Twitter has taken the world by storm and is now the number 1 micro blogging site online. With no sign of slowing down, the platform has proven time and time again to be a great solution to online marketing problems. Allowing businesses complete control of who and how they connect with their customers, it’s provided the missing link between direct communication that consumers lacked before.
As with any marketing, businesses need to execute strategies effectively, so you should always make sure that you have a clear direction with what you do on Twitter. Having a good knowledge of how it works is of course crucial, but more importantly, you should learn the etiquette and trend patterns in how users interact. We’ve picked out some of the top Twitter techniques that you can use to help your business expand.
Scheduling
You should make sure that your Twitter account is always on the go, whether you’re physically doing the tweeting or not. To fill out any timely gaps that may appear between times you can access your account, due to other commitments for example, then you can schedule your tweets. Using web based services such as Buffer and HootSuite; you can plug in tweets and schedule them to go out at regular intervals. This will show that your account isn’t neglected and seem much more professional. You should be aware that this tactic doesn’t make up for the need to manually retweet content, respond to direct responses and engaging with potential customers which are the most important things you should focus on.
Don’t Be Selfish
The one mistake a small business can make is trying to be greedy with their Twitter space and not engaging with other peoples content. By effectively trying to ‘hog the limelight’ you can be sure that you will look like an automated robot, simply using Twitter because you have to. Follow the general rule of RT’ing content at a ratio of 4:1. So, even if you have to use Buffer or HootSuite, make sure that you don’t bombard people with your own stuff – sharing is caring, and you’re much more likely to receive the same treatment from non-competing companies.
Don’t Spam, But Promote Effectively
The surest way to lose followers and make people feel like you are invading their space with pushy adverts is to constantly post spammy links almost forcing people to follow them. If you have produced a great piece of original content, then sure, shout about it! But keep this to a respectable level mixed in with your other daily posts. Try not to post out a link more than 3 times a day as you can face warnings from Twitter. Morning, noon and night are the best times to let people know you’ve got something they might like, as not everyone will see your tweet the first or second time around. Send out the right signals!
Keep it Short and Sweet
Although there is a 140 character limit on Twitter, meaning that you need to be clear and concise in your Tweets, you should be aware that less is more when it comes to expecting RT’s and engagement. Keep in mind that if people are to engage and share, they will need character space to add @ handles and comments. You’re much more likely to receive a positive response to your tweet if you keep it around the 100 character mark where possible allowing people the chance to pitch in.
Brand Your Own Hashtag
One of Twitters main features is the hashtag function (a # before a word serves as a topic that can be used to search for all tweets under that specific label). If you are setting up a specific campaign you can consider using your own specific hashtag so that people who are interested in your business can all come together and see what is being said in the same place. This also works well as it lets you keep any eye on who is saying what. For example, you can do this for a particular marketing push like #ShareACoke (Coca Colas recent campaign), or simply use it to end all of your Tweets, i.e. #CocaColaOfficial.
Personality
If you drone on like a machine created solely to promote your brand; you will cut the most important tie that Twitter creates – the feeling of personal interaction. Allow your staff or members of your team to post out personal yet appropriate tweets from time to time throughout the day. This shows that you aren’t simply a number crunching sales team. Always refrain from posting anything that could offend, so steer clear of personal views about politics and religion, for example.
HINT: Did you know that when you reply to someone, only the person involved and those followers who follow both of you will see the response come up in their feed? This is there to keep in place the value of conversation, so only people who are most likely to interact, will. However, if you post a reply that you think all of your followers will be interested in seeing, simply place a ‘.’ (period/full stop) before the first @ handle. This is then considered a direct Tweet rather than a reply and will come up on all of your followers feeds.
By following these techniques you can be sure that your Twitter accounts value will be much greater to your business, no matter what it is you offer your customers. What steps do you use when marketing your business on Twitter?
Katie Belliveau is a digital marketing lover and knows how to help businesses get what they want from Social Media. She advises businesses keep on top of their office security with help from Ideal Cleaning.
Advanced Twitter Marketing Techniques
This is because it has many buy twitter followers.
ReplyDelete