As a business on Twitter, I’ve grown adept at using a good mixture of tweets in order to:

1. Create a large, useful, and fun community of fans
2. Sell some t-shirts – Twitter is my #1 sales channel
3. Become a thought leader in the area of social media usage for small business

However, I may be more the exception than the rule. I am still seeing so many businesses that have no idea what they’re doing on Twitter, and even more businesses that don’t even seem to be on Twitter.  The businesses using it think they can broadcast from their bullhorn to yell about their products.  The businesses eschewing Twitter think it’s “not for them” or “pointless.” “Why would I want to know what someone is having for lunch,” right? We’re not going to be that naive about this!

Below I have compiled a list of the top 50 tweets that businesses could or should be doing on Twitter.  The list should be comprehensive enough that a business with the worst writer’s block should be able to generate a useful, interesting stream of tweets.  Not every tweet will be appropriate for every business. Be yourself on Twitter (and everywhere!).  If some of these tweets aren’t you, don’t make them.  However, understand this: having a nice, well-rounded stream of tweets will do more for you than you think.

Overall, my goal is to show businesses that you shouldn’t just tweet about your products, and concurrently, you shouldn’t be afraid to tweet about things that have nothing to do with your products.  As long as the tweets are coming from you, they should allow people to get to know you, and that’s exactly what you should want to happen.

I encourage you to comment below if you feel I’ve missed anything, or if I’ve included a tweet that you think is just completely inappropriate.  Speaking of that, I will have a followup post containing a list of “cutting room floor” tweets that I feel are silly or not appropriate.  Some will disagree with me on those, and I want to hear from you!

These are in no particular order, and I don’t intend for you to use the list to make one of each tweet and then start over – you must be the judge as to the proper mix of tweets for your business. I try to follow the 80/20 rule (tweet 80% about others, only 20% about yourself), and I probably turn this more into the 90/10 rule when I tweet.  I encourage you to keep this ratio in mind as you go about your tweeting.

1.  Seriously, tweet what you’re eating. Tweet it. This is the most inane reason people give for not being on Twitter. “I don’t want to know what you’re eating for lunch.”  Yes you do.  Think about a live conversation between you and another human being – you’re standing together at a cocktail party, at the library, at work. “What’d you do this weekend?” “Oh we went to this great restaurant So-and-So Sushi, OMG it was awesome.”  Is this not a conversation that is had constantly between people that know each other? Well, on Twitter, you’re doing the same thing.  The only differences are you’re not standing in front of the person you’re talking to, you might not know the people reading your tweet, many others will get to hear (see) your conversation, and you’re limited to 140 characters. If I’m eating a steak with a cognac peppercorn reduction sauce, you’re going to know about it.  It’s who I am, and I want you to have a chance to get to know me.

2.  The response to a need – using Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, monitor key words in your business niche, and respond to questions with helpful information.  Or, respond to any tweet that you think you can be helpful on – it does not have to be limited to your business or area of expertise.

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