Need to up your entrepreneurial game? Maybe social media can help
Social media often gets brushed off as a waste of time, but as the years roll by and platforms like Twitter and Instagram become more and more ingrained in our daily lives, it’s basically impossible to ignore the impact social media is having on modern society.
And this is particularly true for businesses. Nowadays, any business that hopes to grow their audience and reach new heights needs to have some kind of online presence.
But there are even more benefits to Twitter than you realise. In fact, it could be helping you become a better entrepreneur. Here are 5 key business skills that Twitter can help you master.
Writing clear and succinctly
More than any other platform, Twitter has taught us the value of every word. Every tweet can contain a maximum of 280 characters, which is double the original 140 character limit! This forces you to choose your words wisely and cut the fat on any update you choose to share.
There’s a valuable lesson in this. Communicating about your business — whether with customers, employees or other players in your industry — requires you to be clear, concise and passionate with the language you choose.
Networking
The old saying goes that no man is an island. Well, the same is true for businesses. Every successful business is part of a much wider industry in which they actively play a part, integrating themselves within wider areas and conversations in order to stand out and stay relevant.
This is something we do automatically on Twitter. The platform makes it easy to interact directly to customers and businesses alike, sharing advice, positivity, respect and support. It can also help you stay up to date on all the latest industry trends.
Becoming a thought leader
Being a thought leader means not being afraid to speak your mind and share ideas, and that’s exactly what Twitter is all about. It’s a platform made for sharing original thoughts and opinions, while also encouraging you to discuss ideas with others, support people and add commentary to wider trends. This is exactly what a good thought leader should do in every aspect of their business.
Twitter’s crowded network is faced pace, so you need to offer thoughts which are both eye-catching and interesting in order to receive the engagement you’re looking for.
Curating content
Every second, around 6,000 tweets are posted to Twitter. This adds up to around 500 million tweets per day, or 200 billion tweets a year. So finding relevant content amongst all these posts (and making sure your content gets seen) requires a certain level of skill.
Using Twitter for your business will help you discover what works and what doesn’t work in terms of content and branding. What do people respond to? What gains the most engagement? What subject matters are your consumers most interested in? Discovering these answers via Twitter can help gain a better understanding of your business audience overall, helping you create more relevant content.
Encouraging conversation
Communication is key when it comes to running a successful business, and that’s what social media is all about. If you only use Twitter as a means to send content via your soap box and then disappear, you’re not going to get very far. The platform teaches us that conversation and engagement is required in order to find success, and this is also very true of running a business.