Whether you’re already on Twitter or not, you should consider creating a novelty account. That could be an account that takes on a false persona or character, mimics a celebrity account or covers a specific topic or field. The idea is that you build up a following – and your tweets will need to be interesting/humorous to do this – and then every now and again, use the account for its true purpose which is to promote your product or service.

So for example, if your business sells bodybuilding supplements, your account could be ‘MassiveMonty’ who is a stereotypical crazy bodybuilder. If you sell cycling gear, it could be LycraLenny, an ageing cyclist with a wry sense of humour. If your tweets are interesting or funny enough, they’ll get picked up and retweeted to others in your field of interest, thereby building your audience and exposure to potential customers.

This is one of those opportunities that costs absolutely nothing to try out and is going to be great fun to do.