Twitter for Small Business Marketing

posted by Anna Fleet on June 30th, 2010

If you asked Curtis Kimball, the owner of a very successful mobile crème brulèe cart, why business was booming, he’d give kudos to Twitter!

But it wasn’t always that way. Curtis had to be convinced of Twitter’s word-of-mouth marketing prowess. And he was. Just three short weeks after he started his part-time business, he noticed a new face in his line up. When he asked the stranger how he’d heard about it his cart, he was told, “Twitter”!

Curtis was convinced. Since then, he’s quit his day job as a carpenter and uses Twitter multiple times a day to post his current location to over 5,400 followers.

So what should your small business with no marketing budget or your large business with budgetary restrictions take from Kimball’s story?

1. Twitter is a free social maketing service

2. It can provide the sole means for marketing

3. Twitter is easy and quick to update—more so than a webpage or blog

4. It’s ideal for promoting mobile businesses

5. It urges people to spread news to their own social networks through retweets, etc.

6. It shares news nationally or locally—depending on your business goals

7. It lets you ask questions and share advice with other business owners

8. You can talk directly to your customers

Read the full story about how Curtis Kimball and other small businesses owners are using the power of Twitter for word of mouth marketing.

Tags: social networking tips, twitter advantages, twitter tips for small businesses, web marketing for small business
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11 Must-Follows on Twitter

posted by Anna Fleet on June 22nd, 2010

Can you engage your non-profit or small business customers in 140 characters or less?

Twitter can be a challenge to learn and navigate for newbies, but this free online forum has almost 100 million users—which equates to massive marketing and social networking potential for your small business or non-profit agency. So if you’re not taking advantage of Twitter already—you best be Tweeting soon!

To help guide you through the “tweets”, “retweets” and so on, Kermit Pattison from The New York Times recently introduced his small business tips for using Twitter, plus he offers 11 prime examples of large-middle-and small businesses that are taking advantage of Twitter in new ways.

So check out Pattison’s list and learn how giants such as Rubbermaid, UPS and shoe king Zappos are using Twitter. But don’t be scared off by sheer size, smaller companies like Naked Pizza and Kiss My Bundt offer some excellent 140-character examples of engaging tweeting as well.

Tags: brand strategy for non-profit, Kermit Pattison, New York Times, social media, social networking tips, twitter advantages, twitter tips, web marketing for small business
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