Twitter has only been around for a few years. As a business owner, you are probably wondering how to use the service to grow your local business. Here are a few ideas:
1. Follow as many people in your target market as possible. If you are searching for Internet marketers, twitter is a gold mind. However, if you are looking for business owners in the construction industry, your task will be more difficult. I would suggest using Twellow, a twitter yellow pages which categorizes tweeters by industry and location. Another option is using Google advanced search.
2. Create a Twitter tribe. Seth Godin has been spending the last year pushing his idea of the importance of Tribes. If you can create a Tribe of 1000 local Twitters who eagerly anticipate your every Tweet, I guarantee that you will obtain new customers.
3. Follow mavens on Twitter. If you don’t know what a maven is, read the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. On that note, read anything that Malcolm Gladwell publishes.
4. Never eat lunch alone. Invite one Twitter follower a day to lunch.
5. Invite your favorite Twitter followers to join you on other social networks, such as Facebook and Linkedin.
6. Tweet information in your field that demonstrates that you are a leader in your industry. If you own a restaurant, link to articles about Thomas Keller.
7. Create amazing content on your blog. Use Twitter to drive traffic to disseminate your produce and your ideas.
8. Create a Tweetup. It is simply not enough to sit around the computer or iPhone all day and tweet. You need to actually meet your followers in the flesh.
9. If you live in New York, go to a Mashable event. People who tweet love Mashable.
10. Invite your Twitter followers to work from your office.
11. Provide exclusive offers to your followers on Twitter. Follow Dell.
12. Be real.
13. Don’t push your products all day.
14. Be curious and engage your followers.
15. Be funny. Considering the space constraints, this is extremely difficult.
16. Be memorable.
17. Have fun!
Please be advised that I am a New York business law attorney and I am not one of those self-proclaimed Twitter gurus. Feel free to share your riffs on how to use Twitter to build your local business in the comment section of this blog. I would love to hear from you. If you are in the New York area, lets have lunch!
