How to Find Customers on Twitter

Most of us are familiar with Twitter as a great communication tool for sharing content, but perhaps you didn’t know that it’s also a great place to find customers. According to Twitter, there are over 316 million monthly active users and more than 500 million tweets are sent per day. Is it possible to cut through the noise to find your customers?

In this post, you’ll learn how you use search and Twitter chats to find new customers.

1) Search for keywords

Many small business owners don’t understand how powerful search can be for discovering new customers.

Start with making a list of keywords and hashtags related to your business and products (you may even consider your competitors and their products). Think of terms your customers would use when they’re talking about things related to your brand. You can use this list to conduct a simple search on Twitter – on Twitter’s homepage, search for your keyword or hashtag near the top navigation. Filter through the search results to find and follow prospects you think are interested in your brand – you can engage with them by favoriting their tweets, retweeting their content, and using @ mentions to strike conversations.

You can also use some of the advanced Twitter search options to refine your targeting – for example you can limit your search options to a specific area i.e. Seattle or New York. Click here to learn more about Twitter’s Advanced Search feature..

2) Participate in Twitter chats

Twitter chats connect people who are interested about a particular topic or industry. If your business is an expert in a specific area, you should definitely consider hosting a chat. Hosting a Twitter chat is a great way to ‘meet and mingle’ with people who may eventually become customers. These chats enable your team to interact directly with potential customers, collaborate with other companies in your vertical, and improve reach and engagement. They usually run for an hour and include introductions, Q&A, wrap-ups, and an opportunity to have an open social conversation.

Before hosting your own Twitter chat, we highly encourage you to participate in one or two chats to become comfortable with how they work.

Interested in participating in a chat? Here’s a comprehensive list of Twitter Chats you can participate in relative to your industry and customers.

Do you have other approaches on finding potential customers on Twitter? Leave us a comment below!