5 Twitter Tips from a Social Business Maven

For business entrepreneurs, Facebook is a great tool. LinkedIn is nice, too.

But Twitter has been the best platform for me to expand my business contacts.

Twitter allows me to connect B-to-B, like LinkedIn but also favors a sort of constant interaction that’s frowned upon on Facebook and LinkedIn because it’s, well, annoying.

Interacting with fans, friends and strangers on Twitter every 15 minutes with news, questions and updates: Genius. 

Here are the top 5 ways in which I use Twitter to promote my business “Founding Moms”

1. I find current, interesting quotes that pertain to my audience -- entrepreneurs who are moms. These quotes may be info or new stats that I cull from newsletters and articles online, they’re also the tweets that end up being retweeted most often – which is an important practice for brand building.

2. I give shout-outs to people whom I really admire. If I'm a huge fan of a product like @IdeaPaint, or I really admire what @JenHowver is doing for small businesses, I say as much. Publicly.They will likely take notice of me, follow me, and thus begin a lifelong Twitter courtship…new-school networking at its finest.

3. I stalk inspiring folks that I could never talk to in person.  For example: I recently went to a League of Women Voters dinner where an NBC reporter was the keynote speaker.  She was inundated by attendees throughout the night, and I never got a chance to say anything to her.  But! I found her on Twitter and we've had a few back-and-forths since then.  Now she knows who I am, and I can go so far as to ask for an intro or a favor of her, and she'll see it instantly.  No need to stand in line to shake her hand and not make any lasting impression at all.

4. I refuse to tweet every 2 seconds about inane things that would bore you to tears. You just got a coffee at Starbucks?  UNFOLLOW. Offering a coupon to the same product every three minutes? UNFOLLOW. I stay true to my tweethearts, those of you who tweet valuable or relevant information to my life.
  
5. I retweet a lot.  If you're brand new to Twitter, this is the only activity you should be doing.  Download a third-party Twitter manager, such as Tweetdeck and set up your account. Then find one person (say, @foundingmom?) and check out who’s following me.  Maybe you want to follow them, too.  Start following any audiences who may have an interest in what you do. 

Then, read what they're tweeting.  If it's interesting, re-tweet it. 

Two clicks and you've retweeted.  By doing that once a day, slowly but surely people will start to follow you. 

Soon enough, you’ll be one of us Tweeple.
 

Jill Salzman is currently growing her third entrepreneurial venture, The Founding Moms, the world’s first and only kid-friendly collective of monthly meetups for mom entrepreneurs. Having built two successful companies, she launched The Founding Moms to connect mom entrepreneurs around the globe with one another.In her spare time, Jill enjoys kloofing, traveling to small towns, and erasing her daughters’ crayon artwork from the kitchen walls.

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