Twitter has redefined the way consumers, peers and industry leaders communicate. Today, consumers are researchers; they’re also interactive. Through a concept as simple as micro-blogging or life-casting, you can reach the right customers and satisfy the needs of your existing ones. One might think that this is just for kids, but that’s just big-business thinking. Twitter can (and will) grow your small business. I’ll explain.

Preface.

Twitter is a service that drives the understanding of consumer-centric concepts. I do not advocate (rather, I harshly criticize) anyone who intends on spamming Twitter with affiliate links. Not that there’s anything wrong with affiliate links, but it relates to the value that you provide your community. For more thoughts on this, please see my previous blog entry titled, Affiliate Marketing on Twitter — Is it OK?.

People love to share status updates on Twitter and follow other people of interest. That is, you might want to know what Shaq, MC Hammer, David Matthews, Britney Spears, Jason Calacanis, Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki or what I’m doing. The value in Twitter is not the number of followers, not the number of messages, but the conversations themselves. In a matter of seconds, news can be broadcast across the network. With the help of Twitter, we’re turning the tide of participation inequality — that is, we’re all producing, consuming and re-syndicating content.

Big Business vs. Small Business in Social Media

Big business don’t see the value of services like Twitter. Neither do they think blogs or forums matter. They think it’s just “chatter” and “noise.”It’s no surprise that they fail miserably when they attempt to engage in social media because it’s a stunt to them. They really don’t care about their consumers, as they merely want to drive sales.

This characteristic alone differentiates small business from big business because entrepreneurs actually care, they love their customers and they want to communicate with them. I’ve seen many small businesses explode through social media. In lieu of sales or partners, do it for brand exposure and audience growth. Those who were successful only had invested their time and passion into growing it, only for a few dollars.

You can pride yourself that through social media (especially Twitter, hence this blog post), you’ll become visible among competitors as you strike up a conversation and demonstrate a leadership position in your industry. Additionally, the value in Twitter is the raw, qualitative intelligence that people are talking about right now. What if you could (at any moment) know what people are saying about you or your competitors? You can, with Twitter Search. It’s a marketer’s goal to get inside the mind of their prospects and customers. Think about it.

In my earlier entry, I detailed a 4-step Social Media Marketing Action Plan, where I list the four areas to focus on as you engage into social media: Listening, Build a Presence, Provide Value, Connect the Dots. Twitter is in every step, and you should seriously spend at least an hour researching your industry, competitors and customers on there. You’ll be impressed by what’s already available now free.

Thousands of marketing messages everyday bombard us, as consumers, and we escape that by fleeing to Facebook, Twitter and email to uncover value that they are missing (or desiring). Using Twitter or any other social network to advertise is risky. As a marketer, you ought to respect that and not exploit it. Let people be individual, express themselves and promote creativity. Respecting your prospects and communities will lead you to better experiences with your customers. Respect comes in the form of frequency, value and relevance.

I think at this point, you get the idea that social media is about providing value, being open and accessible. That said, I think I’ll move on. If you have questions on social media — feel free to shoot them to me or leave a comment below.

Building a Presence on Twitter, One Tweet at a Time

I’m asked a lot about how a small business could build a presence, and I often rebuttal with ‘why not?’ Many people seem to get stuck at deciding which name to use on Twitter. This should be easy, but many run into a conflict of personal and professional brand.

Use your name. Reserve your business’ name, and Tweet from both appropriately. Here’s why:

You are your business and your business is you. Your personal brand is just as important as your business’ name. People follow you, the same way they follow Don Crowther of StomperNet or the way they follow Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. If you aren’t willing to give up your name and accessibility to your customers, your competitors will.

This is probably one of the first orders of business is getting on there. For us, it didn’t take too long for our CEO, Clate Mask, to get on Twitter and start using it to connect with customers and peers. He runs a multi-million dollar software company, and he has the time to Tweet, don’t you?

Here are the steps I suggest entrepreneurs and marketers all do, if you haven’t done so already:

1. Sign up to Twitter and claim your name. You are more important than your business’s brand and you’ll effectively cascade your Twitter practices over to your business brand later.
2. Upload a picture of you. Don’t hide behind that O_O avatar. If you expect people to trust you, you need to give them a bit of substance and authenticity of who you are. You’ll find you will have richer interactions if you do that. If you need to resize your avatar, make it 48 x 48 pixels.
3. Provide an honest and upfront bio. It’s normal practice for people to want to learn more about you, what you do, where you’re residing and any other quick facts that support your character. Additionally, this also will result in higher positioning for such terms that you list in search engines.
4. Provide valuable content. Given that you have 140 characters to provide value, make it interesting or useful for your followers. Continue reading the next section for a deeper explanation. Hint: Posting a majority of links is lame and will earn you to have people unfollow you.
5. Be consistent, update at least a few times daily. People love to hear from you, don’t leave them in the dust by not updating.  As expected, many people are active between 5am and 12am (19 hours), so feel encouraged to post messages anytime. People are bound to pick it up and read it.
6. Be an expert, but don’t be prude. It’s easy for one to worry about every letter they type. The expectation on Twitter is that you respect the medium, but typos and mistakes do happen. Offer help, but don’t take it personally; if you don’t get the response that you expect, don’t worry about it.
7. Re-Tweet (RT) interesting Tweets. The practice of re-tweeting is intended to provide a down line of value to your network of followers. All it takes to RT is to include “RT” and the username so people know who it’s from. Here’s an example:
   RT @Infusionsoft: InfusionCon 2009 Photos are available on our Flickr: http://bit.ly/InfusionCon2009Photos … Are you pictured? Leave some comments!
8. Listen. I’ve seen many folks get caught up in posting messages and not listening. Trust me when I say that listening is twice as important so you don’t sound like a fool. Check your Replies and your Direct Messages, too.

What should I Tweet about?

This is the most common question I get when I tell folks to use Twitter. They simply don’t see themselves as content producers or they don’t see the value. I respect their thoughts, and I rebuttal with asking them what they did after work. Then, what did they eat for dinner? … What did their kids do? … Did they watch a movie? … Did they meet with anyone special recently? … etc. You get the idea — things that are a small value of content deliver a large payload in understanding and connecting with someone. People love short quips, punchy thoughts and witty one-liners that come from your heart.

Other things to Tweet about are your customers, your coworkers* and your industry. Did you just answer a common question, get a thoughtful email from a customer, did someone say something funny in the office or did something big shake up the industry? There are tons of short quips, punchy thoughts and witty one-liners that make perfect sense to share with others.

* Be cautious that people you Tweet about will likely find out. Get their permission before you Tweet about them, or at least anonymize it with a generic “overheard” or “OH:” in your Tweet.

The bottom line is that there are no excuses. No excuses not to listen to your customers, no excuses for letting people know what you’re up to, no excuses to engage. You’re an entrepreneur, not a manager of a hedge fund who hides behind the books.

Alright, Now What?

Ask your customers and prospects if they use Twitter and connect with them. Odds are, about 20% of your consumers are on Twitter and you can learn a lot about them. First objective here is to listen, then engage. Learn about them first and encourage them to follow you.

Next, you might think I might suggest to blast them with special offers. (I’m not!) That’s a bad way to treat your new audience. Instead, provide thoughtful tips on leveraging your product or service, or industry related news. Perhaps you have a unique understanding about a question in your customer’s eyes. For instance, mortgage brokers might have a perspective about loan modification services.

When you’re ready, consider graduating onward to software like TweetDeck or Twhirl to help you so you can Tweet around the clock.

From then on, provide valuable bits of information. Make use of every character to ensure people receive the value they deserve. It’s not just posting Tweets, it’s also asking them questions and leveraging their feedback. That’s conversation. Your customers love it and you will too.

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I know this entry probably either helped or challenged you. I wanted to let you know that there are plenty of legitimate business reasons to be on Twitter. It’s not something you can put off much longer. Your customers are already there now. I hope you can discover the value and connect the dots in your small business through social media.

If you have any questions, struggles or any thoughts on Twitter and your small business, please feel invited to ask them in the comments. I’ll answer your questions on social media and small business. It’s something that I do here.

You might also like these blog entries:

• 5 Insider Tips to Get Your Business ‘Social’
• 19 Ways to Connect Social Media & Email Marketing Together
• Facebook Marketing Week (Recap)