The wonderful world of Twitter has unlocked business opportunities for almost every type of user – from emerging artists, celebrities, big brands, news sources, and (most importantly for you) B2B marketers. With the mission to give users the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, this social media platform allows B2B marketers to better connect, converse and engage their audiences. Twitter offers B2B marketers the chance to attract prospects, interact and engage with clients, increase brand awareness, better understand their audience and much more. But, what’s the “much more”?

1. Twitter chats.

Networking and speaking with other people from within your respective industry is key for growing your online presence. Twitter chats give you the ability to speak with peers, customers, and thought leaders in an organized way.

2. Share control

One way to ensure a steady flow of messages from your company Twitter account is to employ not one, but multiple users to represent the brand. Doing so extends the amount of content and conversations from one person’s view, to multiple people’s views and ideas. In addition, having multiple people messaging on Twitter will insure an ongoing, steady stream of tweets  in the event a team member transitions to a different role/company.

3. Position your company as a thought leader.

If you have any employees who are considered industry experts, give them some Twitter love when they speak at conferences, publish an article or blog post, or get recognized for an award. Tweet links to current news in your industry. This shows you stay up-to-date and know what’s going on outside your own four walls. Tweet content that makes you look smart and well-connected.

4. Identify and engage influencers.

There are many ways that B2B marketers can use Twitter to find influencers and start interacting with them to establish valuable relationships. Twitter Search has really stepped up its game when it comes to filtering and being able to sort through more than 300 million users. There are also third party tools that you can use to find influences in your industry. Once these influencers are identified, follow them and start getting noticed by liking their tweets and replying to them on a regular basis.

5. Understand your audience.

After identifying your target audience, it’s time to start interacting with them. However to ensure that your efforts are fostering engagement, it’s important you truly understand your audience and create a plan that is focused on content that they want to see.

6. Timing is everything.

Understand the specific days and times your company’s messages are more likely to be read and shared.  If, for instance, analytics indicates that your community tends to retweet and share content more frequently early in the day, or early in the week, time your most compelling content to hit the stream during those times.

All work and no play makes your Twitter feed a dull read. Don’t be afraid to have a little fun. Try a weekly impossible quiz, a photo bomb, employee-of-the-week photo, customer-of-the-week, a weekly poll, fill-in-the-blank, etc. The possibilities are endless. The key is to be consistent. If you start doing a customer-of-the-week recognition tweet, you have to commit to doing it every week. Get creative!