Here is a list of techniques you can use to increase your twitter engagement. There are other small business tools at foxtangocharlie.com

1. Talk behind their back. Really they like it.

I had a twitter conversation today with one of my favorite food trucks @theNYslice I told them that I was on my way… But here is the cool part, I confirmed there location in front of @holycowcupcakes. See how that works? When @theNYslice responded to me he mentioned me and @holycowcupcakes. Therefore @holycowcupcakes was mentioned to all of my followers as well as @theNYslice’s. So we were talking about @holycowcupcakes behind their back. Now hopefully @holycowcupcakes will join the conversation and mention us to all their followers. Do you follow?

2. I rule! I’m better then you are.

What do high school boys need. Competition. They need to show off their manliness or almost manliness. They need the opportunity to show that they are better then the next dude. It is interesting to see that many compititons get some major airtime. Some major play. Everyone gives it a try.

How does that translate? It is easy to set up a competition that spurs conversation. But it does take some effort. Heres an example. If you are a hair salon owner…have a competition on who submits a picture of the worst split ends. Give the competition a week. At the conclusion declare a winner. But… You now have access to all the other people who submitted. Hit them up and get them in the salon. Genius if you ask me.

3. Beg the question.

I had someone use this on me. I am not certain if it was a tactic to get exposure or if this person really wanted answers to questions. So here is how it goes. Pick a tagret. Someone with alot of followers and with followers who could be your target market. Ask them a question. A question (mention them @) you think all of their followers would also want the answer to. This will encourage the target to retweet your question with the answer. Continue to engage the target. That will increase exposure.

4. Choices.

Quick tweet … Do you like @x103 or @Q95 better? Two radio stations. simple poll. People like to voice their opinion. Many of your followers will rt their answers. The radio stations might even rt and that would be huge. Use this with anything… Make-up brands, stocks, musical groups, operating systems. Whatever.

5. Make them talk. Lets say you own a bar. offer up a free drink to anyone that gets a retweet from…say…a celebrity…or local sports star. For example… ‘Hey @kingrichard i’m @thebar with @czarputon. share the pic #retweetkingrichard’ or anything similar that a celeb etc. might retweet. when someone gets the retweet they get a free drink or whatever.

6. Trivia of all sorts. You could have sports trivia or celeb trivia… Or anything that is related to your field and or industry. Ask the question… Have people retweet their answers. First one with the correct answer wins. Dont claim a winner right away. Sit on it for an hour or two. Let people retweet and retweet over and over. That will extend your reach.