137 Twitter Tips

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137 Twitter Tips
How Small Businesses Get The Most
From Twitter
By Readers of Small Business Trends,
June 2009
137 twitter tips
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Table of Contents
A Letter from the Publisher of Small Business Trends. 6
Question #1 - How would you suggest other small businesses get started on Twitter?. 7
Question #2 - What’s the right way (or wrong way) to promote your business on Twitter?. 11
Question #3 - What is your #1 Twitter etiquette tip for small business owners? . 17
Question #4 - What is your best tip for getting retweeted?. 21
Question #5 - How do you manage your time on Twitter? . 23
Question #6 - What is your best-kept secret (something not widely known) for using Twitter in
business?. 26
Contributors by Name
Amanda Stillwagon, Small Business CEO . 25
Andrew Pincock, Lotus Jump . 11
Andrew Swenson, Word Post . 20
Angela LoSasso. 15
Anita Cohen-Williams, My Twitter Apps. 22
Anthony Ruiz. 19
AoS LeatherWorks. 21
Arthur Bland, Small Biz Numbers. 13
Aura-Leigh Jenkins . 11
Becky McCray, Small Biz Survival . 9
Benros Emata. 14
Bhavishya Kanjhan. 16
Bradford Shimp, All Biz Answers. 27
Brandi Starr, Star Studded. 19
Brent Leary . 29
Caren McGill, Digital Pink . 17
Cherry Manuel. 22
Chris . 24
Chris Brown, Branding and Marketing. 16
Chris Curtis, Web Business Ownership. 9
Chris Goddard, Affilorama. 27
Chris Hendricks, XSitePro. 23
Chris, Mirror of Aphrodite. 17
Craig Burgess, Digital Tsunami . 16
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Cynthia Sutton, The Silver Barn. 26
Daria Steigman, Independent Marketing . 14
Darrel Raynor, Data Analysis and Results Inc.. 27
Dave Fecker, Power Works Automation. 25
David M. Jones, KitBook. 19
David Slatter, Customer CSI. 26
Dawn Fotopulos, Small Business How 2. 20
Debbie Hemley, Weber Media Partners . 29
DeBorah Beatty . 16
Denise O’Berry. 15
Desiree Scales, Bella Web Design Inc.. 29
Eddie Gear, Metalique . 12
Eric Nagel. 8
Franchise Information, Red Hot Franchises. 13
Garret Seevers, PayCycle. 14
Gil Yehuda. 28
Goddess Dix. 16
Grant Wickes, Wasp Barcode Technologies. 9
Hazel Grace. 10
Heather Smith, MYOB Trainer . 8
Heather Vreeland, Atlanta Occasions. 12
Ian Gertler, Symplegades. 14
Imnotadoctor. 16
Jacob, Squeaky Wheel Media . 21
Janet Meiners Thaeler. 15
Jason Shen . 23
Jason, Technology Works . 18
JB, Politis Communications. 22
Jeannette McCreight . 16
Jeff White, BrightWhite. 21
Jen Harris, Caffeinated Marketing . 8
Jennifer Shuman, 1 Smart Noodle. 17
Jill Foster, Women Grow Business. 18
Jim Floyd. 19
Jim Freeman . 10
Joel Libava, The Franchise King. 12
John Joyce, The Small Biz Nest. 9
John Schneeberg. 19
Jonathan Bacon, The Betty Factor. 20
Joseph Manna, Infusionsoft. 8
Josh Kashorek, Premier Packaging. 26
Judy Dunn, Cat’s Eye Marketing. 21
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Katasha Butler, K Sherrie and Company. 19
Kathy Breitenbucher, The Pedestal Group . 23
KFOM. 16
Kimmoy. 14
Kira Wampler, Intuit. 13
Kyle Durand. 15
Laura Bennett, Embrace Pet Insurance . 18
Laura Parke. 15
Linda Roeder. 11
Lindyasimus . 20
Lisa Picarille. 24
Lisa Sonora Beam, CreativeEntrepreneur. 23
Lisa Teiger. 10
Lori Bourne, Montessori for Everyone. 21
Luther Lowe. 20
Marc Bitanga, ClickAgent Marketing . 23
Maria-Gabriela Hoza, H-Urban Faciliware. 24
Maria Marsala, Elevating Your Business . 22
Mark Decker. 9
Mark Dixon . 23
Mark Harai, GAC Consultants. 8
Martin Lindeskog, EGO . 23
Mary Grace Ignacio, Internet Business Dreams. 12
Matthew Dooley. 26
Matt McGee, Small Business Search Marketing. 7
Matt R.. 10
Michael Hartzell. 27
Michelle Barlow. 19
Mike Campbell. 29
Narciso Tovar, Big Noise Communications. 18
Nathan Egan, Freesource Agency. 22
Nicole Prevost, Union Rose. 22
Noah Parsons, Palo Alto Software. 12
Paula Belyeu, Integrity Virtual Solutions . 28
Paul Reynolds, The Baker’s Dog . 7
Paul Rosenfeld, Fanminder . 13
Rachel, Baying Hound. 7
Randy Spangler. 17
Rena Reich, Rena Live. 13
Rhonda Bartlett, RB Design Studio LLC . 10
Rick L’Amie, Marketing With Moxie. 13
Robert Brady, Righteous Marketing. 17
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Scott Bradley. 15
Scott Peters, Spideas. 20
Sharon Trombly, RainShadow Virtual Assistance. 25
Sher Graham, Bay Coast Coaching & Consulting Partners, Inc.. 25
Staci J. Shelton. 10
StalkerB, Flash SEO. 21
Stephanie Elie, Bizzie Mommy. 19
Steve King, Small Business Labs. 24
Steve Robillard, Digger Design Labs. 10
Steve Rucinski, CASNET . 25
Susan Gunelius, KeySplash Creative. 28
Tac Anderson, New Comm Biz. 20
The Lost Swede. 25
Tim Havdley. 29
Tim Milburn. 20
TJ McCue, All Business. 27
Tom Demers, Wordstream. 7
Travis Campbell, Marketing Professor. 11
Ty. 14
Vicky H, Remarkable Parents. 21
Vincent Ring, Maintent Enterprises. 8
Walt, BizSugar. 24
Wayne Liew. 26
Wendy Piersall, Spark Plugging. 18
Wendy Van Parys. 15
Wifepreneur. 10
Yiana, DIY SiteExpress. 11
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A Letter from the Publisher of Small Business Trends
In May of 2009, we asked our readers to contribute their best Twitter tips and advice for how small
businesses can use Twitter.com, the social micropublishing platform, for business purposes.
To kick things off, we posed the following six questions and asked readers to answer one of them:
Getting Started: How would you suggest other small businesses get started on Twitter?
Smart Marketing: What’s the right way (or wrong way) to promote your business on Twitter?
Observing Etiquette: What is your #1 Twitter etiquette tip for small business owners?
Spreading Your Message: What is your best tip for getting re-tweeted?
Time Management: How do you manage your time on Twitter?
Advanced Strategies: What is your best kept secret (something not widely known) for using
Twitter in business?
We accepted entries via Web, email and even via Twitter. So you’ll notice that a number of the tips are 140
characters or less – the length of a Twitter message. We were blown away by how many excellent tips we
got from small business owners, managers and those who serve them.
In this document you will find a collection of what we consider the best tips that were provided to us
through Twitter, direct email and reader comments from the original post, Give Us Your Twitter Tips. If you
submitted more than one tip (several people did) our Editorial panel picked what we thought was the best
one, for this compilation.
Without further ado, here are the Small Business Trends reader tips for using Twitter for small business
purposes.
Anita Campbell
Anita Campbell, Editor in Chief
Small Business Trends
http://smallbiztrends.com
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Question #1 - How would you suggest other small
businesses get started on Twitter?
Paul Reynolds, The Baker’s Dog
Web: www.thebakersdog.com
Twitter: @bakersdog
“With respect to a small business owner looking to build an audience of new customers…
When I get a new follower, I check their profile and decide within a couple seconds if I’m going to
follow them back. In other words, first impressions are critical. Do NOT go on a follow spree until
you set a profile picture and bio. You should have also sent out some tweets (that are preferably not
relentless promotion of your business). I suggest lurking on the service for a minimum of a week”
Matt McGee, Small Business Search Marketing
Web: http://smallbusinesssem.com
Twitter: @mattmcgee
“Many small businesses rely on local customers, so it’s imperative that they find and connect with
local Twitter users. You can use these sites to do that:
Twitter Advanced Search - http://search.twitter.com/advanced
ChirpCity - http://chirpcity.com
Nearby Tweets - http://nearbytweets.com
Tweepz - http://tweepz.com
Bonus tip: Since you’re essentially trying to connect with complete strangers, before I go out and
randomly follow local people, I make sure my most recent tweet says something like “I’m going
to look for other Tri-Cities folks to follow on Twitter.” That way, when they get followed by me and
check out my profile, the message explains to them why a total stranger is suddenly following them.”
Tom Demers, Wordstream
Web: www.wordstream.com
Twitter: @TomDemers
“Mind your stream! When you first start using Twitter and start to follow more and more people, you’ll
notice your stream fill quickly. Use Twitter search to follow your own company/name mentions, and
leverage tools (Tweet Deck is great) to help you filter out the noise and focus on the most relevant users.”
Rachel, Baying Hound
Web: www.bayinghound.com
Twitter: @bayinghound
“Use linked in contacts or your business card collection to look up and follow people in your field: vendors,
peers, and, importantly, competitors. Then, browse through who they are tweeting with and add those
people. Join the conversations and tweet questions of your own.”
137 Twitter tips
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Mark Harai, GAC Consultants
Web: www.gacconsultants.com
Twitter: @gacconsultants
“Find and follow a community of people having conversations relevant to your interests; listen to
conversations, join in on the conversations and add value to the conversations.”
Vincent Ring, Maintent Enterprises
Web: www.maintent.com
“Stay with it and build a campaign. I have too many associates that don’t get it right away and give
up, criticize it, and don’t go back. Follow likeminded tweeters, they will follow you back, add apps
like tweetdeck, tweetgrid, tweetlater, and search others that work for you. Tweeters are suggesting
workable apps every day. There has to be something you need help with, right? Ask it and with the
responses your network starts to grow!”
Heather Smith, MYOB Trainer
Twitter: @myobtrainer
“Alternate between something relevant to your business and something irrelevant. I work in the
accounting world, so I tweet comments on the budget, tax season, an opportunity that clients
may like etc. I then will tweet about something positive, upbeat, but irrelevant to my business…my
passion fruits have come into season and they are yummy…”
Jen Harris, Caffeinated Marketing
Web: http://caffeinatedmarketing.com/
Twitter: @jenharris09
“Be visually stimulating! We have all seen that looooonnngggg URL on the back of someone’s car
promoting their website but trying to figure out what http://www.seewhatmyconstructioncompanyis.
com is hard on the eyes - same goes for your Twitter handle. Capitalize the first letter of your name/
business.”
Eric Nagel
Web: www.ericnagel.com
Twitter: @esnagel
“To gain followers, run a Twitter contest. @Mozy does a great job at this, by not only picking a winner,
but offering everyone else a discount on their product. So even if someone doesn’t win, they at least
get something out of it. To enter the contest, users should have to RT a specific message, chosen by
the company.”
Joseph Manna, Infusionsoft
Web: www.infusionsoft.com
Twitter: @JoeManna
“Commit. Don’t just Tweet and neglect it, focus and commit yourself to at least a half-hour a day to
discovering and Tweeting.”
137 Twitter tips
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John Joyce, The Small Biz Nest
Web: http://thesmallbiznest.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @thesmallbiznest
“Identify keywords as well as the “experts” in your industry. Then, visit http://search.twitter.com and
search on those terms. Once you identify the right people, look at who they’re following and who is
following them as your potential pool of people you should follow.”
Chris Curtis, Web Business Ownership
Web: www.webbusinessownership.com
Twitter: @webbusiness
“As simple as it may sound, don’t forget to ask others to “follow” you. Add “Follow Me on Twitter” to
your emails, web site, and other communications.”
Grant Wickes, Wasp Barcode Technologies
Web: www.waspbarcode.com
Twitter: @gwickes
“A good way to start is “lurk & learn” using TweetDeck application. Available for download at
http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/
You can have up to 10 columns that you can personalize and track what you want to follow. Example
of different things to track include:
key users that you want to follow
your company name (good to know the good or bad tweets about your company
your competitor’s name
key search term or product term you want to track or be known by
In fact the last idea (key search term or product term) is a great way to start to engage a
conversation with someone… a quick response with a helpful hint or suggestion and they figure out
you may be of value. Nice way to start to engage and build a business relationship.”
Becky McCray, Small Biz Survival
Web: www.smallbizsurvival.com
Twitter: @BeckyMcCray
“Use Twellow.com to find folks in your industry or your region. It’s like yellow pages for Twitter.”
Mark Decker
Web: http://qvinci.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @decker_m
“My suggestion for getting started would be to find twitters’ in different fields to follow. Everyone
wants to talk to others in their field, but part of the beauty of twitter is meeting new people. It’s like
a mixer, you don’t want to spend the whole night talking to the people you always talk with. Meet
someone new. Network!”
137 Twitter tips
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Rhonda Bartlett, RB Design Studio LLC
Web: http://qvinci.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @RhondaBartlett
“Follow the leaders in your field! Take time each day (or as often as possible) to stay up-to-date on
what is new or up and coming in your industry. Take time for professional development using links
tweeted by National Leaders if your line of work!”
Steve Robillard, Digger Design Labs
Web: www.diggerdesignlabs.com
“Best getting started twitter tip create a business account and personal account. By not mixing the
two you raise the quality of your business tweets and lower the noise level for your followers, making
your message easier to hear.”
Matt R.
Web: www.yfncg.com
Twitter: @YFNCG
“Focus on your niche by providing content that your followers will find valuable and engage with them.”
Staci J. Shelton
Web: www.stacijshelton.com
Twitter: @stacijshelton
“Who better to follow than people who follow and RT your content? Build relationships with people
who value what you do.”
Hazel Grace
Web: www.socialbeesstrategy.com
Twitter: @Socialbees
“I think the best thing to do is find influencers in your market then lurk & listen before jumping in.”
Wifepreneur
Web: http://lumenica.com/
Twitter: @wifepreneur
“I say sign up, follow people of interest ONLY, don’t just follow anyone who follows you or get
desperate—be focused in selection.”
Lisa Teiger
Web: www.cuisinetc.net
Twitter: @cateringnyc
“Find related biz and see who they follow. Listen first few wks b4 joining conversations.”
137 Twitter tips
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Jim Freeman
Web: www.attaintech.com
Twitter: @attaintech
“I’d recommend starting out by see what you can contribute to those followed/followers. Give first - get later.”
Aura-Leigh Jenkins
Web: www.auraleigh.com
Twitter: @auraleigh
“Listen carefully first before joining the party, then offer information that is valuable and helpful.”
Andrew Pincock, Lotus Jump
Web: www.lotusjump.com
Twitter: @pincock
“Slowly follow people with common interests. Don’t follow too many more people than follow you, or
you risk looking like a spammer.”
Linda Roeder
Web: http://lin.roeder.googlepages.com/home
“When your company first gets started on Twitter, find other companies that are similar to yours or
offer something that your customers will like, follow them. Their customers will start following you
and you may be able to get a whole new clientele from this practice.”
Question #2 - What’s the right way (or wrong way) to
promote your business on Twitter?
Travis Campbell, Marketing Professor
Web: www.marketingprofessor.com
Twitter: @mpdotcom
“One of the approaches I’ve found effective, in finding a valuable blog post referenced on Twitter,
leave a comment on the post itself, and then retweet it. This further endears you to the author, while
making a more meaningful connection with your followers.”
Yiana, DIY SiteExpress
Web: www.diysiteexpress.com
“Always keep up with your business branding! This means creating a custom Twitter background that
shows your brand. You can get tips and a free template in a recent blog article that I wrote “Brand
Recognition: Creating a Custom Twitter Background” http://tiny.cc/NGWJA”
137 Twitter tips
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Eddie Gear, Metalique
Web: http://metalique.com/
Twitter: @metalique
“Keep it to business and do not mix business with pleasure. I’ve been following some of the top
bloggers on Twitter only to find them talking about unrelated stuff.”
Heather Vreeland, Atlanta Occasions
Web: www.atlantaoccasions.com
Twitter: @atloccasions
“The right way to promote your business on twitter is to participate! Talk about what you’re doing… new
happenings at your business…mention your clients and people you are collaborating with… pay attention
to your followers and what they are doing and engage in conversation with them. The wrong way —
talk about yourself and only yourself. People don’t want to be spammed about all things you. It’s true,
people don’t care about what you know until they know that you care... so stop posting about only your
business…Constantly tweeting the same exact phrase like “John Doe Event Venue is a great place for
weddings” will get you nowhere.”
Joel Libava, The Franchise King
Web: www.thefranchisekingblog.com
Twitter: @FranchiseKing
“The right way to promote your business is to post a link to a recent Press Release OR blog post daily,
mixed in with several links to some great resource articles, and blog posts. I also suggest that a portion
of them have nothing to do with your type of business. Just link out to some great and interesting content.
Add some value, folks!”
Mary Grace Ignacio, Internet Business Dreams
Web: http://internetbiznez.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @girlopinion
“The right way to promote your business on Twitter is to reference them with high quality content about
your business and actively communicate with other Twitter users too. Do not just focus on tweeting about
your stuff alone, tweet about something else that is interesting, show some love and re-tweet others’
tweets as well and connect to people that are of the same interests as yours. If you’re selling software
for small businesses, then connect with other small business owners not with those tweeting about
entertainment alone.”
Noah Parsons, Palo Alto Software
Web: www.paloalto.com
Twitter: @noahparsons
“At Palo Alto Software, we generally use Tweetdeck to monitor what people are saying about our products,
our company, and topics that are core to our business. Since we focus mostly on business planning, what
we don’t do is spam every person who tweets about writing a business plan. That just seems too intrusive.
Instead, we only reach out to people that ask questions and do our best to provide good answers without
simply promoting our products.”
137 Twitter tips
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Paul Rosenfeld, Fanminder
Web: http://fanminder.com/
Twitter: @fanminder
“My favorite tip is how to use Twitter to find new customers. I first use Google and type “Twitter for
______” and fill in the blank with a vertical that might use Twitter - for example, restaurants. I typically
get a few articles that are round-up articles of all restaurants in a given city using Twitter. Then I
follow these restaurants and engage in conversations with them - we’ve gotten one customer so
far this way and I expect we can generate many or even most of our new customers in the next six
months this way.”
Kira Wampler, Intuit
Web: http://smallbusiness.intuit.com/
Twitter: @Kirasw
“Our #1 tip for smart marketing on Twitter is to start by NOT talking about yourself all of the time.
Spread some love. Retweet others and talk about yourself a *little*.”
Rick L’Amie, Marketing With Moxie
Web: www.marketingwithmoxie.com
Twitter: @moxiemarketing
“Like all marketing tactics, be sure you think about your strategy before jumping in the deep end of
the Twitter pond. Twitter can become a black hole if it does not advance your marketing strategy,
which is why I think so many people drop off of Twitter after a short time, according to studies. Who
is your audience? What do you want them to do? How will your twitter content help them solve
a problem or meet a need? Once you have a plan, develop content thoughtfully, not just in high
volume. Whatever your strategy is, don’t be boring!”
Arthur Bland, Small Biz Numbers
Web: http://smallbiznumbers.blogspot.com/
“Be as interesting as possible and always mean what you say.”
Franchise Information, Red Hot Franchises
Web: www.redhotfranchises.com
“Submit articles with great content, unique and quality.”
Rena Reich, Rena Live
Web: http://renalive.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @RenaR
“Don’t only tweet about what’s new on your site. It’s important to interact with the community of
followers that you should become a part of. Create relationships. Business is personal.”
137 Twitter tips
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Daria Steigman, Independent Marketing
Web: www.steigmancommunications.com
Twitter: @dariasteigman
“The smart way to market on Twitter: Don’t. Instead, provide value to others. People do business with
people they know, like, and respect, and Twitter is a terrific tool for building these relationships.”
Ian Gertler, Symplegades
Web: www.symplegades.com
Twitter: @IanGertler
“If you have a website (as any business today should), make an area to highlight your Twitter feed
updates. This will also encourage people that you already associate with to join and follow you,
thereby adding to your ecosystem of champions and evangelists!”
Benros Emata
Web: http://ronin20.com/
Twitter: @ben10dough
“For small business owners who primarily sell at local markets, use Twitter to let your interested
customers know where you’re setting up your booth on any given day (i.e. Farmer’s Market at the
Embarcadero Center, SF).”
Garret Seevers, PayCycle
Web: www.paycycle.com
Twitter: @paycycle
“Probably one of the simpler tips is to ensure Twitter is linked up with Facebook. I have successfully
driven relevant traffic to my blog and found new opportunities through this basic tip.”
Ty
Web: http://mde3.com/
Twitter: @mde3
“My advice is to always be positive. The quickest way to get me to not listen to you is to always
complain or be negative.”
Kimmoy
“One of the best things you can do is to participate in Follow Friday. Many people make the mistake
of just listing people, but if you just take the time out to stay why you would like other to follow
a specific person - it does wonders! It really helps to build that relationship and shows that you
actually know a thing or two about your followers.”
Emily
“The wrong way to promote your business on Twitter is by having the owner or whoever tweet a lot
of boring info about their day. Followers of businesses want useful info or links not knowing that you
had a hot dog for lunch.”
137 Twitter tips
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Janet Meiners Thaeler
Web: www.newspapergrl.com
Twitter: @NewspaperGrl
“Participate in popular group Twitter chats (like this). Exposes you to new people/followers.”
Angela LoSasso
Web: www.hp.com
Twitter: @AngelaAtHp
“Sharing expertise, sharing tips, answering questions to help others is a great use for Twitter.”
Laura Parke
Web: http://privatescubalessons.com/
Twitter: @ScubadivaLaura
“Use current topics to bury your marketing messages, and when you link, shorten it and put link in
the middle of the sentence.”
Scott Bradley
Web: http://whoisscottbradley.com/
Twitter: @ScottBradley
“Be sure to always be providing value in almost everything you put out and ENGAGE with people
who respond.”
Wendy Van Parys
Web: www.wvpmc.com
Twitter: @wvpmc
“The key is to build a group of I-followers, engage, have conversations - small businesses often just
shoot out an occasional “offer”.”
Kyle Durand
Web: www.entrepreneurialadvocate.com
Twitter: @kpdurand
“Instead of trying to sell on twitter, share substantive information that will be useful for your
customers.”
Denise O’Berry
Web: www.deniseoberry.com
Twitter: @deniseoberry
“When the people you are following put out a tweet for help, answer back. Don’t let the tweet die in
cyberspace.”
137 Twitter tips
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Bhavishya Kanjhan
Web: www.kanjhan.com
Twitter: @bhavishya
“Talk to your customers, don’t sell. Build Relationships, not just business connections.”
DeBorah Beatty
Web: www.createdlife.com
Twitter: @deborahb
“If you see something you think is valuable, RT. You might share with a whole new follower list.”
Goddess Dix
Web: http://goodkarmahost.com/
Twitter: @goddess_dix
“Provide useful info to your base, not sales pitches. It increases your value to followers.”
Imnotadoctor
Web: www.imnotadoctor.com
Twitter: @imnotadoctor
“Setup an RSS Feed of Twitter Search for your brand name and major keywords. Then interact your
heart out in realtime.”
Jeannette McCreight
Twitter: @mccr8
“Don’t be all about business; share the human side of your company.”
Craig Burgess, Digital Tsunami
Web: http://digitaltsunami.com/
Twitter: @craig_burgess
“How to Tweet: Think. Write. Review. Edit. Review. Edit. Think. Post.”
KFOM
Web: www.mypromoexpert.com
Twitter: @KFOM
“Set up tweetbeeps.com for keyword search so they drop emails with competitor and prospect info.”
Chris Brown, Branding and Marketing
Web: http://brandandmarket.com/
Twitter: @ChrisBrown330
“Small Biz owners need to fill out their profile on Twitter. Helps people decide to follow. Helps with search.”
137 Twitter tips
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Randy Spangler
Twitter: @RandySpangler
“DON’T SELL STUFF! Ask questions, give out info, and, oh by the way, we might have something
that works for you!”
Jennifer Shuman, 1 Smart Noodle
Web: www.1smartnoodle.com
Twitter: @1smartnoodle
“I have Twitter only specials advertised so you have to check us out on Twitter to learn about the
specials or better yet follow me so you don’t miss any specials.”
Caren McGill, Digital Pink
Web: www.digital-pink.com
Twitter: @carenmagill
“Challenging a conversation is great for creating interest, but don’t be negative or derogatory. It’s so
easy to create bad impressions on Twitter.”
Question #3 - What is your #1 Twitter etiquette tip for
small business owners?
Robert Brady, Righteous Marketing
Web: http://righteousmarketing.com
Twitter: @robert_brady
“Automated DMs aren’t worth sending. If you won’t invest a few seconds to compose a
140-character message I don’t want to invest 5 seconds reading it.”
Ivana Taylor, DIY Marketers
Web: www.diymarketers.com
Twitter: @DIYMarketers
“When you’re participating in a tweet chat, don’t forget that your tweets are being seen by
EVERYONE. To avoid “spamming” do your best to compose tweets as complete thoughts. If you’re
answering a question, reference at least part of the question in the answer so that people NOT
participating in the tweet chat can benefit from your thought.”
137 Twitter tips
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Chris, Mirror of Aphrodite
Web: www.1smartnoodle.com
Twitter: @MirrorAphrodite
“I think it’s wise to focus on one or two of your followers a day. Spotlight something about them in
a Tweet and send a little Twitter love their way. They’ll notice, their friends will notice . . . and so on.
And someday, a little bit of the Twitter love will circle back to you.”
Narciso Tovar, Big Noise Communications
Web: http://methodandmoxie.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @Narciso17
“Don’t go blasting your ‘message’ to everyone on Twitter - this is both annoying and inconsiderate.
Start by listening to the conversations going first. Once you think you’ve got a ‘feel’ for what’s going
on, then try engaging.”
Jason, Technology Works
Web: www.twi-networks.com
“For business use it seems most beneficial for us to only follow those who have a business
relationship (vendors, marketing tips, similar businesses, etc.). Building those relationships is great
for customer service and bouncing ideas off your peers. Following people who do nothing but spam
their own products or sites, or insist on telling us what they had for lunch that day, is simply a waste
of time.”
Wendy Piersall, Spark Plugging
Web: www.wendypiersall.com
Twitter: @eMom
“Give before you expect to receive. In fact, give MORE than you expect to receive. People always
need to know WIIFM = “What’s in it for me?” Answer that question as often as possible and
followers will flock to you.”
Laura Bennett, Embrace Pet Insurance
Web: www.embracepetinsurance.com
Twitter: @laurabennett
“Take a few minutes to make introductions between people you are connected with who you think
would benefit from knowing each other. Who knows, you might get the favor back one day.”
Jill Foster, Women Grow Business
Web: www.womengrowbusiness.com
Twitter: @Jillfoster
“When someone decides to follow you, focus as much as possible on relating to them authentically
vs. through automatic means i.e. avoid generating automatic DMs as a way to greet new followers.
Sending automatic DMs is like slinging a business card at someone at an in-person networking
event once they shake your hand. It’s abrupt and impersonal.”
137 Twitter tips
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Katasha Butler, K Sherrie and Company
Web: www.ksherrieco.com
Twitter: @ksherrieco
“Please do not use Twitter for one long commercial about your company. We don’t want to always
hear about you, you, you: what you did, what your company is doing, and what your company wants
to do. Be interactive, ask questions and be the mensch. Otherwise—you’re unfollowed!”
Brandi Starr, Star Studded
Web: http://yourstarrstuddedevents.com/blog/
Twitter: @starrstudded
“Tweet about things other than your business & products. If you are constantly tweeting about your
business or products you will be viewed as a SPAMMER and no one likes spammers. Instead
become a resource in your field, share useful information, converse with or comment on others
posts, network with businesses that line up with yours. If you build relationships you will gain a lot
from using Twitter.”
John Schneeberg
“Suggest letting your personality, concern for your customers and passion for you business to come
through almost as if you were talking with a customer in your physical store.”
Stephanie Elie, Bizzie Mommy
Web: www.bizziemommy.com
Twitter: @bizziemommy
“Turn off “salesy” auto reply message; they are not personal and a little annoying.”
Jim Floyd
Twitter: @JimFl
“Each post/link contains a call to action. Never post any spam. Give credit when RT; don’t plagiarize
posts or web content.”
Michelle Barlow
Twitter: @MichBarlow
“Use Twitter to share about yourself, build a relationship, don’t just spam about the business.”
Anthony Ruiz
Web: http://samuraivirtualtours.com/
Twitter: @samuraivt
“Twitter is a social media tool. Keep it social. Provide value. Don’t just sell yourself. Be human. Be useful.”
David M. Jones, KitBook
Web: www.kitbook.com
Twitter: @jonedm
“Add value to any conversation you start or join.”
137 Twitter tips
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Lindyasimus
Web: http://actionbites.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @lindyasimus
“I love to follow people - so interesting tweet feed is important. Make yours read better than a list of
spammy ads.”
Tac Anderson, New Comm Biz
Web: www.newcommbiz.com
Twitter: @tacanderson
“Religious and political views don’t belong on a biz acct. get a personal acct for personal views.”
Tim Milburn
Web: http://studentlinc.typepad.com/
Twitter: @timage
“A quality “T.W.E.E.T. is: Timely, Worth-reading, Educational, Entertaining, and Tweople-connecting.”
Jonathan Bacon, The Betty Factor
Web: www.thebettyfactor.com
Twitter: @jonbacon
“Remember twitter is used by people so real conversations should exist. Remember that everything
you do represents your brand.”
Dawn Fotopulos, Small Business How 2
Web: www.smallbusinesshow2.com
Twitter: @dfotopulos
“Respect your audience. Treat them the way you would like to be treated.”
Luther Lowe
Twitter: @lutherlowe
“I don’t like sending/receiving DMs. I perform a WHOIS query & can usually get an email (if it’s not on
website).”
Scott Peters, Spideas
Twitter: @spideas
“Turn off the direct message for new followers. If you can send a personalized DM do, the bot does
not make us feel appreciated.”
Andrew Swenson, Word Post
Web: http://wordpost.org/
Twitter: @wordpost
“Twitter is about connecting with real humans. People before profits. Relationships before ROI.”
137 Twitter tips
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Lori Bourne, Montessori for Everyone
Web: www.montessoriforeveryone.com
Twitter: @loribourne
“Promote other people more than yourself. The goodwill you accrue is amazing & leads to great
opportunities.”
Jeff White, BrightWhite
Web: http://brightwhite.ca/
Twitter: @brightwhite
“Help others before all else.”
AoS LeatherWorks
Web: Art Of Spirit LeatherWorks
Twitter: @aosleather
“Spam DMs are a real turn-off!”
Judy Dunn, Cat’s Eye Marketing
Web: http://marketingyoursmallbiz.typepad.com/
Twitter: @CatsEyeWriter
“Please, please, please stay away from controversial issues that will divide the community.”
Jacob, Squeaky Wheel Media
Web: www.squeaky.com
Twitter: @SqueakyNYC
“Do not auto DM people! This is not seen as a genuine introduction. Twitter members will get
annoyed and unfollow you.”
Question #4 - What is your best tip for getting retweeted?
Vicky H, Remarkable Parents
Web: http://remarkableparents.com/
Twitter: @RemarkbleParent
“If you ask for a RT (retweet) leave at least 15 characters to let people that are RT’ing your message
have space so they don’t have to shorten your message. Many times that’s the difference between a
RT and no RT.”
137 Twitter tips
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StalkerB, Flash SEO
Web: www.flashseo.com
Twitter: @stalkerb
“Best tip for getting retweeted is to leave enough characters for people to just RT as is. If people
have to start editing your message to fit “RT @your name + message” then they often don’t bother
or miss out (what you thought was) an important part. View RTs as 120-ish character messages and
really work on what you have to say and how to say it. Also if it contains a link make sure it’s clear
what people will be clicking through to.”
JB, Politis Communications
Web: www.politis.com
“To get retweeted, it’s all about value. That can be in the form of an exclusive Twitter offer, or a blog
post or article that adds something new.”
Anita Cohen-Williams, My Twitter Apps
Web: http://mytwitapps.com/
Twitter: @searchguru
“Best way to get retweeted is to post valuable content for others, such as a link to online resources
or a useful blog post. But don’t ask for the RT, people will do it on their own.”
Nicole Prevost, Union Rose
Web: www.unionrosepdx.com
Twitter: @UnionRose
“Get retweeted by posting a picture URL in the tweet, and be provocative.”
Maria Marsala, Elevating Your Business
Web: www.elevatingyourbusiness.com
Twitter: @mariamarsala
“Put PLS RT (please retweet) at the end of appropriate messages so that your tweets get re-tweeted.
It’s that old fashioned “call to action” stuff that helps spread your marketing efforts.”
Cherry Manuel
Twitter: @CherryM
“I think being funny and informative works for me to want to RT a tweet.”
Nathan Egan, Freesource Agency
Web: www.freesourceagency.com
Twitter: @nathanegan
“Don’t just regurgitate content that people have already seen or that you have tweeted in the past -
people pick up on that.”
137 Twitter tips
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Chris Hendricks, XSitePro
Web: www.xsitepro.com
Twitter: @Chris_Hendricks
“Tweet famous quotes that are thought provoking.”
Marc Bitanga, ClickAgent Marketing
Web: www.clickagentmarketing.com
Twitter: @marcbitanga
“Use attention grabbing headlines.”
Jason Shen
Web: www.jasonshen.com
Twitter: @jasonshen
“Provide an enticing must-click description of a compelling article.”
Mark Dixon
Web: http://blogs.sun.com/identity/
Twitter: @mgd
“Three words: Original, Relevant, Succinct.”
Lisa Sonora Beam, CreativeEntrepreneur
Web: www.thecreativeentrepreneur.biz
Twitter: @LisaSonoraBeam
“Be sure to RT others first and often. What goes around...”
Kathy Breitenbucher, The Pedestal Group
Web: www.thepedestalgroup.com
Twitter: @K_Breitenbucher
“Say something worth repeating. This is the same as if you were at a party – say something that
the person you are talking to will go tell someone else. Product companies can do special features
people don’t know about, novel ways to use a product, etc. Lots of companies are doing customer
support through Twitter which means it is all out there for the public to see. If you provide great
support, show it off! If not, I can recommend a good recruiter…..”
Question #5 - How do you manage your time on Twitter?
Martin Lindeskog, EGO
Web: http://egoist.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @lyceum
“My time management tip is to create your own hashtag meme or start following an existing one. I
started out with the intention to write three #GoodThing tweets every day. I don’t want it to become
137 Twitter tips
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a duty to write three #GoodThing tweets every day, but it is still a good reminder for me to focus on
the positive things during the day and report this as it fits my time schedule. I often send out these
tips to new followers as a direct message so they will get a feel of my attitude toward Twitter and
how you could use it.”
Steve King, Small Business Labs
Web: www.smallbizlabs.com
Twitter: @Smallbizlabs
“When first starting, limit your twitter time. I did not do this and quickly found myself spending way
too much time on twitter. There are so many interesting things to read and people to follow, I was
wasting a lot time (but having fun).I now limit my twitter time to 10 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes
mid-day and 10 minutes at the end of the day.”
Walt, BizSugar
Web: www.bizsugar.com
Twitter: @bizsugar
“If you do not have time to use Twitter (I do not), set up an automatic feed of items and send it to your
Twitter account. Doing so populates your Twitter account with fresh content even when you do not
have time.”
Maria-Gabriela Hoza, H-Urban Faciliware
Web: http://faciliware.typepad.fr/
Twitter: @faciliware
“When I know I can plan my tweets by advance I use TweetLater.com. On my blog I use a widget
that allows me to tweet when I submit a post. If available, I also use the bottom links allowing me
to tweet an article directly when I find it interesting. Otherwise I tweet “ad-hoc” only when I have
something interesting to say. And I scan other tweets once a day.”
Chris
“Don’t feel like you need to see/read every tweet. You don’t. If you want to find out what’s been going
on with a particular topic while you were not paying attention, do a search of twitter using hashtags
or phrases relevant to the topic to bring up recent related tweets.”
Lisa Picarille
Web: www.lisapicarille.com
Twitter: @lisap
“I recommend checking twitter first thing in the morning so you can respond to any questions or join
in conversations. Then I typically wait about two hours and then limit my time to only 10 minutes.
I do searches on keywords I care about and have some alerts already set up. I also look at my @
replies. I don’t usually look again until lunch time. And again, I limit my time to 10 minutes. I follow
that about every two hours.”
137 Twitter tips
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Amanda Stillwagon, Small Business CEO
Web: www.smbceo.com
Twitter: @myfindsonline
“Try minimizing your time on the actual Twitter site to about 30 minutes a day. The rest of the time,
use a quick Twitter app like TwitterFox to post anything interesting you find throughout your day. It’s
fast and easy and keeps you from getting sucked up in too much conversation.”
Sharon Trombly, RainShadow Virtual Assistance
Web: www.rainshadowva.com
Twitter: @RainShadowVA
“To keep tweeting from overtaking your day, tweet with coffee in the morning, on your break time,
and then briefly at lunch. Some people may find it helpful to set a timer to stick to the plan. Tweet at
the end of your work day and again in the evening if you like. When you create your to do list for the
following day, make a note of the valuable resources you will share the following day.”
The Lost Swede
Web: http://thelostswede.com/
Twitter: @TheLostSwede
“My best time management tip is to use http://journotwit.com/ as it splits up incoming tweets into
seven categories and I can even preview twitpics in it. A mobile version is also available at http://
jtwit.com/ which works on a range of mobile devices such as the iPhone and Nokia S60 devices. It’s
all web based, no need to download a new client.”
Sher Graham, Bay Coast Coaching & Consulting Partners, Inc.
Web: http://baycoastcp.com/default.aspx
Twitter: @shergraham49
“I make it one of my regular bookmarks on my tool bar so I remember to click it on daily. It is a part of
my business protocol in the morning as is reading and answering emails.”
Dave Fecker, Power Works Automation
Web: www.powerworksautomation.com
“Write your goals for the day, week, or month down on paper. Set the time slots you wish to spend
doing your online networking at stick with those times. Pick 2 to 3 slots a day so you can review and
adjust any of your content. This is like a workout! If you under, or over do it, you will get poor results.
Set times that work best for your personality and available schedule. As part of your goals, set plans
to expand your knowledge, or present valuable information to your viewers.”
137 Twitter tips
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Steve Rucinski, CASNET
Web: http://gotocasnet.com/
Twitter: @gotocasnet
“My best time saving tip is to use Hootsuite and its applet Hootlet which lets you Tweet from any
page on the web when you find something you want to share with your followers. Hootsuite then
let’s you track the clicks on the various links you have posted. Over time you can see which topics
are most popular amongst your followers and then feed them more.”
Cynthia Sutton, The Silver Barn
Web: http://thesilverbarn.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @thesilverbarn
“Set specific times for interacting on twitter. Don’t keep a desktop app open that alerts you to new tweets.”
David Slatter, Customer CSI
Web: www.customercsi.com
Twitter: @dslatter
“Schedule and treat tweet sessions like these as you would a meeting, be selective.”
Wayne Liew
Web: www.wayneliew.com
Twitter: @WayneLiew
“I don’t allocate time for Twitter. I turn off TweetDeck notifications and tweet as and when I want to.”
Josh Kashorek, Premier Packaging
Web: www.retailpackaging.com
Twitter: @retailpackaging
“Set aside specific time for Twitter and have a quick list of themes (eg. quotes, tips, links, etc.). That
way you can focus your time on reaching your goals rather than wandering the twitterverse for good
tweet ideas.”
Matthew Dooley
Web: www.mattdooley.com
Twitter: @MatthewDooley
“Log in only every three or four hours. That way the most important tweets will still be there.”
137 Twitter tips
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Question #6 - What is your best-kept secret (something
not widely known) for using Twitter in business?
TJ McCue, All Business
Web: www.allbusiness.com
“Mine is a tool — TwitterBar. It allows you to tweet from the address bar in your browser. Type in your
140 characters like you’re typing a website URL/address and then click on the little “t” for Twitter
and it goes to your account. No need to open another application, or use your phone.”
Bradford Shimp, All Biz Answers
Web: http://allbizanswers.com/
Twitter: @bradfordshimp
“One of the advanced tactics I use is to keep a search column open in Tweetdeck (or you could use
Twitter Search) for a term that is related to my work. For instance, I have a column for the search phrase
“wordpress help”. This lets me see tweets from people who are looking for help with Wordpress, and if I
can help them, I send them a quick answer. This is a good way to be helpful, get new business, and/or
meet some great people with similar interests (ie. build your business network).It may take a couple of tries
to find the right term to search for your business, but when you do you will have access to a continuous
stream of people that will be interested in what you have to say or who will need your help.”
Chris Goddard, Affilorama
Web: www.affilorama.com
“We’ve seen that a lot of people find it difficult to know what to tweet - especially when it comes to
interesting, relevant content and links. What we do is have someone set up with a Google Reader account
that subscribes to 10 to 20 blogs that we know have consistently interesting content like Smallbiztrends
or Copyblogger, then we use a tweet scheduler like Tweetlater to schedule 5 or 6 tweets a day, spread
throughout the day, with a link and a blurb about the blog post. Takes about 20 minutes a day once you’re
in the habit of doing it and makes your feed a consistently interesting source of information.”
Darrel Raynor, Data Analysis and Results Inc.
Web: www.dataanalysis.com
Twitter: @DARaynor
“Use Twitter to ask for help, in small doses… I tweeted that I needed reviewers for my column and
other writing, and snagged a couple of volunteers.”
Michael Hartzell
Web: http://rejuvenateyourrestaurant.com/
Twitter: @michaelhartzell
“Create a unique landing page for twitter specifically with a greeting, service, and introduction. It
offers a unique message to those via twitter and assists with tracking those who visit the ‘secret
page only twitter’s know’.”
137 Twitter tips
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Gil Yehuda
Web: www.gilyehuda.com
Twitter: @gyehuda
“Set up a bunch of (free) listening services to make sure you capture what may be interesting to you
and your brand. I use multiple tools – just in case one is down, or misses something. For example:
I use Tweetbeep, Twillert, Techrigy SM2 alerts, and BackTweets. Every morning I get an email from
Tweetbeep, Twilert, and SM2 that tells me who mentioned keywords that I have associated with
my brand. I check for my name, my twitter handle, and a variety of words that people use when
talking about the things my customers are interested in. (You should including words that refer to
your competitors too). Then I use BackTweets to see who has tweeted my URL. Sometimes people
will forward a link from my blog without mentioning my name. BackTweet can find those for me.
This way – I find out who is talking about my, by brand, or my product space. I check out what they
have said previously in their stream (sometimes they are just a retweet robot, or their mention of
my product was a false positive, typo, etc.) If they are someone of interest, I start to follow them –
depending on their conversations, I’ll reach out and say hi. If they are really interested in my product
– then I have expanded my community by reaching out.”
Paula Belyeu, Integrity Virtual Solutions
Web: http://integrityvirtual.com/
Twitter: @pbelyeu
“Business owners and their representatives should think of Twitter as attending a local networking
event. When you attend local networking events, to be effective, you build relationships, have one
on one’s to hear more about their business and vice versa and then, if interested, purchase their
product or service and/or help connect them with their synergy partners. Use the same concept with
Twitter:
• Learn by reading tweets and profiles
• Build relationships
• Interact and engage to find out more about followers
• Help connect others with their target market or synergy partners
Also, just like local networking, it takes time so don’t use Twitter thinking that one Tweet is going to
make you rich…it won’t! It’s all about building relationships and networking!”
Susan Gunelius, KeySplash Creative
Web: http://keysplashcreative.com/
Twitter: @susangunelius
“My tip would probably fall under the Advanced Strategies category, but truthfully, it should be one
of the first things a small business does when they create a Twitter profile — brand your profile page.
It doesn’t take long, it’s not hard to do (there are even websites that can help you do it for free, or
designers who will help you for a fee), and it makes a big difference in terms of developing your
business image, positioning your business, and providing additional URLs and details you can’t fit in
the standard Twitter profile fields.”
137 Twitter tips
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Mike Campbell
Web: www.louisvillesoup.com
Twitter: @louisvillesoup
“Post a link to your job postings on Twitter. That’s how I found my latest new hire.”
Desiree Scales, Bella Web Design Inc.
Web: www.bellawebdesign.com
Twitter: @DesireeScales
“A great online Twitter management tool I’m loving (advanced tip) is called http://www.hootsuite.com.
It allows small businesses to track tweets and actually get metrics on their links posted through the
application. This is one of the first tools I’ve found which allows measurable ROI on Twitter. The lack of
measurable metrics in social media is something that needs to be addressed. Most marketing directors
and agencies are struggling to talk companies into using social media because board members and
upper management demands to see measurable results out of this activity. Hootsuite is a step in the right
direction and also allows people to manage multiple Twitter profiles through a single interface.”
Brent Leary
Web: http://crm2.typepad.com/
Twitter: @BrentLeary
“Check out http://twitalyzer.com list of influential folks & study how they use twitter - especially those
unknown influentials.”
Debbie Hemley, Weber Media Partners
Web: www.cwcg.com
“We’re using Tweet Deck’s columns to break tweets into categories. Use the three built-in columns-
-friends follow, @replies, and direct messages. Create new columns for customized groups, work
colleagues, client’s, specific organizations to ensure we don’t miss their tweets. Takes a little time to setup
for the first time in the way you like to view it; but once you do it’s a great way to view, increases the
effectiveness and far less time-consuming.”
Tim Havdley
Twitter: @Twittek
“I recently set up a second monitor (extended desktop) so that I could follow twitter without having to
press ‘Alt tab’ or click on anything. Let me tell you, it has made Twitter so much more useful to me
because I can actively follow new tweets as they roll in with an effortless glance! This would be my Twitter
Tip to others; especially those in demanding, heavy loading professions.”