26 Entrepreneurs Explain How They Use Twitter for Business

Social Media is here and it is not going anywhere. Many brands focus on specific social media sites because of the type of updates they can make or the activity level of their target market. Twitter is no different and the microblogging site is used by entrepreneurs and business owners to promote brands, communicate with customers and to tell their stories. Rescue a CEO asked some businesses how they use Twitter to help their business.

Hi there @Progreshion! I’m about to ping you with a note about how I use Twitter for my business. 🙂

— Brigitte (@BrigitteLyons) January 28, 2015

1) Connecting with the Media

  Twitter is one of my go-to tools for connecting with media. Gone are the days of making cold calls and setting up desk-side meetings with newsroom reporters. With more than 60 percent of journalists now using Twitter, it’s easier than ever to build relationships with reporters and bloggers. By tweeting out a reporter’s stories, sending them links, making connections, and offering up sources, I’ve built relationships that landed publicity for my business and others.  

Thanks to Brigitte Lyons, B Think Forward!

Twitter Handle: @BrigitteLyons

How to deal with Indian parents and society who want you to get married by 25 – travel and get married at 40 instead…http://t.co/L9ZZZKYyYA — Tia Sparkles Singh (@TiaSparkles) November 18, 2014

2) Cocktail Party

Twitter is like a cocktail party, where you meet all kinds of interesting people and invite those home (Blog, Facebook) that you want to know better or can serve in some manner. I use it in 3 ways: 1) to share inspiration + useful information (mine or others) 2) to connect with ‘influencers' and peers across industries 3) to reach a diverse audience and potential new clients. In fact, the first ever client I got was from twitter – she followed my tweets for a while, checked out my blog, and decided to hire me. It's a great way to network and create a name for yourself,while adding value to people's lives and feeds.

Thanks to Tia Sparkles Singh, Your Life YOUR Way!

Twitter Handle: @TiaSparkles

3) A Unique Way

We have leveraged Twitter is a pretty unique way. We are a small company (under 60 employees) and started using Twitter early on. We make announcements regarding our company, industry trends, and community service. What is unique about our work is that we reached out to industry trade organizations and developed relationships. Now, when we Tweet, re often get re-tweeted by industry leaders. This has significantly increased our market reach.

Thanks to John M. Crossman, Crossman & Company!

Twitter Handle: @Crossmanco

4) Connect My Business & Personal Life

I use Twitter so that I can connect my business with my personal life. I keep my followers and friends updated on any new business news that I have as well as my everyday doings. I started my own charity called The Dream Builders Project so I use Twitter as a quick way to stay connected with volunteers, sponsors, and other supporters. Because it is so easy to use and convenient, we are able to connect with other nonprofits to further our mission.

Thanks to Mayer Dahan, Prime Five Homes!

Twitter Handle: @mayerdahan

5) Information

Twitter is invaluable for my business because that's where I get most of my information. There are so many events and happenings in LA that my audience wants a curated list. I use Twitter daily and comb through tweets that are relevant to my audience and give them the edited version of updates and events.

Thanks to Gwen, The LA Girl!

Twitter Handle: @thelagirl

TY @ILS_for_Mfg 4great #Laser Micromachining article http://t.co/0zBhQyYhgP — Potomac Photonics (@PotomacPhotonic) January 27, 2015

6) Twitter to Expand PR Reach

Like a lot of tech companies, we release a fair amount of news about our products and services. In order to expand that PR's reach we create tweets when a story is picked up, especially by a publication or blog in our core industry. Social Media is supposed to be interactive, so we try to engage with other tweeters in our industry as much as possible.

Thanks to Sarah Boisvert, Potomac Photonics, Inc.!

Twitter Handle: @PotomacPhotonic

7) Make Announcements & Share News

Twitter has been a indispensable marketing tool and has truly helped my company stand out among our competition. Our plants are some of the best genetics available, and as a result they typically sell out very quickly. We use Twitter to make announcements to our customers when our strains become available for purchase. Even on our slower days, we still use Twitter to share news stories from within our industry with our followers, many of whom also work in cannabis-related businesses. The cannabis industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in America today and our fans seem to really enjoy reading about the evolution of marijuana as it becomes more and more acceptable; (and legal.)

Thanks to Mitchell H. Stern, Burning Bush Nurseries!

Twitter Handle: @burningbushsf

8) Customer Service

Customer Service is the latest industry to get a make-over. Traditional customer service is dead. Forget the phone! Customers are now expecting fast and efficient responses from brands and companies. The one channel more in use than ever – Twitter. We use Twitter to engage with our customers and each tweet that send us can be a customer support ticket. So we track sentiment and response time.

Thanks to Stephanie Hamilton, HappyFox, Inc!

Twitter Handle: @happyfoxapp

9) Reach People Quickly

We specifically use our twitter account to reach as many people in the quickest fashion possible when we want to alert them of something, like a new league launching or a launch in a new metro. We've seen that people are more likely to pay attention a tweet because they may or may not open a newsletter sent via email. Tweeting for us is quick and to the point, it conveys the message to our followers and the ones that are more interested will engage further, the ones that aren't can just keep scrolling. Email you have to engage and open *every single item* just to really see what its about, we reserve that for our die-hard fans instead.

Thanks to John Anthony, National Association of Bubble Soccer!

Twitter Handle: @USBubbleSoccer

Tech Tuesday: Remember The Importance of Security in Your New Smart Home http://t.co/5lDXgnIGle @TMcSweenyFTC @Recode #IofT #smarthome — PMBC Group (@PMBCgroup) January 27, 2015

10) 3 Ways

Our team here at PMBC, a technology public relations firm use our Twitter account in three major ways. Since we only work with technology clients we utilize the immense amount of news and information about trending topics in technology to retweet and post so as to keep our employees knowledgable of the latest news as well as our followers and clients. Secondly, since we constantly have placements in different TV segments, tech articles, and business magazines for our clients, we will use our Twitter account to post these announcements to our network. Lastly, Twitter is a great outlet for PMBC to actually pitch journalists our clients stories, many journalists and publications actually only take pitches through social media these days.

Thanks to Victoria Bardsley, PMBC Group!

Twitter Handle: @PMBCgroup

11) News Updates

Social Media as a whole is evolving and I believe the role of each individual social media channel is evolving as well. We currently treat Twitter as a news update scroll, no different from what you might find at the bottom of CNN or ESPN. As such, we use Twitter to announce our company news & events to our audience. We also use it as a tool to consume such news and event from other sources. Twitter has become too fast and too big for us to do much else as far as engagement, but we will do occasionally still.

Thanks to Michael Ripa, AppHive!

Twitter Handle: @bevy_social

12) Educate, Building Relationships & Represent Company Culture

We utilize Twitter at ProviderTrust to educate ourselves and our followers-without attempting to directly sell anything through it. We prefer to build relationships with those who follow us and we follow. It is also useful in reaching out to media outlets by interacting with their posts, and it helps us keep up with trends within our industry. Any messages we want our audience to receive quickly, or when we need to inform them about an upcoming project, we always schedule them through Twitter. Lastly, we like to represent our company culture by posting about what takes place at the office. We feel that it makes us more personable and shows our values in a creative way.

Thanks to Christopher Redhage & Michael Rosen, ProviderTrust, Inc!

Twitter Handle: @ProviderTrust

Your protagonist buys a houseplant to prove something. Tips for using this #writingprompts at http://t.co/zxsus1C4lF. pic.twitter.com/9nsZzuCvy5 — Mandy Wallace (@MandyCorine) January 27, 2015

13) Inspire Writers

Sometimes writers need a quick dose of inspiration to get their projects back on track. So I tweet writing prompts on Twitter. No matter what you write, whether it’s fiction or blog posts or technical manuals, 5-10 minutes writing outside of your genre or current work-in-progress clears your mind of clutter and gets you thinking outside the box. So my writing prompts are like cross-training for writers.

Thanks to Mandy Wallace, MandyWallace.com!

Twitter Handle: @MandyCorine

14) Build Relationships with our Niche Community

At Moja Gear, we use Twitter to build relationships with members of the global rock climbing community. By offering valuable content, encouragement, and a peak at who we are in our Tweets, we raise brand awareness and stimulate engagement with our company. Rarely, if ever, do we use Twitter as a platform to share our retail promotions. Instead we focus on utilizing Twitter as a vessel for channeling the core values and mission of our brand through a voice that embraces them. By connecting our followers to resources and thoughts relevant to their interests, we build trust and therefore, lasting relationships and potential future customers.

Thanks to Natalie Siddique, Moja Gear!

Twitter Handle: @mojagear

15) Sales Leads

My company, @Pay, is actively posting on over ten social media networks, but Twitter drives the most traffic and delivers the most sales leads. Of course, we regularly post our own blog content, but by posting content from other sites, we are able to build a digital relationship with publications and businesses. These content-sharing relationships can easily turn into partnerships and sales. Another way we are able to identify sales leads through Twitter is by creating Lists for sales verticals and carefully monitoring them by TweetDeck. By viewing lists in these real-time columns, we're able to quickly identify an appropriate moment to ‘introduce' ourself online.

Thanks to Meagan Rhodes, @Pay!

Twitter Handle: @atpay

Our most popular blog post in 2014: Tips for Shooting Video on DSLRs http://t.co/K5Mdph7pK9 — MKE ProductionRental (@mkepr) January 5, 2015

16) Drive Blog Engagement

We use Twitter to drive engagement on our blog. Of course, we tweet links to new blog posts, but we also resurface old posts in tweets. Sometimes we already had the perfect information, just at the wrong time.

Thanks to Jon Kline, MKE Production Rental!

Twitter Handle: @MKEPR  

17) Search

  I use Twitter's search feature. I can use saved searches to find fairly high quality potential clients for my web design company. For example, people who have recently opened a new business will likely want to build a website for it and, if they're talking about it on Twitter, I can easily find them and contact them.

Thanks to Patrick Antinozzi, Rapidweblaunch.com

Twitter Handle: @rapidweblaunch

It's #TipsterTuesday! What's your tip for fab Spring #style? @grettamonahan @CelebStyleGuide @ClevverStyle @cheapchicas @daisylewellyn — Functional Girl (@FunctionalGirl) April 29, 2014

18) Levels the Playing Field Between David & Goliath

Initially, I really disliked Twitter. I didn’t understand the point and it seemed like nothing more then an exercise in vanity. Then one day Cover Girl responded to a beauty-themed #TipsterTuesday tweet, then so did Wet N Wild – only they started following me as well. Suddenly Twitter made perfect sense, it levels the playing field between David & Goliath. By giving small businesses access to larger brands, Twitter presents a unique opportunity to leverage interactions in order to cultivate relationships. Gone are the days of waiting in the lobby, hoping someone on the 60th floor will see you. Social Media Managers are young, savvy and significantly more receptive to a dialogue simply because this “zero degrees of separation” digital culture is the norm for their generation.

Thanks to CJ Legare, Functional Girl!

Twitter Handle: @FunctionalGirl

19) Recruited Staff Members

Social media's at the forefront of everything we do. As an innovative blog and magazine for teens, our entire staff has access to the Twitter account where we're able to promote the company as a whole, but also give insight into the lives behind the people writing the articles. As the CEO and Founder, I've recruited several staff members via Twitter. It's a free forum of open ideas and great potential, and it's such a blessing to use it for the benefit of She Speaks Media..

Thanks to Julia Schemmer, She Speaks Media!
Twitter Handle: @shespeaksmedia

How to turn a #microapartment into a functional #flat – a #Parisian example http://t.co/FwqYh7qKdc @kirstendirksen @FastCoDesign

— SpaceWays (@Space_Ways) January 14, 2015

20) Communication & Interaction

As a fairly young company targeting city-dwellers, Twitter is one of the best ways to communicate with our customers, both potential and current, and increase brand awareness in an engaging way. We use Twitter to share content relevant to our customers' lives that they'd find useful and interesting – articles about microapartments, decluttering, things to do in their cities. This increases awareness of our brand image; an urban, global company that fits perfectly into city life. We increase engagement via Twitter through competitions, too. The majority of our customers are keen social media users, so tapping into their current behaviour – retweeting, sharing photos etc. – and incentivizing it with great prizes gets them involved with the brand in a natural way. For example, our #savemyspace competition encourages people to tweet pictures of their cramped home or office, something they would naturally do anyway, in return for the chance to win 3 months of completely free storage. Twitter also lets us interact with bloggers in an approachable way, creating and sustaining relationships with them in a natural, convenient setting.

Thanks to Rob Rebholz, SpaceWays!

Twitter Handle: @Space_Ways

21) Hashtags

I expand my audience with hashtags. Most people’s Twitter experience is limited to the people they follow. It’s always a good idea to keep looking for new, fresh voices to follow to keep expanding your online conversations. Hashtags appear in tweets to identify a common topic or theme and usually something that is trending. Although I would like to consider myself a master of Twitter, I do rely on social media analytics to see how my Twitter strategies as well as my clients, have been perceived by my audience.

Thanks to MJ Pedone, Indra Public Relations!

Twitter Handle: @indraPRGroup

Let the Custom Baseball Stress Ball – Q152 get you through both the good and the bad: http://t.co/E6AaUsqkba — QualityLogoProducts (@qualitylogo) January 26, 2015

22) Multitude of Reasons

We use Twitter for a multitude of reasons. One is to share relevant articles with the small business owners and marketers who follow us. Another is to promote our own blog and video content that we work so hard to produce. We also use our Twitter account to provide customer service for our clients. They will ask us questions or share pictures of their products, and we like to engage with them to either address their concerns or share enthusiasm for their final products.

Thanks to Bret Bonnet, Quality Logo Products!

Twitter Handle: @qualitylogo

2014 was amazing for Empower Network, but 2015 is going to be even better. Find out why: http://t.co/64jcqlqtNq @thejcron #empower

— Empower Network (@EmpowerNetCorp) January 16, 2015

23) Motivation & Sharing

My company, Empower Network uses Twitter to engage affiliates and customers. We use it to motivate them in their business and blogging endeavors and to attract new members. We also use it as a way to share company news. Personally, I use Twitter to share my most recent blog posts and interesting news articles that I read and believe my followers would benefit from reading too. Our research shows that using the words “us” and “we” has more engagement and responsiveness than using the words “I” and “me.” I recommend that for every post about your company and your product, you should have 3-4 other posts that are unrelated to your company and your product. Don't be afraid to show some personality and share your personal passions.

Thanks to Jonathan Cronstedt, Empower Network!

Twitter Handle: @EmpowerNetCorp

24) Spread the Word

SnapKnot is a leading wedding photography site that helps engaged couples find their perfect photographer. It also offers wedding advice, tips for brides, photo inspiration and more on our blog. SnapKnot uses Twitter to help reach potential brides and to provide them great wedding tips, ideas and inspiration so they will continuously see SnapKnot as a great resource to find a photographer for their wedding day. Brides loves to research and find ideas for their wedding day online, and Twitter is a huge way to spread the word about all things wedding related, so SnapKnot makes sure to post regularly and comment as much as we can to really engage with potential brides. We also use the social media platform to reach potential wedding photographers who may be interested in becoming a member; as well as keep in touch with our current photographer members.

Thanks to Reid Warner, SnapKnot.com!

Twitter Handle: @snapknot

Check out @WeAreTheUsed w/ @everytimeidie @MARMOZETS & @EeriesOfficial presale passwords! http://t.co/PuGpzvHpCq pic.twitter.com/NM0LTbHcxs

— Ticket Crusader (@TicketCrusader) January 27, 2015

25) Engage with Followers

We actively use Twitter as a means of letting our followers know when we have posted a new page of pre-sale passwords, ticket price predictions, and ticket buying tips. The ticket sales industry is a fast moving business, and Twitter is one of the fastest ways to reach our followers so they have the most up to date information.

Thanks to Kevin Jones, Ticket Crusader!

Twitter Handle: @TicketCrusader

26) Reach Goals, Define Presence & Increase Visibility and Sales

We use social media to aid in reaching company goals, define our online presence, and to increase visibility and sales. That’s accomplished in several ways: A) Issuing a message about our clients or potential clients, for instance announcing a new client that has come on board; B) Updating our online audience about something that will happen, such as an upcoming event or a call to action, such as signing up for a mailing list; C) Clarifying any misinformation about our clients and business interests or to field inquiries about our company and showcase our services. With a consistent message being sent out, our company remains focused and on the same page, which is an advantage in the marketplace especially if you’re a service-based business. However, when not used properly or in line with a company’s overall marketing strategy, it may become a hindrance because ultimately social media represents the company and the goals of social media should enhance the goals of the company. On one occasion, we used Twitter to promote a sneaker giveaway contest for one of our clients. Using hash tags and searches, we were able to quantify the number of participants and our client picked a winner announced via social media.

Thanks to Damani Goodson, The Brand Architects!

Twitter Handle: @TheBrandArchs