The Twitter Hack I Used to Help Grow My Startup to 11 Million Users

The startup social media network and blogging platform that I am a Brand Ambassador for, beBee, has grown from zero to just under 11 million users in its first year and a half. 

Like most startups, our advertising budget is not nearly as big as other established social media networks in our space. One way we have accelerated growth via word-of-mouth marketing is by using Twitter. 

Twitter, when compared to traditional marketing, has always been a low-cost medium for generating leads. However, growing a following can be difficult for a startup.

In this post, I'm going to tell you how I've implemented this strategy at beBee and several other startups I've worked with.

Tweeting from multiple accounts

Unlike other social media platforms, Twitter doesn't put a limit on the number of profiles a business can have. However, most startups only open one account for their business.  

I am an advocate for opening up multiple Twitter accounts for your startup and tweeting from all of them. Having multiple distribution channels on Twitter expands the viewership of your company's content and message.

Tweeting from more than one account makes your company more discoverable and boosts your SEO. Consider that each Twitter account for your business will be growing a unique set of followers. Having multiple accounts allows you to establish an online presence faster and close the gap between your more established competitors' networks.

Here a few practical ways you can implement this in your company and create Twitter pages beyond just the main business account. 

Create an account for each department in your company. Tweet specific updates that pertain to what that department does for the company.  

When a company's thought leaders tweet, more people listen. Consider that "77 percent of buyers are more likely to buy from a company whose CEO uses social media."  (Source:  MSLGroup)

Tweet content that reflects the areas of expertise of your company's top employees.

Create accounts that are specific to events that your company may be holding. This is most effective if the event is annual.

Does your company have a sustainability program? Establish a Twitter account for each charitable arm of the organization or other causes that the company is passionate about.

Do you have a major product launch coming up in a few months? Consider creating a Twitter account for the launch. Keep users up to date on the launch of the product. Give them teasers that pique their interest.

Creating a specific Twitter handle for major events and trade shows that your company is hosting is also a good idea.

How to manage it all

I know what many of you are thinking: this sounds like a lot to manage.

There are many third-party applications like Hootsuite and Buffer for managing multiple Twitter accounts that enable you to administer all the accounts from one portal where you can easily schedule tweets, monitor account activity, retweet, favorite, and more. 

Recently, Twitter announced that it will make a few exceptions to its 140-character limit to exclude user names and multimedia. The extra real estate in tweets has been very well received by users and marketers alike. 

Now, regarding your startup on Twitter, the question becomes, "do you still want to just have only one company spokesperson?"

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

Source: The Twitter Hack I Used to Help Grow My Startup to 11 Million Users