The initial stages of starting up a business are often the hardest. There are several issues to consider in terms of marketing and budgeting. The most important one being the process of creating and maintaining your brand’s awareness level. How should you get noticed amongst your target audience in the most cost-effective way? Creating brand awareness through advertising and publicity can surely come easy but the awareness generated may not be sustainable in the long-term. Also, publicity in this sense does not come cheap at all.

Social media has made it so much easier engage with your target audience, which is key to maintaining your brand’s awareness. The problem is, all your competitors and their grandmothers are trying to engage with your target audience as well. You’re not the only one chattering in the Twittersphere, so making yourself heard becomes increasingly difficult.

Russ Laraway, head of SMB of Twitter recently shared a couple of Twitter tips on how small businesses can benefit from Twitter. It’s straight from the horse\’s mouth – so you know that this is advice that you can trust. You may have heard this advice before, perhaps this is a stamp of approval or a nod for you to continue. But it makes sense to us, and we hope it makes sense to you.

Right, so straight from Twitter – here are the five essential Twitter tips for small businesses!

If you’ve got more tips to share, leave a comment below or give us a shout-out at @BetaTwentyOne on Twitter! And yes – now that you’ve liked our infographic so much, it’s absolutely mandatory for you to go ahead and follow us. Here’s a link to our RSS Feed as well.

Do you think Russ missed out on any tips? What else would you tell small sized businesses just starting out on Twitter to do?