Business on Twitter Because Twitter’s not just for twits ;)

How long have you been on Twitter?
I have been using Twitter for a couple of months now.

How many people follow you?
Between 500 and 600 at the moment.
If you are reading this and are not yet following me I invite you to check out my profile @Ces_Creatively.
If you decide to follow then I look forward to tweeting with you soon!

How many people do you follow?
I am officially following approx 400 at the moment but there are 30-50 tweeps I have in a network group and follow daily.

What made you sign up to Twitter?
My husband and business partner @JayLoftus signed up to Twitter a few months before me. When I saw the potential of Twitter for raising brand awareness, sharing knowledge, giving tips and driving traffic to our website I was keen to sign up too and took advantage of buying TweetMentor to help me get the most best ROI from Twitter.

I immediately saw that Standing Out is not just about making noise on Twitter, it is about looking professional and presenting quality information relating to genuine great products and services and having positive interaction with your followers.

From a business image perspective, if you have a great product or service but struggle to stand out from the crowd then a Professional Twitter Profile Background provides the opportunity to gain more followers and quickly get across a clear message about your business benefits and great reputation so people will see you are someone worth following. I was keen to sign up and share this tip and have since written several articles on this topic.

How often do you ‘Tweet’?
On average I will Tweet 2 or 3 tips a day, giving ambitious professionals an insight into gaining a brand advantage and exploiting their great reputation through their business image.

I will also Tweet about 3-5 links a day to really useful and constructive blogs and articles whether they are on my site, in my newsletter or online in other social media. These I may tweet again at different times of the day.

I also invite Tweeps to fire over questions relating to their business image which I am happy to answer as soon as I can.

I also Tweet special offers for followers and have been known to put a freebie package up for grabs to a lucky follower when I’m having a really good day!

I am always on the look out for great quotes, tips, links or promotions to Re-Tweet too.

How has Twitter been beneficial to your business?
Twitter has been beneficial to my business in lots of ways.

I have been standing out, getting noticed, attracting followers, driving traffic to my website and blogs and generally raising awareness of my business by having a professional profile background and portraying a clear message about the benefits of exploiting your brand reputation to gain a business advantage.

I have been able to show my credibility and exploit my business reputation by Tweeting links to case studies, testimonials from happy clients I have been working with, and directing Tweeps to blogs and interviews I have done on various sites. Also, when clients tweet great things about the work I have done for them and how they have been getting good feedback and winning contracts having first got their clients attention with their professional logo, slogan, brochure, branded twitter background, branded twitter follow me button,that’s great too!

When happy clients Tweet how much they have benefited from working with me to gain a business advantage it helps spread the word about the importance of consistent good branding.

In Tweeting tips and posing questions that really make followers think about what they are trying to achieve with their business and whether they have the right strategy and image to accomplish their goals it enables me to show people I know what I’m talking about when it comes to business image matters.

Tweeting to promote specific products, services events or special offers within the 120 characters of a Tweet (with RT space) has enabled me to really clarify what is the most important selling point and message of benefit that I want to get across.

I have been using Twitpic to show Tweeps progress of projects I am working on and get their response and feedback.

The instant nature of Tweeting means I can send messages and DM’s to contacts and clients who are on twitter at the time with immediate response which is great.

Finding suppliers or businesses to work with is great via Twitter because most of the time a suggestion will be put forward by someone you know and value the opinion of.

When advocates recommend me to others on Twitter it is great word of mouth advertising and often results in a paid job.

The opportunity is immense to do research and surveys testing the water for a new service angle by gathering important opinions from thosewithin my target market of ambitious professionals and small business owners who want to Stand Out and gain more high margin clients.

Of course having gained great leads and actually sold I have sold Business Image Advantage packages and Professional Twitter Profile Backgrounds as a direct result of being noticed on Twitter as well as gaining great leads which have converted to sell my e-course, other Social Media Profile backgrounds, full Brand Refreshment packages, Websites an other applied branding project as a direct result of being
noticed on Twitter that comes as a great benefit too.

If you had to recommend one person that business people should follow on Twitter, who would it be and why?
Well, I would say Nikki Pilkington of course but then I’m sure the lovely Tweeps reading this are already following the fabulous Ms Pilkington!

Someone else who I cannot recommend enough is @Richard__White" target="_blank">@Richard__White The Accidental Salesman. His Tweets are really inspiring, regular great tips for those who are good at what they do but don’t consider themselves sales experts. He provides affordable and effective high quality sales training and coaching for professionals as well as amazing sales breakthrough sessions. Plus, he is a wonderful genuine guy.

Have you had business / leads from Twitter?
Yes I have. I have sold Business Image Advantage packages, Professional Twitter Profile Backgrounds and Twitter Follow Me buttonsas a direct result of being noticed on Twitter. I have also gained great feedback from those eagerly awaiting the sale launch of my e-course,and other Social Media Profile backgrounds. By having increased the regular contact I have with some other clients they have decided togo ahead and work with me on new and exciting projects sooner rather than later too!

I am also delighted with the response to my new e-course which provides a business image health check and then goes on to cover all the aspects of identifying your best products and target market, making sure you are attracting the right customers, ensuring you don’t risk damaging your great business reputation by not looking professional or not standing out enough, exploiting your great credibility in Social Media
and through self marketing / PR and ensuring you have a consistent impressive business image that works 24/7 to positively promote you.

Through promoting and Tweeting about my ‘Business Image Advantage’ club on ww.pledgingforchange.com I have gained new members and introduced people to a great Social Enterprise site which is all about working together and encouraging small changes that add up to make a big difference too.

Can you give a specific example of how Twitter has made a difference to your business?
Twitter has made a difference to my business. It has strengthened relationships I have with advocates, introduced me to many other great business people, facilitated promoting my business services and helped me raise awareness of my professional business reputation and credibility and enabled me to gain direct business through showing my services genuinely add value.

To give a specific example of gaining business through Twitter, when I have Tweeted links to my articles about the advantages of having a Professional Profile Background, these links are often Re-Tweeted as the content has been recognised as being of value. This leads to people checking out my profile, following links for other profiles I have done for clients and often results in the viewer signing up for a profile background straight away or at the least deciding to follow me which is great! A lot of the time those people who want a professional branded twitter profile background will then want to buy the branded follow me buttons which link directly to your profile and come in three sizes as well.

How do you see your use of Twitter evolving in the future, if at all?
I plan on increasing my interaction with my followers. Finding out what you want help achieving, whether you are fully exploiting your business reputation throughout your branding to attract enough of your ideal high margin clients and continuing to provide really useful content that you can take away and use constructively to add value to your business.

I also want to give my followers more opportunity to spread the word about their great brand and business reputation through doing more features, interviews and case studies as well as the regular ‘brand in the spotlight’ feature I already run.

I will be running more regular special offers and give aways too.

Plus lots of other stuff, but that is the great thing about being versatile and evolving, it means embracing change and new opportunities that come of it.

Your Twitter name?
@Ces_Creatively

Your website address?
www.creativelyminded.com

A short description of your website:
Have you worked hard to establish your credibility and reputation?
Do you seize every opportunity to boost your advantage in the market place?
Do you attract enough of your ideal high margin clients?
If you want to discover something that can adds real value to your business check out www.creativelyminded.com

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I’d love to help you maximise your brand advantage!