For a small business owner, is Twitter worth the time?

Q: People tell me my small business should be on Twitter, but honestly I don’t care about finding out what everyone ate for lunch and I’ve heard that’s all Twitter is for. Why is Twitter worth my time?

A: This is a great question and represents a common misconception about Twitter, where individual posts are limited to only 140 characters. Think of this as a new opportunity for you to create some great dialogue and conversation with your consumers, whether it’s to draw in continuing business or spark some new followers. Here are a few tips to help get started.

• Add your logo and jazz up your page with a custom theme that’s all about your business. If you want a quick start, mirror your other social media pages (e.g. Facebook) before branching out to something new.
• Make your profile description short and sweet. This is a great place to draw people to your website or other pages!
• Respond to consumers when they tweet you! Having interaction with your consumers makes them feel drawn to your business; answer their questions about your business hours or product availability. Try to have fun with your community. A great example of this is “Trivia Thursday,” asking a question relating to your business. It gives people something to chime in on each week and look forward to…with potentially a prize for the winner?
• Tweet about events you’re hosting or participating in and add photos. Using #hashtags will help you chime in on a larger network that’s discussing a similar topic, especially if you’re at  a large event! Become a part of this conversation and interact with this new community.
• Look to see how many followers you’re gaining or how many retweets/favorites you’ve received. This will be a great indicator of what people like hearing or not hearing about.