At some point, you’ve probably asked yourself whether it’s worthwhile to invest time on Twitter as a business owner. Or is it a complete waste of time? The truth is that it can be either or of those things depending on your strategy. Twitter success doesn’t happen overnight or even in just a few weeks or months. But, when approached correctly, Twitter marketing can do some fantastic things to drive your businesses’ digital marketing strategy.
What is Twitter?
If your business chooses just one social media platform as its focus, it’s probably missing a significant portion of its audience. Using Twitter for business is an excellent way to help your organization achieve its digital marketing goals.
Twitter is a social networking platform that was founded by Jack Dorsey in 2006. As of July 2021, the platform reported that there were 199 million daily active users. The platform was originally SMS-based but has transitioned to mobile and web-based with a 280-character limit for posts.
The character limit for posts is part of Twitter’s branding, allowing members to quickly consume and interact with content. This can be a benefit to brands that know how to use it correctly.
Posts on the platform are called “Tweets,” and these can include text, images, links, and video. A Retweet is a post shared from another source. Twitter makes it easy to grow your followers, use hashtags to help users discover your content and brand, and interact with users in real-time.
How Can Twitter Benefit Your Business?
Businesses have been effectively using Twitter for marketing for years. A business can set up a Twitter account in a matter of minutes and begin posting and interacting on the platform. Some of the ways your business can leverage Twitter marketing include:
- Get brand exposure
- Engage with customers
- Grow an audience
- Acquire quality leads
- Become an industry thought leader
- Participate in trending (relevant) topic discussions
- Deliver real-time customer support
How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business
Brands of every shape and size are successfully using Twitter for marketing because they’ve created an effective social media strategy. They understand their audience and know what works for their brand. This should be your first step.
Decide what goals you would like to achieve when you use Twitter for business. It’s tough to be all things to all people - so don’t try. Instead, will you provide support via Twitter? Generate brand exposure and awareness? Drive traffic and leads to your website? Once you choose a few primary and secondary goals, you’ll be able to implement some of these Twitter marketing ideas to help you get results:
1. Publish Consistent Content
Many social media marketers struggle with what to post on Twitter or other platforms. But the possibilities are nearly limitless. Here are just a few ideas:
- Recent blog posts
- How-to tutorials
- Product demonstrations
- Interviews with industry experts
- Surveys or polls
- User-generated content (testimonials, etc.)
- Employee highlights
2. Engage With Prospects
Twitter is an ideal platform to engage with prospective customers. They might have questions or give you some ideas for content, such as product demonstrations. When those engagement conversations are “public,” you also have the opportunity to answer those “unasked” questions by people who are lurking or doing a search for that particular answer.
3. Deliver Customer Service
A lot of brands have begun using Twitter as a customer service vehicle. When a customer has an urgent issue, they often jump on social media in hopes of getting a quick response. For example, @JetBlue has become well-known for helping customers resolve issues via its Twitter account, which now has over 1.8 million followers.
4. Boost Brand Engagement
Assuming you want to increase the awareness of your brand’s name and engagement, Twitter can be an excellent vehicle to achieve your goals. Twitter has a massive user base. When someone retweets one of your posts, it goes out to all of their followers, and so forth. This can get you additional followers on Twitter. But it goes further. How many times do you see a Tweet shared on a different social media site or embedded in an article? All of that exposure expands your brand’s reach even further.
5. Share Coupons and Deals
Everyone loves a good deal. Twitter is a great place to announce limited-time offers, especially ones that are exclusive to your Twitter followers. You can give your followers a specialized coupon code, allowing you to track how much business is coming from your Tweets. Even if you don’t want to be exclusive, you let your followers know when your big sales start and share some examples of product savings.
6. Take Orders Via Twitter
People love convenience. And if you make it as simple as possible to buy your products, you’re likely to see an increase in sales. Some smaller brands have even begun taking orders on the social media platform via @DM (direct messages).
7. Competition Research
Make sure you’re keeping a close eye on what your competitors are doing on social media and Twitter in particular. Analyzing your competition’s Twitter activity can help you refine your own strategy by revealing any gaps as well as ways that you can set yourself apart.
8. Social Listening
Twitter is popular because it is a two-way conversation between your brand and others on the platform. But, sometimes, you just need to use it as a listening tool. Specifically, set alerts for mentions of your brand name and keywords related to your product or industry. This will give you a better understanding of your customer’s wants and concerns so that you can provide the best experience possible.
Get Help With Social Media and Twitter Marketing
Twitter and social media marketing, in general, can be a tremendous boost for your digital marketing strategy. But it takes a significant time commitment to do it right and get the most out of the platform.
If you’d like help with Twitter marketing and elevating your social media presence, check out Connection Model’s social media marketing services to get started today. Contact us for more information about our services.
Written By: David Carpenter
