Twitter is the talk of the town from marketing firms to small business owners… how do we use this tool to increase leads and drive growth? This seems to be the question most people are asking across the business landscape. If you are skeptical and a little confused… believe me… you are not alone. I am immersed in social media on a daily basis and I am still testing strategies when using Twitter.

We are all trying to figure out this new world of online communication.. so where do you start when diving into Twitter.

Twitter is just another tool in your (business) aresenal to drive brand awareness across a specific group of people. So what do you do when first starting out? Limit your twitter use. It is extremely important to build out a usage plan for Twitter when first starting out on the tool.

An example:

Phase 1

  • Use Twitter for 30 minutes a day
  • Add 10 strategic relationships to follow every two days (between 30-45 followers a week)
  • Tweet (send a twitter message) three times a day
  • Write down all strategic relationships or new business leads formed when using Twitter

Phase 2

  • Move up to an hour of Twitter usage a day. Example: designate 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes after the work day. You could also break the usage out over the day
  • Sign up for a HootSuite account to help with Tweeting and follower management throughout the day.
  • Move up to 10 tweets a day. If need be… use HootSuite for random posting through-out the day.

This is just small example of how you can build out a Twitter usage plan for yourself or your employees. There are a couple of important things to remember:

  • Use the tool on a daily basis. It is important to build up a habit of using the tool.
  • Measure. Measure. Measure. Measure. If you do not see some type of success from Twitter after 3-5 months.. re-evaluate your usage.
  • Remember that Twitter is just another medium to reach potential consumers… don’t give up your other marketing strategies… integrate your approach

Twitter is a great tool to use for communication and brand awareness. Do you have any other productivity tips? Ways to be productive? This is just a small example but I would LOVE to hear from other people.

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