Small business Twitter accounts to follow

As we’ve mentioned before, some of the ways to boost your Twitter followers are to make sure you tweet regularly and that you follow (the right) people. Sounds like simple advice. But if you’re new to the Twittersphere (or even if you’ve used it for a while), you may find you’re lacking inspiration on what to tweet or are not sure which influencers you should follow.

With that in mind, we’ve created a list of Twitter accounts we rate that are aimed at small and medium sized businesses, startups and entrepreneurs. The accounts offer a mixture of advice, case studies, updates and inspirational posts. We’ve tried to stick to UK based accounts to keep them as relevant as possible for your business.

• @BizMattersmag – a UK business magazine for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and entrepreneurs. Its Twitter account mainly posts links to articles posted on its website, but these offer sound advice, case studies of successful businesses and useful guides, so while you shouldn’t expect much interaction from them, it’s a good informative account to follow.
• @StartUpBritain – Start Up Britain is a national campaign to celebrate, inspire and accelerate enterprise in the UK. Their Twitter account covers important issues for startups like funding, technology, exporting your goods, sales and general advice on how to make your business successful.
• @EntMagazine – Entrepreneur magazine is an American business magazine aimed at small businesses. In a similar vein to Business Matters magazine, their Twitter account isn’t particularly interactive and mainly tweets links to their website. However, they publish several quality posts each day, which aim to inform and/or motivate. We also like the fact that they list how long each post is in reading time on their website. As most of the articles are around four or five minutes, they’re perfect if you need some motivation or stimulus between tasks.
• @BusinessZone – This is more of a news and advice feed, also promoting business awards and funding opportunities. Its website looks at technology, marketing, sales, business trends and finances.
• @Real_Business – This touts itself as the UK’s most-read SME website. We can’t vouch for that, but the Twitter account offers a broad range of tweets – from technology advice and case studies from successful businesses, to relevant business news on tax, HR and funding.  
• @freshbusiness – This account collates a range of resources for small business owners, directors and entrepreneurs, covering management issues, news and a business directory.
• @shelllivewireuk – We had to include at least one account aimed at young (16 – 30 year old) business owners. This offers advice, information and promotes relevant awards.
• @GdnSmallBiz – The Guardian Small Business Network account produces content to help you make the most of your business, offering tips and advice. It covers a range of topics from how to work smarter, home working and managing staff.
• @HubSpot – This is an American account, but as its main focus is marketing, it’s still highly relevant to small UK businesses. It offers great inbound marketing advice and updates, as well as more informal, catchy posts.  
• @StartUpDonut – This aims to provide a reliable mix of guides, checklists and news roundups to save businesses time and money. We like their no-nonsense tweets on business planning, advice and building your brand. Plus they have sister ‘Donuts’ for tax, law, marketing and IT.

What accounts are your go-to sources of information and inspiration?