1. Talk to suppliers. It can be a very fast route into the customer service team of your larger suppliers, such as utility providers. Twitter, or other social networks, can also provide an alternative communication channel with smaller suppliers, particularly sole traders who may find it the easiest option when on the move.
2. Travel news updates. Twitter is a great source of real-time news about road closures, rail delays and problems at airports. Use the Twitter search function to look up the road name or place that you need information about.
3. Promote special offers. Many small firms run special deals, and even giveaways, on Twitter. It's one way of adding new followers or promoting deals at very short notice.
4. Find out what’s going on at an event. An increasing number of conferences, exhibitions and other big events are using a common hashtag to connect all the tweets. If you follow the tweets using that hashtag, the many tweeters using it will give you a great feel for what’s going on.
5. Get answers to questions. Twitter gives you access to hundreds of thousands of people, through various levels of followers. If you have a specific question, there’s a good chance you can get an answer through Twitter, or at least be put in touch with someone who can help.
6. Build a network of expert contacts. Within minutes of opening a Twitter account, you could be following a host of specialists in your chosen field. Using the search function, and then seeing who follows who, you can discover experts from across the world.
By Andrew Knowles, social media consultant and copywriter, based in Dorset.
Visit our other business tips page for more valuable information.
Looking for more Twitter tips? Take a look at these:
Become really effective on Twitter with your 5-Day Twitter Action Plan
5 Reasons why posting links in Twitter doesn't work
5 Reasons why you're not getting more followers on Twitter
