With so many channels nowadays to promote your business online, it can be very easy for a small business owner to get lost in the clutter and distractions of online marketing. How do you decide which one to choose? Which platform do you spend the most time on to get the word out about your products and services? It can be very overwhelming with so much noise in the online world that picking the right social media website can have you feeling drained before the marketing has even begun.
Well, I am here to share with you what has worked best for me for my marketing efforts. As the CEO and founder of SmallBizPhilly.com, what I have relied on first and foremost for all my marketing efforts have been none other than Twitter. This social network, in my opinion at least, is what I believe is the best platform for the budget-conscience business owner and I will share with you why.
First of all, not only is it free like all the other platforms out there, but unlike Facebook, when you send out a tweet, the tweet shows up on all your follower’s timelines. This is very important for a small business owner, especially those with not many funds available for marketing (such as myself) because now you know that everyone that is following will have your message show up on their timeline. Try doing that on Facebook where the company dictates who will see your post out of all your followers. You have to pay to play on Facebook, but not is the case with Twitter. Of course, you can always do a promoted tweet to reach those not following you based on their interests (target marketing), but it’s always great to know that all of your followers are getting the message, not a selected few that the social network you are using has any kind of control over.
The reason above would be the main reason why I love this social network so much. There’s also the matter of engagement. Again, based upon my own personal experience, Twitter is the perfect platform for dialogue since tweeting is about communicating in real-time. Often, when a customer has a bad experience with a business, they will go on a rant on Twitter to broadcast to the world. This is the perfect opportunity to engage with these unsatisfied customers in real-time and consult with them on their needs in the heat of the moment. Twitter was the original social network that created the hashtag, so this is a great way to find out what your customers are talking about and adhere to their needs.
So is Twitter still a viable marketing tool for small businesses in 2018? Absolutely! So long as the President keeps tweeting as well as other celebrities, this will always be the go-to place for engaging interaction for small business owners and beyond. I have been using this platform for the past six years and have grown my following to over 7,100 just by retweeting and staying engaged with my community. It’s my number one platform of choice for getting my brand out there, and once you start using it as a small business owner, I am sure you will feel the same!
Nathan Aponte
Nathan Aponte is a River Avenue Contributor and freelance writer based in the Philadelphia region. He is available for ghost-writing gigs to help you market your small business. You can follow him on Twitter: @SmallBizPhilly