15 Things for Businesses to Tweet About

Knowing what to tweet about and when can be difficult, and it’s even more difficult if you’re running a business and not just tweeting on your own personal account. Take a look at this list of things for businesses to tweet about. As you read this list, think about how you can relate the ideas to your own business. You’ll be attracting more followers and interacting with them in a meaningful way in no time!

 

Recommend news articles that pertain to your business or customers.

If you’ve read something interesting lately that your followers might enjoy, share it on Twitter. It could be about technology updates within your industry, news from your local area, lists of tips or resources for customers, a blog post from someone you admire or truly anything that you think your followers should see. When you share links, be sure to use a link shortening application, such as Bit.ly or Fur.ly. If your business uses a social media management system, like Hootsuite or TweetDeck, you’ll find that these programs usually shorten links for you, making it even easier.

 

Give a good deal to your followers.

Try holding a “Twitter-only” promotion. Every once in a while, share a special coupon code or other offer on your Twitter feed. This will encourage current and potential customers to keep following your feed and paying attention to it. You can also hold an occasional contest via Twitter. Offer one free product or service to someone who answers a question correctly first. Followers like to see interaction, and they also appreciate the chance of winning a prize.

 

Show that you’re listening, and respond to suggestions or complaints.

Most of all, followers nowadays want to be acknowledged and heard. Some large companies hire people just to respond to customers on social media. If someone makes a suggestion or has a complaint, thank them for their input and be honest about what you are going to do about it. Remain calm and professional. If someone has a suggestion, say thank you and that you’ll keep it in mind. If it’s a complaint, express that you’re sorry that they’ve had trouble with your company. Tell them how you plan to prevent future problems like this. Ask the person to call your office personally to talk about the complaint and solve the problem. Try not to ever simply ignore a complaint, comment or suggestion. Your followers want to know that you are listening to what they think.

 

Share your own content.

If your company has a blog or website (and it should!), don’t forget to share what you post there. Your customers might enjoy seeing your Twitter feed, but it’s unlikely that they check your website each day. Share links to recent blog entries or even your FAQ page. If you’ve started offering different products or services recently, make sure to link to that part of your website too. Although your blatant self-promotion should actually be kept to a minimum on Twitter to attract the most followers, you shouldn’t entirely neglect posting your own work.

 

Feature your employees and their personalities.

People love to see the faces behind their favorite businesses. Share a group photo of your team or a funny fact about one of your employees. If your company has employees of the month, tweet about those as well. If someone at your company is running in a 5K, tweet a word of encouragement or a photo of their sweaty post-run face. If an employee is an artist, ask them to doodle a little cartoon. Show that your company is made up of fantastic people who love where they work.

 

Laugh with your followers.

Sharing something funny is a great method of getting people to read your tweets and get interested in who you are. Keep it appropriate, but don’t think that all your tweets have to be about good things that you’ve done or other self-promoting links. If you’ve spilled coffee all over your white shirt, post a photo of it and lament about early Monday mornings or note how the stain kind of looks like Australia. Tweet corny jokes. Be sure to post a photo of when someone covered your desk in tinfoil. Don’t think that every funny tweet has to be absolutely hilarious. Simply share things that make you chuckle and make your company a fun place to work.

Use statistics to show how well you’re doing.

If you have numbers and figures about your company, share them with the world. However, don’t go into detail with numbers that people won’t understand. The average person won’t care if your “accelerated share purchases” increased or decreased this fiscal year. They might like to hear, though, if you’ve doubled the number of clients served or sold to people in 17 different countries. If you can, include a graph for more visual interest.

 

Promote somebody else.

This doesn’t mean you have to promote your competition. Think about a company you look up to, then tweet about why you admire it. You can even tweet at the company’s Twitter feed itself and tell them that you like what they do. If someone is doing a great job, let them know. Building a community of like-minded businesses is important. You can drive customers to each other and help each other through tough times. Don’t hesitate to reach out to other businesses and show that you appreciate what they do. The same goes for honoring individuals. Find out if you favorite CEO, mayor, alumnus or other special person has a Twitter account, then thank them for what they do.

Talk about a good cause and why you support it.

If there is a cause that is dear to your heart, dedicate a couple of tweets per month to support it. Share tips for getting involved and helping out the cause. Also, let people know what you and your company are doing in support. Tweet at the cause’s Twitter accounts, telling them that you support what they do and that you are proud to help them. Talk about why you support the cause and why it means so much to you. Tweets don’t always have to be about just business. Although you don’t want all your tweets to be about supporting various charities and organizations, it’s okay to tweet once in a while to educate people about how they can help out.

Give advice that pertains to your business.

If you’ve been in a particular industry for very long, it’s almost certain that you’ll have advice about how to do well and get the best deal. Don’t keep it to yourself. Give good advice, and give it freely. You’ve undoubtedly learned a thing or two during the time that you’ve worked at your company, so make sure that others don’t make the same mistakes that you have. Sharing advice doesn’t mean that you’ll lose out on business. In fact, people will see you as a sort of a guru, and they’ll be more likely to come to you when they want to pay for services.

Ask questions.

Pose questions to your audience, but make sure they’re appropriate yet intriguing. Think about whether or not it would be a question that you yourself would not only feel comfortable answering but one that would also prompt you to take the time to type out an answer. You can poll about which of your products people use most often, the best experience they’ve had with your company or what they think you could be doing better. Don’t be afraid to also stay in touch with your followers by asking light, friendly questions about things other than your business. Ask about how they celebrated a recent holiday, how the weather is in their area, if they have any pets or if they accomplished something noteworthy in the past week. Questions encourage interaction, which makes followers feel closer to you and your business.

 

Tell your story.

Let people know how and why the company was started. Especially around the anniversary of a company’s start-up date, tell your followers how long you’ve been in business. Put some feeling into your tweets. Share how confusing, scary and exciting it felt to be in business that first year. Reflect on how you’ve grown and what you’d like for the future. Your followers won’t mind if it’s a little sappy.

 

Let people know exactly what you offer.

Along the lines of linking to your own blog or website in your tweets, be sure to tell people about your products occasionally. If the holidays are coming up, share some products or services you offer that would be great for a gift. Let your followers know what is your best seller and how much it costs. You don’t want these to be your only kind of tweets, because your followers will get tired or reading what seems to be an advertisement for your company. Always tie in your product suggestions with a reason ofwhy they should buy. Make it clear what you offer, but also make it clear why it’s such a good idea to buy from you.

 

Announce or remind followers about upcoming events.

If you’re holding an open house or a meet-and-greet, get the word out on social media as well as in person. Remind people the week before, the day before, then the day of. Follow up the day after with a tweet about how it went. These don’t even have to be your own events. Let everyone know about events you’ll be attending as well. Make sure you also tweet at the person who is hosting the event. Even if your followers don’t show up for the event you’re publicizing, you’re building your brand. People will be more likely to come to the next attend you host or attend.

 

Join another person’s discussion.

Commenting on someone’s tweets can be one of the most powerful ways of interacting on Twitter. If you’re not interacting with others on Twitter, then you’re not doing it right! Use the search option to see who is talking about your company or who is talking about things that you’re interested in. Then treat it as a normal, short conversation. There’s no need to really introduce yourself, as your profile and Twitter feed does that for you. Instead, just leave a comment on one of their tweets or tweet at them about something relevant. The more people you tweet at, the more people who will become familiar with you and your company.

Don’t limit yourself to just these 15 tips. Draw inspiration from them, and make them relate to your own company and industry. If you ever feel like you don’t know what to say on Twitter, use these ideas as a guideline to get yourself started again. Remember that Twitter is supposed to be a creative, exciting social media tool for businesses. Be appropriate, but don’t take yourself too seriously. Have fun talking to other and tweeting about your company.