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A step-by-step guide to promoting your business using Twitter

Many businesses, ranging from home-based buyer’s agencies to national lenders, use Twitter to make their presence known and to engage their audience.

Want to join them? Then take these five steps:

1. Learn the lingo

Twitter has a language of its own:

Tweet – a public message
DM (direct message) – a private message between two people
Follow – when you ‘subscribe’ to another user’s messages
Unfollow – when you unsubscribe from another user’s messages
Handle – your username on Twitter
Hashtag (#) – how keywords are identified
Lists – a way you can compile a collection of handles
RT (retweet) – when you forward someone’s tweet to your own followers
Search – how you find hashtags and handles
Timeline – a list of tweets from people you follow

2. Create your Twitter profile

First, choose the right Twitter handle, which is your username. You can use your own name, the name of your business (like @Hunterandscribe) or, if your name is taken, you could be creative and combine it, for example, @Annebuyeragent (Anne buyer’s agent).

Next, create a bio that best describes your business. This is the short description that will appear at the top of your page. It should fully describe your business as concisely as possible. (Yes, this sounds like a contradiction, but talk to us at Hunter & Scribe; we can help you with that.)

For example, if you’re a real estate agent you could write: “Real estate agent specialising in high-end luxury units in Sydney, Australia.” (Why include Australia? Because Twitter is not region-locked, and there are seven places in the world named Sydney.)

Upload an image that will appear at the top of the page. This could be a group photo, your logo or an image of the services you offer. For example, if you’re a financial adviser, you could show an image of the stock market.

3. Look for followers and follow people

Once your profile is created, you can introduce yourself by sending your first tweet. But unless you have followers, nobody will read it.

So write a few helpful tweets, then let your clients know you’re now on Twitter and ask them to follow you. A quick way of doing that is to follow them first. Another way is to announce it in your newsletter.

Need helpful tweets? Hunter & Scribe can fit meaningful information into Twitter’s 280-character limit.

Many people will also automatically follow you back as a courtesy if you follow them first. (But they might not read your tweets.)

You should avoid buying followers, because having 4,000 fake followers can destroy your credibility faster than having only four real followers.

You should also publish your Twitter handle on your website and other social media pages.

4. Start tweeting

Twitter’s 280-character limit, which includes spaces, requires you to be concise. When you tweet something, remember that your clients are more likely to share tweets that solve problems, answer questions or deliver inspiration.

You can also use Twitter to tease content that’s on your website. For example:

An accountant could tweet: “I’ve just updated my blog with five new tax tips. Read it here.”
A real estate agent could tweet: “Your dream home is now for sale. Click here for more information.” (The agent could also include an image of the home.)

You can also use Twitter to increase your brand awareness:

A lender could tweet about the latest cash rate increase and include a link to a blog explaining how the cash rate affects mortgage rates
A buyer’s agent could retweet a real estate agent’s latest listing or comment on the post A mortgage broker could retweet a financial magazine’s tweet and comment on the post

5. Engage with your audience

To be really effective, you should follow other businesses in your industry, and comment on their posts. For example, if you’re in property, you could follow Corelogic, SQM Research or Domain and retweet some of their posts. A mortgage broker could also follow real estate agents in their area, and vice versa.

Struggling to write engaging tweets? Dump your social media marketing problem on Hunter & Scribe. Contact us for more information.

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