Using Twitter as an Effective Business Tool

I have missed the Twitter train for long enough. One of my January objectives is to make Twitter an effective part of my suite of business tools. Until now, the extent of my tweets have been random oddities through my Facebook profile, like “Teaching my kid to appreciate the Ramones.” I want to use Twitter as a communication tool to add value to my business relationships and improve results through those connections.

I have bookmarked a ton of posts related to Twitter and how to it can be used to help develop business connections. Of those posts, I highly recommend reading Caroline Middlebrook’s Big Juicy Twitter Guide. In particular, Section 2 delves into the benefits that Twitter can deliver for your business.

It is well known that the more contact you make with a customer, the more likely you are to make a sale. These days it is much more ‘in vogue’ to sell by not selling, rather than doing the hard-push sales pitch. Twitter is a way of doing that. With Twitter you can chat to people in a friendly way and give them nudges and hints about what you’re doing in your world. Look at the benefits:

• It reminds them that you exist
• It shows them that you are human
• It allows you to mention new offers immediately
• It allows you to form a more casual relationship

Also, Dan Zarrella just did a guest post on Read/Write Web called 10 Ways Twitter Can Boost Your Social News Profile. More than just trying to boost the size of your connections (which is something that anyone can game), the article offers several valuable tips that increase the value of those relationships. The most important… Ask questions. While Dan focuses on asking questions as a form of “Twitter-jacking,” I see the questions as the core to relationship building. Find out what your customers and connections want by asking. Then give it to them.

There is much to learn about Twitter. If you have a post that you have found insightful or if you want to let me know what your favorite Ramones song is, give me a tweet.