In 2017, when I first wrote about the benefits of Twitter for small business, social media was very different. Fast forward to 2021—the year Twitter turns 15!—and it’s still an effective platform for marketing.
If you are a team of one that is growing a business, networking, and increasing authority in your niche, then Twitter is one of the easiest social platforms for connecting and having conversations.
While my personal passion for social media has decreased significantly in the past few years, Twitter is a platform that I continue to use. And that’s because it still delivers.
Although the platform isn’t as popular as in the past,, there are plenty of high-profile people who prove that Twitter is still relevant as evidenced by their tweeting habits:
- Celebrities
- The media
- Rockstars
- Executives
- Industry influencers
- Well-known authors
- Politicians
- World leaders
- Big corporations
In fact, Twitter boasts an engaged audience.
- Live television shows ask for feedback and participation via Twitter.
- Events use the platform for real-time engagement.
- Media outlets quote tweets in their articles.
- Celebrities and companies make major announcements via the platform.
- Most online business personalities have a Twitter username in their bio or contact information.
Even if your customers don’t hang out here, it’s THE place to connect with influencers, depending on your industry. Twitter makes communication easy and less restricted, unlike a lot of other social platforms. As long as an account isn’t private, you can tweet them!
When it comes to certain aspects of marketing, the social platform is still a powerhouse! So, let’s talk about the benefits of Twitter for small business to see if it’s worth your time.
1) Twitter Sends Visitors to Your Web Pages
Most social platforms want to keep you on their domain. So, algorithms suppress the content linked to your website. However, Twitter doesn’t seem to restrict tweets that link.
Personally, if I invest any time in tweeting regularly, tweets with links to my websites still send visitors my way.
Twitter delivers and drives more traffic to your site. You don’t even have to pay for these clicks to your website.
According to marketing influencer Sam Hurley, if you’re not using social media to drive traffic and leads, then your brand is losing out “big time.”
Sam built his business without a website. He used LinkedIn and Twitter to generate a “healthy” amount of leads every week.
When I managed social media for clients, Twitter was effective for driving traffic. Case in point, for biohacking expert and wellness coach Anthony DiClementi, I generated over 6,200 clicks to his web pages in only three months.
Other than the cost of a few tools and my time, this traffic was free.
PRO TIP
You need to tweet a lot for people to see your content. Two or three tweets a day isn’t going to make a difference in your traffic.
Start with 10-12 tweets a day and work up from there. The more often you tweet high-quality, relevant content, the higher your clicks. (No spamming your followers!)
2) Twitter is a Great Place to Network with Others
Reaching out to other people on Twitter could not be any easier. It’s about as simple as texting.
The difference, of course, is that tweeting is very public.
Social media marketing is more like networking, especially if you’re in the B2B space. On Twitter, you can meet just about anyone and start a conversation. And this characteristic makes Twitter my favorite social platform.
Trying to reach high-profile industry influencers? Twitter is the platform for that job. Where else are you able to connect with people you don’t know but want to?
I’ve met many influencers in my niche. In fact, Twitter is how I discovered Kim Garst, which led to a dream job working on her team. I also met Madalyn Sklar on Twitter. She’s another influencer who I respect and admire. She has shared my content, had me on one of her Twitter chats, and interviewed me live.
Overall, I’d say Twitter made the magic happen for me. And it can do the same for you if you put in the time and effort. After all, Twitter’s search and hashtag functionality makes it simple to reach out to others, join conversations, contribute value, and be visible.
PRO TIP
Follow hashtags on Twitter and make time each week to engage in conversations if online networking is a priority for you.
Twitter is the platform where conversations are happening, which is great for your business.Click To Tweet3) Twitter is an Effective Channel to Distribute Content and Raise Brand Awareness
Marketing expert Mark Schaefer said in his recent book Known that if you had to choose one distribution channel for your content, he recommends Twitter (page 138).
In 2020, the Content Marketing Institute reported that 82% of B2B content marketers used the platform for organic content marketing in the past year. Somewhat surprising, it was tied with Facebook! (LinkedIn ranked higher at 96%.)
So, don’t disregard Twitter for content marketing. It remains in the game. Facebook, on the other hand, barely displays your content to users unless you want to invest in ads. And, hashtags and search on Facebook? Not good.
Between Twitter and Facebook for reaching people with your content, I say Twitter. I love that public tweets are accessible by anyone, not just followers. So, if you choose the right hashtags, you’ll distribute your content beyond the limits of your community.
You can share your links, blogs, eBooks, lead magnets, presentations, videos, and more on Twitter. The platform supports multiple types of media and makes accessing your content a breeze for everyone. And that’s a big win for content marketers!
Your content expresses who you are and what you do. It’s Branding 101. Since Twitter distributes your content, your brand message is easily conveyed using the platform.
PRO TIPS
Share tweets that are relevant to your target market. Tweet frequently. Miss out on these two things and content distribution is more difficult.
Take your longer blog or video content and break it up into smaller morsels to tweet. Then set those tweets up in a social media scheduling tool. Since you can tweet more than 15 times a day, you’ll need a scheduler!
This is a perfect way to repurpose your content and get more people seeing it.
Communicating your brand is also represented in your interactions with others. Make sure to engage, provide value, and convey your message consistently.
4) Twitter Increases Your Authority and Credibility
As your Twitter following increases and you share more custom, quality content, your authority climbs.
Between your content topics and your engagement, you can build your reputation. This is an effective way to increase your perception as a credible industry expert.
Twitter can propel your notoriety and influence. This authority opens the door to many opportunities. You could become a sought-after speaker, course creator, highly-paid consultant, or get a job on your mentor’s team like I did.
Because of the public and open nature of Twitter, your visibility increases as more people find out about you, your knowledge, and your expertise in a particular niche.
And, once people start looking to you for advice and thought leadership, your authority grows, which can greatly help your business.
Personally, I find this to be a remarkable attribute of the platform! In fact, I think this is one of the best benefits of Twitter for small business.
PRO TIPS
To take advantage of Twitter as a place to grow your authority, concentrate on consistent, regular tweeting on specific niche topics.
Participate frequently in Twitter chats that are relevant to your industry.
5) Twitter Supports Your Visibility in Google
Twitter and Google have a special relationship. You benefit from this relationship since your tweeting boosts your overall SEO juice.
For example, if you’re active on Twitter, your tweets appear in Google searches. Thus, incorporate your ideal keywords in your tweets to help appear for terms and phrases relevant to your brand.
There’s a lot of back and forth on whether social media affects search engine ranking. Although there isn’t necessarily a direct correlation, your digital footprint includes your activity from social media.
When you’re active on social platforms—talking about authoritative topics, growing a big following, and building a brand—this can improve your performance in search.
It goes back to authority and to creating an impact as a brand. The sum of each of these digital pieces of online real estate amount to something bigger.
6) Twitter Raises Awareness
The truth about social media marketing is that direct selling isn’t a practical goal. So, it’s not a surprise that Twitter has seemingly moved away from talking a lot about conversion metrics to highlight the platform’s ability to raise awareness.
One look at Twitter’s marketing and business webpages and you’ll see a lot of customer success stories about campaigns for raising awareness.
There are some mentions of conversions, such as downloads and community growth. And, there’s certainly a big emphasis on culture. But, none of these aspects are sales.
If you have a campaign to raise awareness or need to promote content, Twitter seems to offer results.
Of course, as with most social media platforms, sales are typically an indirect benefit from being active, consistent, and present on the right platforms.
Sales usually happen farther along the buyer’s journey with content being a point of entry. So, getting your content in front of your target market continues to be important to sales. And awareness campaigns do just that.
PRO TIP
How do you get more leads from Twitter? Tailor your content to attract prospects who are more advanced in their buying journey. Choose topics that are more specific to a buyer.
Example:
Web Design Basics vs 5 Qualities to Look For When Hiring a Web Designer
The latter topic does a much better job of targeting the person looking to hire rather than the person casually browsing online for information!
7) Twitter Reaches a Global Audience
A little over 19% of Twitter users are based in the United States. That means around 80% of users are located outside of America. After the US, Japan and India are the next biggest markets respectively.
If you want to reach a worldwide audience with open communication and expand your reach to other countries, then Twitter may be worth exploring.
How would it make you feel to get your message to a more diverse audience? How would your business change if you extended your reach to other locations and a wider market?
With Twitter, you’re able to connect with a varied fan base, which could significantly grow your business.
PRO TIP
If you do intend on going global with your brand, then be aware of the cultural norms and social practices of other places. Do your research before creating content to post on social media.
8) Twitter Facilitates Gathering Feedback
Have you ever noticed how opinionated Twitter users are? LOL
Using Twitter for business, you’re able to discover what your customers want. People are happy to provide feedback, opinions, guidance, and information.
This is your chance to interact on the front line with people. Figure out their pain points, what they need help with, and what they like or don’t like.
Another mega benefit of Twitter for small business is gathering intel on your competition. You can see how the competitors’ audience is reacting to their products, services, and content and act accordingly.
How can you find relevant conversations, monitor your competitors and find potential customers? Twitter’s Advanced Search capabilities are amazing! This post from Clickminded shows you the ropes of Twitter searches.
PRO TIP
Besides advanced search, Twitter chats are another great way to gather feedback. Choose chats in your industry or where your target market hangs out.
New to Twitter chats? Check out Madalyn Sklar’s guide to Twitter chats or her course on how to start your own!
9) Twitter is Less Effort than Other Platforms From a Content Aspect
Creating custom content is mandatory to a successful online business. Custom content takes time and money to produce, so you want to maximize your investment. Re-using your content is key to making it work for you from a lead and conversion standpoint.
Twitter crushes the competition when it comes to content re-purposing. You can produce one blog post or video and use it multiple times and in various ways on Twitter.
An added bonus is that Twitter is low maintenance. It isn’t picky about your image size. It will show a rectangle or square graphic…or you can completely leave out the image! You can share a video (rectangular or square) or share a link…Twitter doesn’t care! It is not nearly as picky as Instagram or Pinterest.
Recycling your content on Twitter is simple and doesn’t require a ton of effort. You can produce quality content once, but use it many times. That’s what I call getting more mileage and improving my productivity.
Some Potential Disadvantages of Twitter
The platform isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. In spite of all of the benefits of Twitter for small business, it isn’t necessarily where you want to spend time on social media marketing. It really depends on your business, target market, and your own personality.
Is your target market on Twitter? Here’s what you need to know about Twitter demographics:
- Mostly male audience globally but 50/50 split in US
- Politically more Democrat and left leaning
- 42% have a college degree
- Millennials are most active on the platform
- Users have above average household income
Whether you’re considering Twitter as a marketing platform or you’re creating tweets, keep these demographics in mind.
I left Twitter for a long time because I wanted a pause from the negativity on the platform. Animal abuse, politics, trolls…as an introvert, I was finding that social media was a drain on me at that time. It wasn’t jiving with my personality. And that’s why I took a break from the platform (and stopped offering social media services) at the end of 2019.
Twitter makes sense as a marketing platform if it meets your business and brand goals as well as your personal preferences.
The point is, pay attention to whether it makes sense for your business to be on Twitter based on the demographics. AND, pay attention to whether you enjoy being on Twitter.
Many of the benefits mentioned here require time spent on the platform engaging with others. If you’re not up for that, then look to another social platform. 😉
The Biggest Twitter Benefit for Your Business
If I really had to choose the best of what Twitter offers small businesses, it’s the opportunity to network with influential people and build your authority.
The goal here isn’t sales, it’s clout, credibility, and trust. And those things are tough to quantify. But they do make a difference to your business and your bottom line!
Thanks to Hootsuite for their statistical data.
UPDATED MAY 18, 2021 | PUBLISHED JUNE 20, 2017
Awesome article! I wish more people would follow the process you
laid out. I shared this on Facebook and I think my followers with love it.
Cheers!
Appreciate the compliments and thanks for the share! 🙂
Yes, twitter seems like an old soul in social media. I have not used it that much nowadays but I remember that I have had great interactions with some people there when I was looking to do some collaborative work.
Oh my… I DO use Twitter and find it helps drive traffic to my optins and website. I admit that I don’t use it as well for conversations and definitely need to up my game in that way so I reply to tweet conversations coming my way.
I laughed about the millennials checking twitter twice daily. My kids are all millennials and check their twitter like 30 times a day – lol.
That’s terrific that Twitter is sending traffic to your site! Engagement can boost your results further. As we know, engaging on social media takes time, especially Twitter since the tempo is fast. Thanks Tandy!
Such great inspiration Meghan. I can feel overwhelmed at times because I don’t have the time to engage with people on Twitter. I’m using FB mostly now, but at an event I had a month I told the audience to feel free to take photos and share. A trio of young girls were on it immediately. I asked – FB? and they responded – oh no, we use Snapchat. Ugh!
Social media, in general, can be overwhelming. But with the right systems in place, managing your social marketing is less stressful. As for Snapchat, I’m sure tons of young people are on it. I don’t find it useful for personal or business relationships, so I haven’t devoted any time to Snapchat. I prefer Instagram Stories if I’m going to use that type of social marketing. But, as they say, go where your audience is. In my opinion, Facebook is a good platform for B2C. Thanks Candess!
ooo – still here with heels dug in, though I appreciate the post and Kristen and Susan’s comments, above.
I actually love Twitter, yet I know I am not using it as effectively as I could. To start, I only do about 2 or 3 original tweets as day of mine, although I am having conversations and replying to a lot of people from some threads I participate in. I am curious about the people who retweet 30 or 50 other people’s tweets each day, (because of the threads they are in), and how that impacts how the twitter world views their business. It always seems to me that there is no consistency when you are just retweeting other people’s messages. This is why I reply vs. retweet. I now use twitter to see what is new and trending and although I don’t spend a lot of time on it, I find it is the fastest and most diverse place to connect with people. Many of the people who follow me, I would never have ‘found’ on other platforms. I am learning, albeit slowly, but do see Twitter as having the capacity to generate a lot of new connections and new relationships, Meghan. Thanks for confirming that and all the tips!
Yay! Happy to hear that the platform is valuable in terms of connections and relationships. To generate more traffic to your site, you’ll need to tweet more, it’s just that simple. Hardly anyone sees your content if you’re tweeting only 2-3 times a day. Bump it up to 12-14 to start–I know you have a TON of content to use. 😉 Retweeting is a nice way to share the love and support your colleagues, fans, audience, and industry influencers. However, if you don’t share original content, no one will get to know, like, and trust your brand. So I agree with you, Beverley. Twitter’s reach is far and wide, so if you’re looking to spread a message, the platform delivers. Thank you for your detailed feedback and comments. 🙂
I’m feeling more and more like I’m missing out by not being more engaged on Twitter. I do believe it is the place where conversations, often important conversations are taking place. I also have become somewhat disillusioned with Facebook and its constant changes. The only thing holding me back at the moment is time. It seems you need to be on it a lot to really reap the benefits and I think fast replies are expected.
I do know this Tami: when I share your content on Twitter, it’s usually popular. I believe you’d do well on Twitter, but it is fast-moving and requires timely responses. Yet, you can use a tool for help with engagement. I sometimes miss a day here or there since life happens, you know? Facebook drives me bonkers. It throttles my reach and delivers my content in the most UNTIMELY fashion. Facebook has some good qualities, especially for B2C, but driving traffic isn’t necessarily one due to its algorithms.
I need to spend more time on Twitter. It’s always been so much more of a struggle to get a following than on Facebook. Great points and almost enough to get me to read my activity 🙂 Thanks.
It sounds as if you’ve got a lot going on in Facebook, Cathy. If that’s what’s working, there’s nothing wrong with sticking to it. Twitter would probably work with your niche, but every social platform requires time, as you well know. 🙂 Thank you!
I really love Twitter. I love how immediate it is. You don’t have to sit and wait for an algorithm to show your post to someone. You just see it in real time as you scroll. Twitter has been very good to me, and is a great source of traffic for my blog and has been the easiest social platform for me to grow.
DOUBLE YAY! I love Twitter too (obviously), and I agree with you on its ability to drive traffic and build an audience. Thank you Jennifer! 🙂
YESSSSSSSSSS… I tell you I dug in my heels at first and it is a lot to keep up with.. but all the work I put into Facebook and such a little feedback.. actually more work. Twitter hasn’t changed the 5 million times like FB and then the other platforms, so nice to see something maintain.
ANDDDD the cool thing, my work has paid off.. I just got a comment from someone the other day, random, I replied, and we started carrying on a conversation – you know (BIZ RELATIONSHIP BUILDING IN THE WORKS) and now, I will be working with her on a website project… business builder.. BOOM!
This is music to my ears, Kristen! Thank you for sharing the proof that Twitter content AND conversations help your business. As you well know, I feel that same way about Facebook–lots of work, with little reward due to a closed platform where my content distribution is throttled. Congrats on your Twitter expertise and new client! You’re a pro. 😉
Thank you for this, Meghan. I wonder a lot if all the twitter stuff matters, although I’m really engaged on it. You’ve just made me feel a lot better about the time and money spent to do so!
I run into quite a few small business owners who wonder if social media is worth it. Twitter has significant benefits related to traffic generation and getting found in search, so I truly believe that you get your return on investment (with a few stipulations). If the platform is driving visitors to your web pages and offers, then it’s worth it! Of course, the second part of this is that your website needs to be set up to convert, but that’s whole different topic. 😉