Twitter has become the place to connect, converse, and build relationships. With its fast paced, real-time action, it forces you to say what’s really necessary in 140 characters. If your business is on Twitter, but how do you get noticed? You can’t stop the Twitter feed or slow it down so your fans don’t miss your tweets.
So what can you do to be a social business on Twitter? Whole Foods is one company that gets how to be a social business. Here are 5 things we can learn from them about how to be social on Twitter:
Presentation
How are you presenting yourself on Twitter? Make sure your cover and profile images are inviting, interesting and identify your business. Your bio be should be complete, identify who you are and use any hashtags specific to your business.
Purpose
If you don’t know why you’re on Twitter you won’t have a goal to aim for or be able to create a winning strategy. Determine why you want to be on Twitter, what you want to accomplish and how you plan to go about getting it done. Whole Foods Twitter account provides a link to their home page, where can find their Mission & Values clearly stated. Their purpose is clearly seen throughout their Twitter feed.
Presence
Presenting yourself well and knowing why you want to be on Twitter won’t matter if you barely show up. You have to show up, consistently, often and everyday. And that doesn’t mean just tweeting status updates and sharing links. It means interacting, responding and having conversations.
Pleasant & Personable
This is all about how you come across in your tweets with your followers. It’s about the interaction. Are you polite, kind, respectful, sympathetic: all the things that show there are humans behind your business name? Yes, it’s important to have a presence, but it has to be one that makes people feel comfortable and valued.
Passion
Do you have a passion for your followers and customers? Are you passionate about your product or service? If you are it will show in your tweets and in your engagement. What you say and how you interact show if you really take pride in what your business stands for and the people you are trying to help. It’s more than enthusiasm. It’s what keeps you going.
Don’t just be a business on Twitter – one that thinks all they have to do is promote their product. Be a social business – one that takes pride in what they do, values their followers and works to build relationships.
Remember, in our social world “a business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” – Henry Ford
