Globally popular and easy-to-use, Twitter is perfect to get your voice out there and, if you use it correctly, to be heard and seen.
Twitter is an easier-to-use platform as it is already so popular, but if you haven't used it, its simple interface and step-by-step setup walkthrough means you can't go wrong.
Not only have we provided you with a comprehensive blog post, we have the ultimate resource when it comes to Twitter, in our free Twitter for Business ebook (scroll to the bottom)!
Statistics from Buddy Media reveal just why businesses are doing well with Twitter:
- Tweets that ask followers to retweet receive 12x higher retweet rates that don't, yet less than 1% of brands implement this strategy.
- There are 30% Higher Interaction Rates on Twitter from 8am - 7pm, that is predominantly working hours, when businesses can set aside time in the workday to schedule tweets.
As with anything the best way to find out whether it's right for you is to try it out for yourself, but those that do Twitter well are finding higher levels of engagement and communication with others. Some of those who do Twitter well, according to Econsultancy, are:
The construction of their tweets, as well as customer engagement is going to lead to improving brand awareness, increasing customer demand and encouraging their status as a thought leader.Steps to tweeting success!
Twitter newbies – usually spotted by their 'egg' profile picture – should follow these steps for an efficient, professional profile:
- Create a Twitter handle that relates to what you are about: Use your company name (or the nearest variant that's available). It's important to use your brand name as it's what people type to talk to you and mention you in tweets; it's how you will become known on Twitter.
- Why? It increases brand reuptation, customer engagement and allows you to increase customer demand, access right clients and communicate with the right people.
- Update your bio with company information: Lose the 'egg' and even 'jazz up' your profile design. Once you've come up with a strong bio, find a suitable graphic (a faceless brand logo works best) to replace the infamous egg. If you have the time you can change the colour scheme of your tweets and background, perhaps to match your company colours. A good website to use for this is Themeleon.
- Why? Particularly necessary for anybody who needs to portray a strong visual identity, this is is about brand awareness, brand development, graphic design and increasing customer demand. Basic thinking for good visuals is that if you look good, you hopefully are good!
- Share your Twitter handle: Whether it's on the company website, social media accounts, business cards or merchandise, you MUST 'spread the word'! When you start up your Twitter profile it's good to find a few colleagues, clients or business partners to follow using the search bar (top of the page), but don't go overboard as it's important the ratio of your followers and who you are following isn't too unbalanced.
- Why? Twitter for business is all about customer engagement, brand awareness and creating conversation, if you have no followers (gained through content sharing) you can't have that conversation. Sharing your Twitter handle will help customer demand, meaning more people will see your marketing messages.
- Topics, trends and #hashtags: Come up with topics that you will be tweeting about and look for trends/hashtags already out there, i.e. marketing professionals might use #marketingnews #marketingtrends etc, and use them at the end of tweets to get involved in conversations with like-minded people/companies.
- Why? Access the right people, communicate with the right people and find new clients - this all comes from actively engaging with people (see 'tweetchats' below).
- Tweet! It's important you stick to the 140 characters and vary your tweets, don't just retweet the same things. Introduce yourself to people and explain what you do. Twitter is all about participating in the conversation, if you don't make time to converse then you get lost in the noise.
- Why? As with everything, social media marketing only has a chance of success when it is regularly, actively, correctly used. Tweet, retweet, share images and more - create a brand that excites and interests the public, and/or its clients.
- Download a multi-networking platform: These (such as Tweetdeck or Hootsuite), allow you open up numerous Twitter accounts in one screen (at the learning stage, stick with one account). These platforms also enable you to schedule tweets too!
- Why? Although you want all of the above benefits, you still don't have more time/resources to implement such complex strategies. Using a marketing agency or marketing consultants (one of the services we provide) is a massive help, but for independent use, you need to combine all of your networks to reduce costs and increase your conversion rate.
- Why not research some 'Tweetchats'? These are usually networking hours designed to bring together defined groups of people for conversation, engagement, finding new clients and entertainment. An example of this is #northeasthour, where local businesses, in particular, discuss and promote their services and the local area (the North East of the UK, including Newcastle, Durham and Teesside). #NorthEasthour is just one of hundreds of variants across the country, focusing on similar goals.
Considering 'sharing' in the same way we thought about it for Facebook (see our Facebook guide), Twitter is much more viral than its rival, meaning you can see a greater increase in fans with competition-based posts.
Tweeting 'Retweet for chance to win £250 and trip to London #competition #win #promotion' could quite easily earn you hundreds of followers in minutes. As long as your profile and company appears reputable and in the long run that attention could be worth may more than the original cost.
Many people use Twitter to complain to companies as it can be a better communication tool than Facebook, so use it to respond to and engage with customers and clients, whether it's feedback or just chat - you are showing an interest. It's also argued that you can significantly grow sales with a successful Twitter campaign, DELL allegedly reported a $6.5m profit margin through Twitter (and that was in 2009!).
An ideal platform for those who don't have a lot of time, but want to communicate with others. Twitter is a tool for engagement, allowing people to connect much quicker than with Facebook, it's about conversation, opinions and personality. Be prepared to put in the time to make it work and it will be successful.
