A Skeptic’s Guide to Twitter

If you’re dubious about how Twitter can help your small business, read on to discover how one skeptic (me) became a convert.

As a senior editor responsible for a website (DexKnows Weddings) and a blog (Bridal Banter), among other duties, I felt my plate was full. When I was asked to head up our social media presence, I did so – but not without major reservations. I was worried Twitter would keep me from more important tasks and I remained unconvinced that it was helpful enough to bother.

But I gave it the good ol’ college try and started scheduling tweets – I’m pretty sure I frowned while I did it. Despite myself, it was interesting to learn what tweets people responded to. Sometimes I’d send a tweet out into the world, positive that the world would love it … and then it would bomb. Other times I’d tweet something without giving it much thought and couldn’t believe the chatter that ensued.

Turns out, it was both informative and fun. On top of that, I ended up using Twitter in a much different way than I anticipated.

I went into Twitter thinking it would connect me to brides. Instead, I found that wedding professionals made up the vast majority of my followers. So I changed my focus and now I use Twitter to find out the latest wedding trends and scout out experts to feature on my blog. If a wedding Tweeter/blogger has an interesting voice and links to quality content, then that’s someone who could make a good guest blogger. If they have a lot of followers, even better. That means if they Tweet about their guest post, then a whole slew of potentially new people will be introduced to my blog. The same thing can happen to you in whatever line of work you do.

I also use Twitter to call attention to photographers I’ve featured. It’s quicker than shooting them an email. This way, I thank them publicly for their photos and include a link to the post. It also gives them an easy way to publicize themselves (and me) via a retweet.

My advice: A Twitter account is free, so why not sign up? It may take you a while to determine how it’s most useful to you, but there’s no harm in that. While you figure that out, it gives you another avenue for people to find your business. And if they feel compelled to call out your bakery, or whatever your business is, by saying, “@hotcrossbuns4eva has the best hot cross buns in the world,” well, that can only help, right?

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