By Johny Walker
Figuring out how to use Twitter for business means first setting your goals. Twitter is an extremely popular and influential platform that can be used to achieve various goals.
For example, you can run a Twitter campaign to find more leads for your business or drive traffic to your website. Alternatively, you can create a Twitter profile with the aim of increasing brand awareness or promoting your latest products.
Using Twitter for business is something that can be approached in several ways. But considering how Twitter has around 206 million active daily monetized users worldwide, it’s a platform every business should be using.
Research suggests that the average Twitter user follows at least five businesses. Additionally, four out of five Twitter users mention brands or businesses in their tweets.
Coupled with the fact that using Twitter for business is mostly free, this all adds up to an endless opportunity. Although as it stands, an opportunity that most businesses are not taking full advantage of.
18 tips to promote your brand
Knowing where to start can be half the battle, because of the level of competition you’re up against. Making sense of the thousands of Twitter tips, tricks and hacks floating around the internet can also complicate matters.
But when it comes to the basics of running a successful Twitter campaign, the basics are surprisingly simple. Regardless of the size, nature and objectives of the business, the following 18 activities should form the core of your Twitter strategy:
Add Twitter cards that show on your website
First, Twitter cards are much better at driving traffic to your website than plain text. There are five types of Twitter cards you can use to bring eye-catching and eye-catching looks to your backlinks – all guaranteed to increase your CTR. Twitter cards are especially important when driving potential customers to product pages, giving them a visual indication of what’s on offer.
Post different types of content
Research suggests that Twitter users who publish different types of content earn an average of 150% more retweets. Mixing things up with attractive photos, GIFs, videos, text and polls is therefore highly recommended.
Along with generating more interest in your tweets and increasing engagement, a rich mix of media types will also help you influence the Twitter algorithm.
Work on your profile
You should assume that if someone is interested in your tweets, they will check out your profile. At this point, that all-important first impression will influence what happens next.
From your bio to your tags to your profile picture and background, everything about your profile should scream pure professionalism. All while showing your personality and authenticity.
Collaborate with Twitter Influencers
There are two ways to connect and collaborate with influencers on Twitter. You can convince them to recommend your business and promote your products, or you can pay them to do so.
Although where possible, the former tends to be the most effective approach. Either way, the influencers you reach out to should be of real relevance to your business, your niche, and your target audience.
Engage with your audience
Adopting a passive approach to a Twitter publishing strategy is a recipe for failure. Publishing quality content is only half the job. To make things happen, you need to engage and interact with your audience on an ongoing basis. Embracing the ‘social’ aspect of social media is essential to getting followers to buy into what you do.
Find the right time to tweet
A useful tactic to streamline your publishing strategy is to plan your tweets in advance. However, you must first determine the best possible time to tweet, consistent with audience activity levels.
Use analytics to determine when your audience is most active and schedule your tweets accordingly. Avoid posting at times when engagement levels are likely to be low.
Address issues through direct messaging
If a customer shares a complaint or complaint publicly, provide a professional and diplomatic response in the same manner. After that, use direct messaging to get to the root of the problem and resolve it.
DMs are better than tweets for troubleshooting since there is no character limit, making it much easier to properly communicate with your customers. Though again, an initial public response to show that you take negative feedback seriously is essential.
Retweet relevant content
Don’t limit your publishing strategy exclusively to your unique and original content. Make an effort to provide your followers with a steady stream of relevant posts from elsewhere. Retweeting can be great for bridging the gaps between your original posts, while at the same time bringing variety and engagement to your output.
Try Twitter Spaces
If it’s convenient to do so, Twitter Spaces is also worth a try. Spaces is Twitter’s new live audio chat feature, which although still in development, is already proving popular. Promote your audio events with your tweets, invite your followers to participate and bring a new dynamic to your Twitter strategy with real-time audio.
Tweet regularly and consistently
Research has shown that Twitter users always respond more positively to publishers who post regularly and consistently. In contrast, tweeting infrequently and at completely random times does little to generate engagement. Again, you can simplify your publishing strategy by pre-planning your tweets and planning ahead.
Use Twitter Analytics to analyze and optimize
Twitter comes with a host of built-in analytics tools that should be fully utilized. Monitor the performance of all aspects of your publishing strategy and make adjustments on a regular basis.
Approach your publishing strategy as a continuous improvement campaign, increasing the performance of what works and eliminating anything that doesn’t.
Hashtags are key
Hashtags are searchable words and phrases that group tweets based on trending topics, brands, and overall theme. Therefore, the hashtags you use will have a huge impact on who discovers your tweets and engages with your business.
However, it is essential that you only use hashtags that are relevant to your business and of value to your target audience. Hashtags should also not be overdone – less is almost always more.
Use Twitter Ads to promote your content
Paid Twitter ads can be a surprisingly affordable option to instantly increase your reach and influence. Just a few of the options worth checking out include Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, Promoted Trends, Twitter Amplify, Promoted Videos, Promote Mobile App and more. Most of which have no minimum spend, with affordable options available to suit all budgets.
Build your Twitter following fast
For an instant credibility boost, there’s always the option of buying Twitter followers. Social media growth specialists like Mister Media make it easy and affordable to buy guaranteed quality authentic Twitter followers.
The more followers you have, the more engaging, attractive and authoritative your posts appear. Buying followers can also be great for inspiring other Twitter users to follow your profile organically.
Pin your important Tweets
Including a Tweet pinned to the top of your timeline is something you should do anytime. This attached tweet is the first thing someone will see when they check out your profile. Therefore, it should be the most important tweet you have published recently, or a tweet that conveys the right first impression.
Monitor keywords on Twitter and use social listening
Social listening tools automatically monitor the web’s major social networks for mentions of your brand name. Whether positive or negative, you need to know what is being said about your business and where.
Additionally, keyword research as a foundation for your Twitter SEO strategy should be ongoing. Use keywords to search Twitter for tweets related to your business and use them.
Use Twitter lists
Twitter lists can be useful for dividing your feed into a series of topics so you can keep things organized and accessible. It’s entirely up to you how you use Lists for your business, but they can be great for keeping track of your competitors or monitoring who engages with your content most often.
Configure UTM tracking
Finally, UTM tracking provides essential insights into the website visits generated by your Twitter campaign. Using Google Analytics, you will see how many people are visiting your website after clicking the links on your Twitter pages.
However, you’ll need to set up UTM tracking to see which of these clicks came from organic tweets and which from Twitter ads. Essential for accurately tracking bounce rates, conversions and sales.
Conclusion
Twitter has tremendous potential as a promotional platform and brand development tool. It can also provide a level playing field for businesses of all sizes, as the vast majority of its features can be used free of charge.
Paid promotion – including buying followers and other social proof – can be great for launching a successful campaign. But as is the case with all social networks, it will always be the quality of your output that determines the outcome.
Johny Walker has been a social media expert and web traffic consultant for over 10 years. In 2012 he launched Media Mister, a social media marketing company that is helping businesses get social presence at an affordable price.
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