter anyway?

Twitter is a form of micro-blogging where people send short messages (tweets) to selected people (followers) or to the wide world. Tweets are limited to 140 characters and that makes them easy to write, read and post.

In turn, people are alerted to your comments and opinions, and Twitter’s appeal comes from being free, instant, personal and able to reach just about anyone.

Businesses can use Twitter to connect loyal followers, giving them advanced notice of promotions; soliciting feedback; building quality lists of followers who help promote new products or events; or lock into industry experts who tweet out their pearls of wisdom daily.

20 top tweeting tips

1. To start, choose a username which means something to your business (ours is @xanthosdigital)
2. Customise your Twitter page with your branding, logo, web address and key slogan(s)
3. Personalise your profile further by uploading a picture of yourself - this helps build trust
4. Include your value proposition as your description – and make sure to add your website address
5. Mix a little business and pleasure, share some of your personality
6. Don’t be self-interested. While promoting your business should be your main aim, don’t make it a hard-sell
7. Social media is about being ‘sociable’, not blasting repetitive messages or not listening
8. Use Twitter search tools to find, and if appropriate, engage with other users in your niche.
9. Consider using a dedicated Twitter client (e.g. TweetDeck) to help you organise your tweets
10. Comment on and re-tweet messages that relate to your products or industry
11. Share links with industry bloggers, websites and articles to demonstrate your expertise
12. When sharing links, make sure your own message is included rather than an uncommented link
13. Don’t panic over negative comments, Twitter can be a great way to put the record straight and build more followers
14. Promotions like contest or give aways work well Twitter followers
15. Use hash tags # to spread your message to a wider, quality audience
16. Identify your most loyal followers and incentivise them to become champions
17. Asking questions can help your market research
18. Co-ordinate your marketing, schedule Tweets to coincide with your online and offline promotions
19. Think community, not commissions. Sales follow genuine engagement, so be patient
20. Have a plan and be flexible enough to adapt it as you go along

Tweeting doesn’t come naturally to many folks. For others it can become an obsession. If you feel it’s a step too far, find someone in the business for whom Tweeting comes easily - but set strict rules about content and consequences.

Don’t tweet if you’ve nothing to say, but practice does make perfect.

Scheduling time for your social media activities will help focus your attention and prevent you from wasting time on pointless banter.

If you would like help planning and implementing a social media marketing strategy for your business please call us on 08450 740068.