As a small business owner, being on Twitter is pretty much a given, especially if your target audience hangs out there.

But how do you ensure that you don’t just faff around and while away your time but make your Twitter presence actually bring you sales and leads?

Here are some fun ways to spice up your Twitter account and generate more business:

Create a #hashtag for your best biz-related tweets

We all have something useful to share with our followers. Make those tweets stand out by creating a unique hashtag that people can search for and follow as well as retweet and promote. A hashtag is a word or phrase that describes the general topic of your tweet.

Alternatively, you can use an exisiting popular hashtag to get relevant tweets noticed by people who follow that hashtag. For instance, a cloth diapering boutique owner can tweet out tips about cloth diapering using #clothdiapers

Curious about how a hashtag really works and which one’s trending or popular? Here’s more information.

 Add ‘lead’ links to your bio section

Next and I know, we’ve covered this in the free Twitter Profile Optimization guide, but make sure your bio has links that your followers can click on, check out and possibly sign up at as well.

Since you can now add TWO links, make the second one a link to your opt-in page. That way, you can directly get leads from Twitter. Win!!

Make your tweets re-tweetable

Wonder why no one retweets your tweets? Maybe because they’re too long.  Keep your tweets short and sweet and allow your followers to retweet them easily without having to edit or shorten them. Seriously, we’re all short on time. Right?

Update your Twitter bio, photo and links often

When was the last time you updated your Twitter profile and bio? Don’t remember. Well, now is a good time to do that. In fact, create a few Twitter bios and designs that you can switch often and keep the ‘new’ factor alive. It will also help you to determine what works best in terms of lead generation.

 Add a customized About or Landing page

What would you like Twitter to do for you? Bring you more sales or leads? Then direct your followers and show them why they should buy from you or hire you. Create a customized landing page for your followers and boost your engagement with them. 

Not only this will show that you care enough about them to create a special page just for them, but it will also give you a chance to tell them more about your products, services or a free offer or special deal, just for them.

So, what are YOU going to do this week to spice up your Twitter account and generate more business from it? Tell us in the comments.

Photo Credit: Free Digital Photos