Can Twitter Help My Business?

Companies and businesses using Twitter for business today are discovering that it really can make a difference. Whether it's getting new business contacts, learning valuable information or promoting your products, it's really worth investigating the possibilities.

More and more companies these days are using Twitter to boost their business, but many others are still holding back and asking themselves:

Does this really make any difference?

The answer is, yes, if you use this tool in the right way.

With the majority of the top industry players in every sector using Twitter today, it really is worth investigating its possibilities for promoting your own company and making valuable contacts.

Here are some of the ways Twitter can help your business:

Making Contacts: Social networking isn't just about advertising your products, it's about building new business relationships and contributing to discussions about the sectors you are involved in. You can assume that there will be many potential clients on Twitter you could be following or talking to in online discussions. If you make relevant comments and demonstrate your expertise in your sector, you could make some important new contacts.

Promotion: Whilst you shouldn't be bombarding your followers with tweets advertising your products and services (they will quickly 'un-follow' you if you do this too much) there is no harm in the odd marketing tweet if you have a new product launch coming up, for example. It is a quick, simple and best of all free way to make all your followers aware of any important information.

Sharing Information: Whilst you wouldn't want to let any big secrets slip to your competitors, sharing some useful information relating to your sector in your tweets is a good to engage with others in the Twittersphere. This also works the other way, as if you keep your eyes open and follow the right people you can sometimes pick up some useful bits of insider knowledge.

Increasing Website Traffic: The fact that Twitter shouldn't be used purely for advertising doesn't mean it can't increase traffic to your website. If other users are interested by your tweets they will click on the link to your site, so make sure you are using the words allotted to you to say something that is relevant to your target market. Many internet marketing companies specialise in helping companies to increase their website traffic using social media, so you could even consider hiring in some experts as well if you really want to use this tool to your advantage.

Improving Customer Relationships: Given that many of your followers may also be your customers, responding to their tweets or taking part in their discussions is a good way to make them feel valued and helps you build up more of a rapport, which should hopefully translate to increased sales over time.

Twitter really can have a positive effect, but to use it in the most efficient way you should also be aware of some of the online tools available. TwitterFox, for example, lets you view tweets on your browser without having to switch to Twitter every time you want to check it.

Another useful tool is TweetLater, which lets you schedule your tweets and can keep you posted via email on any keyword activities happening, such as discussions that you might want to join in on. If you have decided to check out internet marketing companies to hire, they should be able to show you how to use these tools, and many more besides, to your advantage.