by Lou Belcher

Created on: August 04, 2010

Twitter has enhanced the abilities of businesses and individuals to contact and remain in touch with a much broader segment of the population than tradition means of business communication and advertising. Before the Internet and social media sites, advertising and business communication were handled through print media and television and radio communication. Now, businesses have the opportunity to find customers and clients on line and to  keep them interested.  Here are some ways to ensure that you get and keep followers on your business Twitter account:

1. Define your business and those you are trying to attract to your business.  This is an important step to developing a business plan. Before setting out to find and keep followers for your Twitter account, make sure you know what your business is all about. What do  you want to accomplish? Where do you want your business to go?

2. Begin following those who tweet about topics of interest to your business and who follow topics related to the goals of your business. 

3. Define your business in terms of words that would be of interest to those you want to follow you. Put this definition in the profile section of your Twitter page so people who visit your profile will note that you are tweeting about a topic of interest to them.

4. Tweet about topics of interest to your potential customers and clients without having your tweets sound like a sales pitch. Include website postings in your tweets that your followers will find helpful and interesting. Post information to your own website that might be of value to your followers and send them there by tweeting about the new information you are offering.

5. Be generous to others. Retweet their tweets when you find them interesting and of value. Help to enhance their standing on Twitter and they will, most often, do the same for you.

6. Always keep in mind that your tweets should be informative, educational, entertaining and of value to the reader and you'll have people watching for your tweets.

7. Spend time varying your tweets, tweeting to and about others, and responding to others when they tweet to you. Twitter is a communication site and you must enter into the conversation to ensure your success.

8. If you have a discount or special offering going on at your business, be sure to Tweet about it. If you offer something of value to others, you will find and keep followers for your business account.

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