5 Twitter Tips for Business Leaders — How to Stand Out

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Elon Musk’s unsolicited offer to take Twitter private had many social media observers wondering how long the platform would exist in recognizable form. 

But don’t count Twitter out quite yet. It remains the best place for business influencers to get together and chat, with the possible exception of LinkedIn. (Which, let’s be honest, is an entirely different ball game.)

So, let’s assume Twitter will be around for a while. Let’s further assume that you want to leverage it to raise your professional profile and connect with fellow thought leaders.

How should you go about doing that?

Let’s examine five strategies you can try right now.

 

  1. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

 

Text-only tweets are so 2008.

Make no mistake, there’s still a place for text-based tweeting, but the platform has grown much better at accommodating photo and video tweets too. If you’re not taking advantage of these capabilities, you’re not going to maximize your engagement potential.

You don’t have to tweet photos and videos about what you “know” either, nor stick narrowly to your professional domain. But your multimedia tweets should align with your interests. The Twitter handle for Michael Capiraso, a New York sports executive, is a good example — Capiraso’s photo tweets showcase cool things he sees on his runs, like park landscapes and urban wildlife.

 

  1. Tweet Often, Even If You’re Not Inspired

 

The more you tweet, the more engagement you’re going to generate. It’s not clear that the 80/20 rule applies here, as the vast majority of your tweets won’t do great numbers when you’re still building your followership. 

But the law of large numbers dictates that you’ll eventually hit pay dirt and tweet something that draws a ton of organic engagement. Learn from these successes and you’ll find they happen more often. 

 

  1. Follow Thought Leaders in Your Space

 

You probably already follow a few thought leaders in your domain. There are always more, however. And because your follows influence Twitter’s personalized user algorithm, following thought leaders in your space is sure to lead to better tweet and follow recommendations over time.

So, set aside 15 to 30 minutes each week to find and follow people you’d like to engage with on Twitter. Add them to curated Twitter lists to keep them organized.

 

  1. Don’t Be Afraid to Reply — But Don’t Be a “Reply Guy”

 

If you’re serious about engaging on Twitter, you have to reply to tweets. Just don’t be a “reply guy” — one of those users whose replies are useless at best and annoying or outright harmful at worst. 

 

If you’re not sure you can add value to a conversation, hold your tongue. And if you can, be prepared to defend your assertions.

 

  1. Ask Questions (And Share Your Own Answers)

 

Finally, regularly ask questions of your followers — and give them the occasional opportunity to ask questions of you too. These “Ask Me Anything” sessions are most commonly hosted on Reddit, but Twitter AMAs (sometimes known as TweetChats) are popular too.

 

Love It or Hate It, Twitter Still Matters

 

Twitter has defied predictions of its demise in the past. No matter who controls the platform next year, it’s likely to remain relevant for business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Including you.

These six strategies will measurably improve your Twitter presence, boost engagement with your brand, and earn you more followers. They won’t guarantee downstream benefits — an expectations-shattering fundraising round, the role of a lifetime — but they don’t rule them out either.