In this age of 24/7 communication, your consumers are not only people who buy your product or services, but are vital to your online presence and valued members of your marketing team.

By engaging with customers and developing online relationships via Twitter, a successful inbound marketing strategy can be made.

As a business, Twitter is a relationship-building and maintenance tool – an ideal way to meet potential customers and to lead them to your site and products. However, social media users respond best to personalities rather than plugs, so merely tweeting a link to the business insurance you provide will have little more effect than handing out a single flyer on the high street.

It is important to engage with your followers – ask them questions, or expand on why you’ve posted a link. For example: “A guide to business insurance for budding entrepreneurs [link]” will pull in more traffic and interest than a link with no description or blurb.

Spreading the word about you and your business without spamming followers can be a tricky business – sending links of your blog posts and offers will be your main priority, but linking your followers to useful sites and articles you’ve found will also give you credibility and help you gain followers. This will also give your business account a personal touch, as it will show you’re not just about promoting yourself. Try to keep links to articles and blog posts in your field, without promoting your competitors, though.

Make a habit of searching for mentions of your company and responding to any queries that aren’t directed straight @ you (get it?) – this will build relationships and potentially drive more traffic to your site, as well as create more customers and trust in your brand. It is also worth monitoring the conversation surrounding your brand – are people making complaints about customer service or are people complimenting or just mentioning your company? Either way, this is a great excuse to create some dialogue with the public. Sign up to socialmediamention.com to stay up to date with your how people see you online.

Having good Twitter etiquette will also go far in the Twittersphere – poor spelling and grammar as well as constantly ignoring @ tweets will lower your reputation, and so will continuous spam. However, spotting mentions and thanking users will have the opposite effect. Avoid negative feedback by chatting to your followers, even when they’re not broadcasting your name to the world – manners will get you everywhere!

See also: A better way of doing business