on the button issue 8 | Page 10

business corner Local man Mick Holloway runs a successful business networking company. This month he is sharing with us a feature on the benefits to business of current trends. No. 3 – Twitter H ello, and welcome to the third of my monthly articles on Social Media and Social Networking. Last month we talked about LinkedIn, this month we will look at how Twitter can help us raise awareness of ourselves, our businesses, products and services. Why bother with twitter? One common criticism of Twitter is the amount or trivial, ‘nonsense’, that gets tweeted. My consistent response is not to worry about what others are tweeting – it’s what you say (tweet) that matters. While a twitter account is free, you do need to invest your time in getting noticed. However, twitter allows you and your business to raise your profile and brand yourselves in a very cost effective way. And you do this by tweeting tweets that reinforce your message basically tweeting what you believe your target audience, or community, wants to hear. You only have 140 characters – so word your tweets carefully. And remember you can tweet web addresses (URL’s) to encourage visitors to pages in your web site, Blog, LinkedIn profile etc. So what should you tweet ? A few simple Dont’s... • Avoid too many promotions and sales, we want to encourage people to  follow us – don’t push them away with constant promotion and sales talk. Don’t only talk business. It’s called Social Media for a reason, so be social.. And some Do’s... • Do tweet about what you are doing, and make it interesting......  don’t be boring. • Do tweet about your business challenges you have today, this week/quarter.  Your followers will learn and understand more about you and your business. • Do tweet about what you are reading/studying/writing. More insights into  you the person. • Do tweet, announcements, press releases, product launches, blogs...  • Do Educate, share knowledge an insight to your business or sector  •  ND - ask questions, endorse your followers by inviting input from your A community (crowd sourcing) Create a Twitter Page that similarly reinforces this message. Establish credibility via your tweets and be recognised as an authority on your field. Next Month ... we look at Google+. Neal’s Garden Services A fully insured, locally based Gardener with 16 years experience Vehicle Services e cutting, grass cutting, he dg , weed ing tree maintenance rdens restored and overgrown ga eare d w ith all rubbish cl “ ” for a free quotation call Neal on: 07746697828 or 01462 615758 or email: [email protected] NealsGardenServices07.indd 1 11/2/13 22:50:15 Chinese Take Away and Fish & Chips Un