Did you know: A day’s worth of Tweets would fill a 10 million page book?!

I have always said that Twitter is my favourite network. Ever since Twitter hit the social media scene in 2006, it has been my preferred platform to connect with my audience and there are so many amazing Twitter features that you, as a small business have not been utilising. 

1. Twitter Polls

I wrote an article focused on Twitter Polls at the end of last year which explains how to create a poll in under 60 seconds. They are one of the best ways to get feedback from your audience which is why it is one of the best Twitter features. They are completely free of charge to run, but don’t over do it. Only run a Twitter poll with a specific purpose in mind.

2. @Mention

This might sound crazy, but I still see businesses posting a Tweet mentioning a person or another business without @ mentioning them. If you have been doing this, the reach of your tweet will be heavily impacted. The tweets with an @ mention will show up in the notification tab of those you have mentioned, meaning that a reply or a potential two-way conversation is more likely.

3. Pinned Tweets

Just like Facebook business pages, you can “pin” a tweet to the top of your Twitter profile. If you have a Tweet you would like to receive more engagement with, or one that is particularly important to your business, pin it to the top so that when someone visits your page, this is the first tweet they will see.

4. Twitter Lists

The same as Twitter polls; I have also written a dedicated article on the importance of Twitter lists and how to create one. If there are 300 million active Twitter users, with over 500 million tweets a day, how can YOU hone in on what’s important to you, and your business? Creating a Twitter list allows you to do this.

5. Direct Messaging

The Twitter direct messaging feature has caused a lot of controversy because of how “spammy” it can become. With this in mind, direct messaging on Twitter is still a great way to reach out to your audience. Opening with a sales type message is not the way to go. Say something that will welcome positive engagement from your audience.

6. Twitter Cards

A Twitter card is a type of tweet that allows you to add a rich photo, video or media file to drive traffic to a desired URL. Using this will need a little bit of technical work in the form of a few lines of HTML but this isn’t difficult. Once this has been done, Tweets with links to your website will have an automatic “card” added to tweets. There are many different types of Twitter cards. To find out more, see the Twitter website here.

7. Your Twitter Profile

Whilst this is not a “secret” Twitter feature, I have noticed that a lot of businesses are not utilising the power of their Twitter profile. Do you have a nice profile picture and header image? Have you got a biography that is keyword rich and explains what you do, and how you can help your customer? This is the first thing a potential customer will see if they are looking for you on Twitter so make sure it is brand consistent.

How many of the above Twitter features have you been using?