The rising popularity of social media has eventuated in the use of Twitter as a marketing tool for business. While it is often accepted that Twitter is essential for large companies, the site can also be utilized by local businesses as well.
Local businesses can benefit significantly by interacting and building relationships with followers and developing a client base that can be used for free promotion and expansion.
Here are 5 ways Twitter can grow your local business:
1. Twitter Helps You Get to Know Your Customers
Twitter provides a source of instant feedback for everything from discounts to new products. For example, a popular promotion is more likely to be re-tweeted to other followers, and a simple search can clue you in to various feedback, suggestions, and complaints about your business. Twitter also provides an excellent platform for you to address these issues to customers directly. In addition, mobile apps such as Twinkle can let you geo-tag the location of your customers, which can inform you where your business is strong and in what areas you need to improve marketing.
2. Building a Base Through Your Competitors
Twitter can help you conduct research on how your business stacks up against the competition. This can be accomplished simply by following the tweets of neighbouring enthusiasts, individuals with dedicated followers who take it upon themselves to try out and critique local businesses. You can start by checking competing businesses and seeing who they follow. This can form a trail to a cluster of people who represent the primary target group for your product or service. It will also provide more feedback regarding how your business is perceived versus similar companies in the area.
3. Hashtags and Search
Hashtags provide an excellent mechanism for locating potential followers and clients in immediate need of your products or services. Other handy search keywords can sort tweets by affiliation. For instance, finding and following local bloggers related to your business can be an excellent way to grow your client base. Simply type in the name of your city, type of business, and the words “blog” or “column” to find the most recent and relevant postings.
4. Word of Mouth
Your client base is more than the breadth of your followers. It is everyone they know and everyone who knows them, six degrees to a certain American actor. Posting a discount or promotional code will often result in the tweet being re-tweeted to hundreds of other potential clients, many of whom will follow your business and inspire more growth.
5. Twitter Polls
Given the vagaries of language, it can be difficult to sort your feedback into digestible data. Twitter makes it easy to collate information from your clients by allowing you to create customized polls. Utilizing apps such as twtpoll, you can ask a multiple choice question that is easy enough to encourage participation and simple enough to analyze upon completion.
As Twitter continues to grow globally, so too does the number of local users in your area. The social media giant offers a number of innovative ways to reach local customers and build a foundation for further growth and expansion. Moreover, new tools are created every day that help you connect with your customers like never before, without the financial burden of marketing and the lack of authenticity that comes with a hackneyed commercial.
Joan Kelly writes for PublicLiabilityInsurance.org and covers a wide range of business topics including small business liability insurance.
