Twitter has been one of the biggest social media platforms for more than half a decade now, which means some of your potential customers are using it. 69 million people in the US are on Twitter, but what's more interesting is that nearly half use the social network every day. While this is a known fact, very few people know how to use Twitter for marketing a brand, product or service.
You may have already realized that shooting out tweets about your business every five minutes brings nothing at the end of the day. But is that a reason to rule out the platform as an impracticable marketing channel? The point with Twitter is to gain influence and grow awareness but it can't be done by blatantly selling. You may have let your Twitter accounts languish in favor of Instagram or LinkedIn. But it's well worth your time to dive back in and take another look.
In case you've forgotten, here is a refresher on how to use Twitter for marketing your brand and grow your influence.
Showcase your brand
Your profile is the face of your business on Twitter. It is the first thing anyone scrutinizes whenever they bump into your handle on the platform. Too many brands don't focus on the profile aspect. With so much competition on social platforms and every startup hyping their business to look like an international brand, you would have to put some effort to prompt clicks from potential customers. Users are overwhelmed with options and the decision to take further action or continue scrolling is only a glance into your profile away.
Use your business logo, if you have one, and avoid adding a personal touch to it. This will add to your credibility and earn your brand respect and recognition. Your bio should be short, formal and informative and all background photos should conform to your brand concept. Try a provocative call to action with a URL attached to it and use a unique landing page to measure your results. Change this up every couple of months or so, to see what works best and what doesn't. Use hashtags in your bio as well to draw attention from like-minded users.
Above all, share interesting content
No one logs onto Twitter to look for a product to buy. On this channel, you're judged by the curation you keep. Most people who will come across your product will do it inadvertently while checking out tweets from friends and their favorite humor handles. To blend in seamlessly, use pictures and videos that users will enjoy without compromising the message in your tweet. This not only promises to capture the attention of your followers but also prompts them to share with their followers which attract views and clicks from people who are not in your follower list. Become an account that people follow as a news stream and influence will follow.
Build your own Twitter community
If you're starting to build your online presence, consider being the first one to follow people so they can follow back. Don't go on following random handles. Find people who hold some benefit for your business. For starters you can follow related businesses, your customers, colleagues, competitors, and relevant influencers and handles with the information you find useful. Engage with the people you follow. Don't just share information about your brand and product. Be active, like and re-tweet other people's tweets. Tools like Buzzsumo can help find good folks to follow and keep you up to date on trends.
Keep tweeting
Online conversations these days are much like any other face-to-face meetings. Daily conversations with your customers build trust and attract new customers who get the impression that the people you converse with are your satisfied customers. Check the Twitter habits of your newly-formed community. Check when they tweet, what they tweet about and how people respond to the tweets. Create your Twitter for marketing strategy based on what you observe.'Replies,' 'follows' and 'favorites' should be responded to, and promptly. This is to build a good image on the platform and expand your online following. If it's hard to remember to keep up, turn on notifications to keep you apprised of activity.
Use hashtags
Hashtags are there to help potential customers find your tweets. Incorporate trending hashtags in your tweets and use their popularity to your advantage. However, ensure the hashtag is relevant to your brand and tweet.Of course, you may have to alter your tweets a bit to accommodate trending hashtags as, naturally, most will not be pertinent with your normal tweets. Check to find out which hashtags would push your tweets to reach wider audiences and achieve higher levels of engagement. Use hashtags that bear the perfect combination of popularity and relevance for your chosen area or field. If you're not sure how to do this, @KimGarst has some great advice on finding good hashtags for marketing.
Automate your marketing
It is advisable that you tweet often and predictably if you want to make the most of your Twitter marketing campaign. Tweet at least three times a day to stay relevant in the eyes of your followers. Studies have shown that tweets that score the most re-tweets are those shared at 5 pm. Tweets between 12 and 6 pm will earn you highest click-through rate (CTR), especially on weekdays. You may want to integrate these tips into your tweeting routine.
If you find this to be too much consider using one of the several online tools to schedule your Twitter activity (like Hootsuite.) With the help of such tools, you will only need to prepare your tweets beforehand and line them up for automatic posting.
Use Twitter Ads
Use of Twitter ads is one of the easiest ways to increase your Twitter following, clicks and app downloads. Engagement with ads on Twitter increased by nearly 70% last year, so it's still an attractive (and fairly inexpensive) channel for paid media It comes with targeting features to ensure your information recipients are people you believe are potential customers. Twitter ads are highly effective, particularly when using native video. Twitter recommends you choose around four tweets to use in your ad campaign when starting. Pick tweets with the most inclusive information and strong call-to-action. They should not include hashtags to avoid encouraging people from clicking into other things. For $99 a month, ten of your tweets every day will be included in a Promoted Tweets campaign, which will be targeting your chosen audience. Hootsuite wrote a great blog recently on using Twitter for marketing and paid advertising.
You may have forgotten about using Twitter for marketing, but for many brands (particularly B2B) it's regaining popularity. See if you can jumpstart your integrated strategy by giving this social media network a little more love.
