Twitter for business: learn from experts

An event series in partnership with The Purposeful Project

Earlier this year, we partnered with The Purposeful Project to create a series of live events to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses through social media. This guest blog post by The Purposeful Project includes the speakers’ main takeaways and the webinar recording of the fifth episode of our series.

Twitter for business: learn from experts

Leveraging Twitter for your business can be tricky if your tweets aren’t up to scratch – but is there ever a perfect way to do it? 

Our free webinar brings together 3 Twitter experts to see whether we have been tweeting up the wrong tree…

In this blog, our experts will tell you about:

🐦 How to make the most out of the 280 characters

🐦 Edutaining

🐦 How to easily build a following

🐦 Making your voice stand out

🐦 Honesty and if it is the best policy

Our first speaker, Blair Kaplan Venables, is the president of Blair Kaplan Communications and a social media marketing expert who helps empower entrepreneurs and other marketing experts to uplevel their social media skills.

“I love that I can find out information faster on Twitter than any other social media network,” she tells us before getting into the nitty-gritty.

From her section you will learn:

💬 How to effectively grow a brand

💬 What edutaining is

💬 If you should schedule content

Connect with others

Blair explains that like many other social networks, it’s all about connecting with people.

“People do business with people they like, know and trust,” she says, “ And behind social media, and all brands, are real people. It’s really important that you have a strong engagement strategy, it’s not just about pumping out content and using Twitter as a communication and customer service tool.”

But what else can you do to make your Twitter engaging and exciting for users? Blair continues and tells us her next tip.

Edutaining

Users don’t want to just read information and be educated, they want to be entertained. So how can you make your content engaging whilst also spreading the message you want?

Blair says that you should choose your characters wisely – you only have 280 of them so every one of them counts.

To catch people’s attention, think about what they want to hear or what’s trending at the time. “Be proactive and know what’s going on in your industry,” she suggests.

Even better, if you can share real-time information and get ahead of the news, you will be on to a winner!

Creating content 

If you’re still not feeling inspired after scrolling through what’s been trending, think about repurposing content that’s already on your website, blog and other social media networks. The content you need may well be sitting in your files, you just need to shake it up a bit!

Mix it up and use the information you already have in a different format or with more creative wording. 

Also, communities love it when you engage with what they are doing, so why not post or reshare user-generated content? 

This will let your audience know you’re interacting with them and help them feel more connected with your brand when they can see you’re actively taking time to read what they’ve been posting. Who knows, this could be a new good trick in your strategy to keep on top of engaging with your community and making sure you have consistent content.

Schedule or not to schedule

If you’re organised and have a strategy with prepared content ready to go, scheduling can make your life so much easier because once it’s set to go out, you know it will be published on time and in the right place. 

Also, this may give you more time to engage and post in real-time. By any stretch, you should block off time in your schedule to be interacting with your audience anyway, so scheduling is a good way to ensure that you have content up and running and you are interacting with trending topics.

Blair reveals that “you get more eyeballs on you by looking at trending topics” and engaging with them.

Our next speaker is Lewis Ellis. 

Lewis spent 10 years in marketing and in agencies but then started his own business when the pandemic started.

From his section you will understand:

💬 How to approach Twitter

💬 Why being spontaneous can help you 

💬 Why being yourself is key to succeed

Best tips for building a following

Like Blair, Lewis highlights that being open, honest and transparent is key –  not solely on Twitter, but in fact on any social media.

“Actually getting people inside the walls of the business, showing the real faces, motivations, and day-to-day business life will show people what you’re all about,” he said.

Ultimately showing the everyday things you do within your business or talking about relatable subjects will actually make people want to follow you more because they connect with that type of experience.

For example, if you tweet about a common challenge of being a small business or new founder, you will have a whole audience of entrepreneurs that will relate to what you’re saying. This will make them curious about what else you are talking about since they have already engaged with some of your content.

Take opportunities

When it comes to taking opportunities, Lewis says it should always be a yes!

If it can help grow your following, Lewis explains that you should just go for it.  “For example, I take part in things like this webinar, and I  try to collaborate on as many things as possible which can lead to somewhere interesting,” he said. 

Lewis even gave us some inside advice which was definitely an approach that most people wouldn’t think of… “Even if it’s a negative experience it’s going to help build your following,” he said. 

The attention gained from any experience is good. Even if you would never do it again, it’s good for exposure. Lewis confessed that he recently said yes to being in a music video to get some more eyes on him!

Be authentic to your brand and core values

Lewis was clear that aligning your content and values throughout what you tweet is vital. If you’re talking about something that has no relation to your business and brand, why are you bothering? 

Get involved in conversations that are relevant to your activity, and don’t waste your time trying to jump onto the bandwagon of something that isn’t going to help you grow.

Our next and last guest is AJ. 

AJ was in the entertainment industry for 12 years, has dabbled in music marketing and has even got a song in the top 5 in Japan! He is now working in a consultancy and knows the ins and outs of how to make your Twitter profile stand out!

From his section, you will learn:

💬 What Twitter really is at its core

💬 Why Twitter is great for building a community 

💬 What strategy you should be using  

What does Twitter stand for?

In a nutshell, Twitter gives your business a voice and can be a great avenue to show what your business is about, what you support and your values.

He says that Twitter is brilliant to show what you stand for in 280 characters. It allows you to attach a “real-world voice” to your business and gives you an audience that will be into the same trending topics as you.

Build your tribe through similarities

Tying yourself in with a community will help you not only find a group of like-minded people but will create a customer base. 

If you’re engaging with the community and following the right people, you have the potential to create a strong backing for your brand.  

If you keep transparent, and show your USP and quirky side through your content, you’re bound to create a really positive space to enjoy interacting with. Remember – it’s not all about edutaining your audience, but enjoying it yourself as well

Conversations can lead to opportunities beyond your community

We all know that one tweet can go viral and create countless opportunities for an individual and their brand. Trends can completely change your course, so keep your community thriving and you may be the next one to become a sensation with support all around you through the process.

Anyone can find a community to belong to online, even if they have different opinions. We are all individuals but having shared values can make a group of people online feel connected.

AJ pointed out that a community “isn’t about everyone agreeing on one thing, it’s about everyone coming together to find the best solution.” 

Here are our key takeaways from the webinar:

🤳 Be authentic and show your day-to-day business life so people can relate to your content

🤳 Know what is happening in your industry and interact with trending topics

🤳 Create a strong engagement strategy, don’t only use Twitter as a communication and customer service tool

🤳 Engage with your audience by resharing user-generated content

🤳 Repurpose content that’s already on your website, blog and other social media networks

🤳 Schedule your content so you have more time to engage and post in real-time.

🤳 Say yes to opportunities that will give you exposure to help you grow your following

🤳 Twitter allows you to give a “real-world voice” to your business, use the 280 characters to show what you stand for

You can play the video below if you want to watch the whole session!

Top Tip: If this post has encouraged you to spread your wings into the world of Twitter, or other forms of social media, then check out the Tide Small Business Tips Blog which contains a host of extra articles, such as how to engage your target audience on Twitter and useful tips for using Instagram.