One of Twitter’s most valuable features is it’s follow button. On Twitter, users are able to opt-in to receive updates on your twitter feed without you mutually following. As a brand, it is important that you are followed by people who can help you grow your business as well as become a follower of Twitter users that you can learn from.

This guide is for small businesses who want to utilise Twitter as a tool to interact with customers and spread your brand’s audience reach.

The value of a Twitter follower

Each Twitter follower is valuable. They can be potential customers, brand advocates, feedback providers, technology or services partners and members of your community. One follower can take on two or more roles. For example, after a potential customer has bought from you, they might tweet about the positive experience and become your advocate.

Potential customer

On a ”Small Business Customer Insights Study” that Twitter conducted in 2014, 60% of the respondents have purchased from an SMB because of Twitter. This is means that in this era of marketing where consumers purchase from who they 'know', Twitter is an effective tool for businesses in allowing their customers a way to get to know them. Twitter has millions of active users every month and having twitter as a platform for daily interaction with your customers increases your brand's reach.

The best type of customer is the repeat customer. They are people who already know about your brand and those whom you have already formed a relationship with. Twitter found out that 86% of the respondents stated that they will keep purchasing from a small business that they follow. This shows that twitter is not only effective in attracting new customers, it is also a good channel to nurture those relationships and retain loyal, spending customers.

Brand advocate

On the same study, it was found that 70% of the respondents retweet because they agree or they like a brand’s content. Word of mouth is one of the most effective ways to promote a product. In the social media age, word of mouth is not only limited to two friends chatting about their last purchase. Word of mouth extends to what we say online. Followers who retweet your posts are sharing brand awareness to their own followers and that can be thousands or 100's of thousands at a time.

Feedback provider

Learn from your followers, especially those who are using your products or services. Twitter provides a direct channel of communication from the consumer to the brand. It allows your customers to tweet about their experience with your brand and their purchase real time, whether positive or negative. This also allows the small business to respond directly and resolve concerns that may arise or keep stock of the positives and build on them.

Community

No matter where in the world your target audience is, Twitter is an avenue where online communities form. Engage your community through Live Twitter chats, contests and actively engaging with them daily.

Finding who to follow

Influencers - The experts in your industry. They are a good resource for industry news and updates as well as unlocking new strategies and techniques that can help grow your business.

Competitors - For some businesses, following your competitors is a touchy subject. However, your competitors can also be your influencers, you can definitely learn from them, whether it is their best practices or their mistakes. Keeping up to date with what other companies are doing helps you keep your brand ahead of the game.

Experts in related industry - Follow accounts from the tools and platforms that your business uses. Twitter is a learning tool, make sure you are learning from all corners of your industry and beyond.

Your customers - Who are your customers? What are their days like? Twitter is a fast paced tool where users can share about their day within a few clicks of a button.

Extract your email address - It is easier to follow and be followed by people you already have a connection with. Take advantage of your own email contacts and start connecting with them on Twitter.

1. On Twitter, click on ‘Find Friends’ on the Who to Follow box.
2. Choose your email provider and click on ‘Search Contacts’.
3. It will list your email contacts and their corresponding Twitter usernames. You can select all or deselect users that you do not wish to follow.

From Linkedin to Twitter

1. On your Linkedin homepage, hover over the Connections tab and select ‘Keep in Touch’.
2. Click on the settings icon
3. Once you are on the next page, select 'Export Linkedin Connections', right under Advance Settings.
4. Select the file type and click ‘Export’. Save these contacts on your email and add these contacts to Twitter (refer to the instructions above).

Limitations

1. If you are following more than 2,000 users, Twitter will impose a follow limit. The number of users you are allowed to follow will change based on the ratio of your followers and following. Twitter has not disclosed the exact ratio. If your account has reached the limit, you can wait until you have gained more followers or unfollow some users.
2. You can't follow more than 1,000 per day.
3. Aggressive following is when you follow hundreds of users in a day without following you back. It is when an account is following other users indiscriminately. Twitter flags users who do this to ensure that the channel runs smoothly. Make sure to follow the accounts that you plan to have engagement with.

Growing your followers

7 Minute habit

Do this for 7 minutes everyday (while waiting for your coffee or in between appointments) and see your followers grow exponentially.

• 3 Minutes: Weed out people you are following who are not following you back. This applies to unfollowers whose accounts are not sharing content that you can learn from. Use a tool like CrowdFire whose free account allows you to unfollow up to 200 users of your choosing everyday. Use the Whitelist feature to avoid accidentally unfollowing accounts that are important to you.
• 4 Minutes: Follow people who are your potential customers, influencers, future brand advocates or members of your Twitter community. CrowdFire has the Copy Followers feature that lets you copy 50 followers from another Twitter account.

You can also grow the number of your followers by going on Twitter and following people from this list:

Recommended users - These are users, Twitter recommends based on the other users that you follow and your activities.

Followed by influencers - Other experts that your influencers themselves are following. Don’t miss out on the other leaders in your industry as well as learning opportunities.

Following your influencers - People who are following your influencers are likely those who want the same type of content that you are producing. Give them a follow and ideally, they will follow you back and engage with you.

This method works because once you follow someone, they will get a notification. This will gently introduce them to your profile and if they find that you are sharing content that they like, they are likely to follow back.

Out of Twitter

Grow your Twitter followers even outside of Twitter. Make it easier for your audience to find you on Twitter.

• Follow button - Add the Twitter follow button on your website. Make sure it is prominently displayed on pages that visitors frequent such as your Home page, Blog page or Contact page.
• Cross promote from other channels.
• Embed tweets in blogs.
• Printed materials - Add your Twitter username to printed materials such as your business card or your company brochures.
• Include your Twitter username in your email signature.
• When you guest blog on other sites, make sure to include your Twitter handle on your author bio.

Once you have grown your Twitter following, make sure to be follow worthy. Twitter is all about daily activities and constant engagement to keep your relationship with your audience and your influencers strong. We would like to connect with you on Twitter. Follow us at @TranseoBiz and we promise to keep you updated.

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