Do you spend much time on Twitter observing how others communicate? I do and I must say I love it. It is so fascinating to see how different people use it and more importantly, how different businesses use it. You really can learn a lot by watching.

Ok, I realize that to some this may sound a little weird and maybe I am a little weird but I really do learn many different things while observing how businesses use Twitter. Sure, there are many books that teach the basics of social media but to really stay current and understand what’s happening, I find that by doing my own research I learn much more. Hopefully I am able to pass along some of this information to you so you don’t have to do the research.

Many businesses just tweet about business, some to the point of only tweeting advertisements. Tweeting about advertisements may work for some but it certainly doesn’t develop any relationships. On the other end of the scale are those that tweet about only personal things and seem to forget that their purpose was to develop a community around their business. I’ve seen some that seem to say only negative things which certainly isn’t going to develop relationships unless, I suppose, others that feel the same way find them. I’m not sure that will benefit your business though. Anyway, neither of these examples are really the best use of Twitter.

Yes, it’s important to get your advertisements out there and yes, it’s important to get yourself out there. A blend of both is really a better way to approach your social media campaign though. The beauty of social media is the ability to develop relationships; relationships with customers and prospective customers, as well as with other businesses.

First, it’s OK to be yourself. In fact it’s more than OK to be yourself. What you are trying to accomplish is to let people know who YOU are. Knowing you will clue people in to what the values of your business are. If your husband, wife or the kids tweet to you during the day, as long as it’s not too personal, that’s great. It lets your followers know that you really are a real person, not just a business. If you tweet to, or retweet something of a neighboring business, that’s great too. It demonstrates to your followers that you care about your community.

And then, of course, you should be tweeting about your business. Tweet your special offers along with other information you think your followers would be interested in. If something is happening at your business that you are excited about or find interesting, then your followers probably will too.

Last, but not least, be sure to respond to people that mention you. Check your @YOU page to see what people are saying about you and respond. This is a great way to get conversations started and to let people know you appreciate them and what they are saying about you.

Oh, and one more thing – Have fun with it!

Photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa

In the world of travel, a destination is defined as a place or area where people travel to for recreation, relaxation, and enjoyment. How great would it be if your business, or better yet, your area of businesses, were to become known as a destination for those purposes?

Becoming known as a destination may not be as difficult as you think. How many businesses are in your area? Your area could be just one block of a street or a couple of block, a shopping plaza, a mall or even a town. The idea here is for the businesses within your area to partner for the purposes of creating yourselves as a destination, a place for people to hang out, relax, and enjoy.

Let’s say that your area has a couple of restaurants, a couple of boutiques, and a night club. Maybe you define yourselves as a destination to shop, enjoy good food and night life. Or, maybe your area has restaurants, a spa, a hair salon and a nail salon. So you could define yourselves as a destination to get pampered in. It can be done no matter what the type of businesses are. It’s a matter of being a little creative in your marketing.

A destination has the ability to attract far more people than one business can. The more people there are in the area, the better the chances of them stopping in your store are.

Talk with the businesses in your area to see how you could partner to become a destination. It’s an exciting concept and has the potential to be more profitable as well as a lot more fun, not only for the customers but for the businesses involved as well. I’ve said it before, two heads (or better yet, 10 heads) are better than one. One person may be able to do some great work but a small group can do some amazing things.

Steve and I are working on a project now to help small businesses create a community. It’s something that we both very strongly believe in and are very excited about the opportunity to help businesses with this. If you are interested in learning more about this project and receive updates, please sign up above to receive our free report and we’ll keep you updated on our progress.

Photo credit: ap.