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Small Business Trends on Twitter

Small Business Trends on Twitter

All About Twitter for Small Businesses

Twitter is a social networking platform where users connect with their interests to share and learn information. There are over 140 million active users on Twitter, who on average produce 340 million tweets every day. Twitter handles over 24 billion search queries every month, which is more than Bing and Yahoo search combined.

Why Should a Small Business be on Twitter?

The number of small businesses on Twitter has been sky rocketing in recent years. Twitter offers a very significant marketing opportunity and allows you to answer customer questions, generate new leads and position your company as a leading authority within its industry.

1 out of every 3 Twitter users follows one or more brands. That is over 42 million people and this number will only grow with time. The number of people on Twitter asking for business recommendations has substantially increased in the last couple of years. Also 2 out of every 3 Twitter users are more likely to buy from a brand they follow on Twitter. 40% of the Twitter population hardly ever post anything, but instead primarily consume content through the service. That is content that you should also be providing.

All the above facts lead to one conclusion. If your brand or company isn’t on Twitter, you are missing out on a big market segment that your competitors will get instead. The average Twitter user has over 100 followers, and this presents a great opportunity of increasing awareness about your brand through word of mouth and social interactions.

Why do People Follow businesses on Twitter?

Obviously people follow a business because they want something. They need to get some sort of value from it to make it worthwhile. Here are some of the main reasons someone might want to follow a business:

• Customer service support
• Learn about related topics
• Discover company news
• For Entertainment
• Gain exclusive content
• Updates on future sales
• Get some free stuff (freebies)
• Discounts, coupons & promos

Brand Engagement and Social Media Psychology

Once a user starts following a brand, they are very likely to recommend to a friend. Most users start following a brand through suggestions made by their friends. Recommendations and reviews are a big factor when making a purchase decision. Twitter combines all these social media interactions into a powerful tool that can steadily increase your number of leads and ultimately turn a prospect into a follower.

Optimize your Twitter Efforts

The best time to send out Tweets is either around the noon hour or between 5 and 6 pm. At these times you are more likely to get people to see and read your tweets and more importantly maximize the number of retweets. Including hashtags in a tweet has been found to be most effective for B2B messages. Just because you have 140 characters doesn’t mean you should always use all of them in a Tweet. Keep your messages as short as possible to improve click through rates.

You should avoid question marks in your tweets, as research has show they receive half as many clicks then if they didn’t include one. Finally to take your business further and accelerate growth, consider setting aside a budget for using Twitter’s promoted products.

About The Author
Although millions of people visit Brandon's blog each month, his path to success was not easy. Go here to read his incredible story, "From Disabled and $500k in Debt to a Pro Blogger with 5 Million Monthly Visitors." If you want to send Brandon a quick message, then visit his contact page here.