Tweet Ideas For Small Businesses

So you've heard that there are several benefits for a small business being active on Twitter, you set up an account, fill out your profile and then...uh oh! What do I post? What do I tweet?  Have you been here? It's okay if you have. Most of us have. Let me first start out by saying that if you think that Twitter is all about posting pictures of lunch or alerting everyone of your every move, it may not be the best platform for you.  The truth is, Twitter is a valuable tool for a small business and a great way to create awareness and gain exposure.  Oh yeah, and it's free! Now that I have your attention, let's dig into what a small business should actually be posting.  If you mix it up you and, more importantly, your audience will never get bored with the content. Ready? Here we go:


1. Tips: People LOVE tips.  When we help others and give value, we become very attractive and our followers look forward to our tweets.  This leads to trust.  Also, when you give tips and share your knowledge, you come off as an expert in your field.

2. Pictures:  Images are powerful on Twitter.  They simply stand out and the use of pictures will get noticed more than just text.  I recommend sharing pictures of your products, staff, or service.  An example of a service picture would be a landscaping company tweeting out a picture of a finished job.

3. Videos: Twitter is currently working on a feature that will let all accounts upload videos directly into the newsfeed (similar to Facebook), but I have had success in sharing videos from my YouTube channel. Again, these are helpful videos with tips that give value to the end user.  These stand out in the newsfeed as well.

4. Quotes: I would not go overboard with quotes as it could lead people to unfollow your account, but they can be useful in helping to get certain points across.  Example, if you are in the health and wellness industry, you could share famous health quotes such as, "Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.  -Doug Larson".  Mixing in some humor like this helps. :)

5. Questions:  When we only talk about ourselves or our business, it can get really old, really quick.  I recommend getting your audience involved by asking engaging questions.  The key is to make it a little thought provoking, but easy to answer with one or two words.  An example for a golf course would be, "What is your favorite club in your bag right now?". Anyone that plays golf, typically has a "go-to" club and the conversation can get interesting since everyone may have a different club choice.

Favorite club when you're on the course?

6. Fill in the blank: This takes the same concept of asking a question, but changing the dynamic by letting our followers complete the sentence.  Again, make it easy to complete.  We can change the example above from a question to a fill-in-the blank post like this:  "When I play golf, the best club in my bag is______________." Posts like this get tons of buzz and engagement.


7. Drive traffic to website:  Twitter is a great way to drive traffic to a website. In fact, I will tweet a link to this post as soon as I finalize it.  You basically can copy and paste the URL link of any page of your website and post it on Twitter.  There are 2 keys to this: 1. Lead in with a great headline that will entice people to actually click the link (not misleading, just something to wet the appetite) 2. Shorten the link so it looks cleaner in the newsfeed (I recommend Bitly or Goo.gl).

Here is an example of a tweet in which I drove traffic directly to one of my blog posts:

I am not sure of a business owner in McKinney,TX that would not click on that link, given the headline. What's cool is once the link is clicked, they are now on my website.  If you want more potential customers and clients on your website, do this daily.  Just make sure it has some value to the reader.  Driving traffic every single time to an offer or sales pitch will not build much trust.


As you can see, Twitter is a little more versatile than just tweeting about our next workout or meal choice. The key is to stay consistent.  If you can tweet consistently, you will attract and keep more followers.  The more people that trust you and know about your business the more referrals you will receive.  If you simply do not have time to spend on Twitter, we can manage it for you.  Hope this helps and please share this post with anyone that you feel it may assist as well. Thanks!