Perhaps your business isn’t Kim Kardashian, but creating a Twitter profile is a great way of improving your search rankings. In fact, don’t stop at Twitter – Facebook is a great platform for small businesses, and if you’re game, you can also try out Instagram, Google+ and even Myspace.
With 1 billion Tweets being sent out each day, Twitter is a platform that presents huge opportunities for businesses. Now that Twitter has found a permanent place in Google’s desktop search results, it’s more important than ever to optimise your brand for the increasingly influential social platform. At this stage, the search results that yield Twitter handles are all organic – meaning there is no advertising component to it. Here’s how to get ahead using Twitter.
Build a following
For obvious reasons, you need to build a social following on your social account. It’s true the more followers you have, the more likely you are to gain more. It makes sense, because the number of followers gives authority to your profile as a trusted source. Make sure your customers know that you have a Twitter account – put it on your Facebook page, business card, or tell them that it exists and they can find you there.
Connect
Engage and connect with your customers through the platform. More and more businesses are answering customer enquiries via social platforms, and Twitter is great for this because it’s so accessible and immediate. Engage in conversations – pay attention to the trending hashtags of the day and weigh in. Follow your potential customers so you know what it is they’re after – this is the most direct form of market research! Be active and involved to increase visibility.
Curate your image
Think carefully about what you want your brand to represent, and how this can be conveyed to your followers. Be an authority of your industry and Tweet and share quality content. Ensure that your profiles have a consistent ‘voice’ accompanied with the right imagery so that your brand is immediately recognisable.
With this change to the Google search results, there is a real potential for your business to take advantage of what Twitter has to offer. Creating a profile on the social platform will help increase your chances of ranking – especially when you curate your brand image and establish your business as an authority.
