Twitter: Who Small Business Marketers Should Follow
- 33% of people on Twitter follow a brand (46,200,000 people).
- 663% more people are requesting business recommendations in only the past two years.
- 77% of online shoppers use reviews to make purchase decisions.
- 67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from brands they follow on Twitter.
- 79% of Twitter users are more likely to recommend brands they follow.
Because Twitter offers opportunities for marketers to answer questions from their customers, generate leads and position their businesses as an authority, dive in if you haven’t already!
Signing up for Twitter is just the first step in using this social media channel properly. The second step is deciding what you want from it as a small business marketer. While many tap Twitter for entertainment, celebrity news and other purposes, I am exclusively focused on getting marketing industry updates, trends and information. This is how you can build the list of who to follow if you have the same objective for Twitter as me.
To effectively build out my list, I tapped several resources to get advice and this a sampling of their recommendations and mine. Hubspot
- @Marketingprofs. Ann Hadley is the head of content for Marketing Profs and tweets insights from other marketing professionals.
- @Jasonfalls. He founded the website Social Media Explorer and offers commentary on the marketing industry.
- @Cmicontent. If you want best practices on mobile social, content marketing and more, Content Marketing Institute is a great organization to follow.
- @Socialmedia2day. I visit the website often to get information and statistics, so I also follow on Twitter.
- @Econsultancy. When you are looking for marketing resources such as industry perspective and data, this is a good resource.
- @NYTSmallBiz. Here you will find a community of small-business owners who share their experiences, as well as relevant topics featured in the news.
- @smallbiztrends. Anita Campbell is the CEO of Small Business Trends and BizSugar. This Twitter account features content from both sites.
- @ducttape. The author of Duct Tape Marketing tweets practical advice and expertise.
- @SBAgov. As the official Twitter feed of the Small Business Administration, you can find a wide variety of resources and news.
- @GuyKawasaki. With 1.3 million followers, Guy Kawasaki leverages his experience as former Apple evangelist, author, entrepreneur and adviser to the Motorola unit of Google.
- @Hubspot. Great solutions and tips to help you market more effectively (love their blog posts!).
- @Mashable. This feed provides news and a range of content that will get you thinking.
- @PRNewswire. The place to turn when you need advice and suggestions on all sorts of public relations topics.
- @Problogger Owner Darren Rowse provides recommendations on how you can improve your blogging.
- @Marketingpilgrim. A good source of marketing news.
- @Jeffbullas. Here is where you’ll find the latest social media marketing trends.
- @Lisabarone. As the vice president of strategy at @Overit, Lisa offers sharp insight.
- @Stevestrauss. Tap into the senior small business columnist for USA Today to get ideas.
- @Askjamieturner. I’ve gotten tons of good information on mobile web marketing from Jamie Turner.
- @Kimbeasley. For those of you small businesses working to take advantage of Google+, Kim has outstanding advice.
- @Chrisbrogan. One of my favorite people, former senior marketing manager Unmana Datta turned me onto Chris, the CEO and president of Human Business Works, which helps improve marketing, sales and service.
- @Entmagazineamy. Amy Cosper is the editor of Entrepreneur Magazine and offers great advice from this vantage point.
- @Garyvee. I heard Gary Vaynerchuk speak at the Art of Marketing in Chicago and he is hysterical and edgy.
- @Jeff_hayden. As a columnist for Inc.com, Jeff shares tons of content perfect for small businesses.
- @Zappos. Did you check out the book Delivering Happiness? If so, you know Tony Hsieh has some helpful advice that is also good reading.
The Cross-Channel Conversation
- @Dannysullivan. Covering content marketing, SEO and social media, Danny is founding editor of @Marketingland and @Sengineland.
- @Shellykramer. She provides solutions for digital marketing and social media and is the founder of V3 Integrated Marketing.
- @Contagious. This account shares breaking news, reports and data across all categories of marketing and has active conversations with followers.
- @eMarketer. Digital marketing, media and commerce are the focus of this account and you’ll get statistics and quotes.
- @Fastcompany. Business news, including marketing and advertising, is a major part of Fast Company’s twitter feed.
If you are using Twitter to find information for your company and specific industry, you might want to follow a few select people. You want great information, not a bunch of junk that will take up time and distract you. Just because someone has many followers, does not mean they can offer anything of value to you, as it is not terribly difficult to get many people to follow you. But if you see someone that has 5,000 followers but only follows 200, you can assume that many others believe that person has something worthwhile to say. When deciding who to follow, think about finding people these categories:
- Marketing gurus to get tips and how-tos
- Industry leaders to learn from the best
- Thought leaders to inspire you
- Brands you admire for their marketing to give you ideas
- Competitors to see how you stack up and differentiate your content
How do you decide who to follow on Twitter and who are your favorites for small business marketing?
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