Networking is one of the oldest and most effective marketing tools for small business owners. The advent of Twitter has taken networking to a whole new level. When used as a networking tool, Twitter can exponentially expand your networking reach, as you go about your normal day. Instead of taking the time to attend a function, meet a handful of people, follow-up with those people by then making a phone call or email and catching up over coffee, smart use of Twitter will allow you to network in just 10-20 minutes at a time, with hundreds of potential customers, clients and influencers.
Here are my top tips for networking on Twitter to market your business:
- Use lists in Twitter to organise the people that you follow. I have a list of clients and friends, a list of Brisbane Folk and a list called Overseas Dynamos (amongst others). This makes it much easier to engage and follow the conversations that are important to me.
- Be generous with sharing information and referrals. I recently saw a tweet asking for recommendations for a travel agent. I responded immediately with the details of my travel agent; both people are now very happy with the connection.
- Tweet about what you’re up to in your businesses. It’s those day-to-day stories about what you do that builds credibility and helps potential clients to understand what you do.
- Tweet back to other content. Link to blog posts, articles, new service packages and so on, that you already use in your marketing funnel.
- Be authentic. Use your real voice, preferably a photo of you and feel free to join those ‘water-cooler’ conversations that happen regularly on Twitter. Remember: it’s the mundane conversations that often build a relationship.
Twitter keeps me front-of mind for a lot of my network. They see my name and face pop up regularly and they therefore know how to find me when they need my services. So get tweeting!
