by Kristin Schaaf

Created on: July 24, 2011   Last Updated: July 25, 2011

What company doesn’t want a free medium to reach their current and prospective customers? And to be able to control the message that reaches them and respond to any questions about the product or services? Thanks to social media sites like Twitter, marketing to your target audiences has now become a two-way street. This has become beneficial not just for the consumer to engage with their favorite brands, but also for the businesses themselves as they receive feedback and are able to develop a relationship with their followers.

If you have a Twitter account for your business or are considering opening one, there are five basic rules for business Tweeting you should know:

Create quality content

While it may be tempting to set your blog or Facebook posts to feed into your Twitter account (instant content, right?), these posts come across as impersonal promotional blasts to your followers. (Also avoid automated direct messages to new followers.) This will not engage your audience in any way. Instead, link to your most popular blog posts, videos and pictures, or even better, link to other relevant content on the web that your consumers would find interesting and helpful. (Don’t forget link shortening sites like bit.ly or ow.ly that will shorten links and monitor your click-through rates.)

Be conversational

Keep in mind, not all of your posts should be self-promotional or contain links. It’s okay to be chatty and show personality. Tweet off-topic, whether that’s about a fun employee activity, something funny that happened to you at work, or even about the weather. (Who doesn’t like talking about the weather?) Often times, it’s the link to the picture of the funny co-worker that draws the most traffic.

Build a following

Building a quality group of followers starts with who you follow. Start simple: follow all employees who have a personal Twitter account. If they are working something related to the company, have them Tweet out and link to your business page. Or, consider mentioning the employee in a Tweet. Drive followers to both your people and your business. (Note: if an employee’s Tweets are inappropriate, consider asking them to open a second account or don’t link to their posts.)

Build out from there and follow colleagues in your field, local journalists and media. Follow those you want to learn from and build relationships with. Follow your loyal customers.  

Engage your followers

If someone posts something

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