Twitter recently posted its second-quarter earnings. While the company’s revenue exceeded expectations, it reported not feeling fully satisfied with the amount of user-growth. I found this to be shocking considering Twitter is the largest platform for third-party content with the number of tweets averaging around 500 hundred each day from over 300 million users. Twitter is such a unique form of social media as it limits characters per tweet to 140 and yet provides a channel for unprecedented amounts of interactions between users and contains a vast amount of information – to the point that it has become a go-to source of breaking news for many. But, dwelling on how the stock market and quarter earnings are portraying Twitter would be shooting yourself in the foot. In a recent article, 6 Twitter Tips to Score More Sales In 140 Characters, Kevin Tully sums up the benefit that Twitter can bring to you or your company perfectly – Twitter can help you sell!
As mentioned, Twitter is constantly spurting information. However, this can be a double-sided sword if not approached with caution. Diving into the Twitter world without direction will, more often than not, leave you drowning in the “endless stream of news.” Luckily, there are actionable items that, when incorporated into one’s Twitter campaign, can help one sort out the good from the bad, the clutter from the meaningful.
Define your brand – be you!
Twitter has made reaching your customer in real-time possible. Knowing this, it is important to make sure that the message that you are delivering is consistent with your brand identity. Tully encourages aiming to tell a story on Twitter. The most effective way to do so is to first identify who you want to be known as. When using Twitter for your business, it is acceptable to advertise and promote the brand as long as it is kept to a minimum and intertwined with industry news and original content. By over promoting oneself, you might find yourself losing followers. Followers are looking to be engaged. With each tweet ask yourself, am I adding value or just adding to the clutter? Part of defining your brand is also being consistent across all social media channels. Using similar images as profile pictures is a simple way to ensure a consistency visually. Furthermore, social media management tools are also great for aligning posts across channels, as well as for time management.
Let Twitter do the work for you
Two words: Twitter lists. Many Twitter users do not utilize Twitter lists to maximum benefit, however, they can provide you with the ideal newsfeed. Lists are tools that help you segment your followers into categories, something that can be extremely helpful for targeting specific people. Getting your messages in front of the right audiences is crucial for maximum impact and acceptance and lists can aid in this.
In addition, you can monitor lists to see what is trending in one industry versus another. For example, keep up on your competitors by grouping them into a list and monitoring their feeds. Analysis of content as well as patterns, engagement, and tone is a great way to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Don’t be a fly on the wall
According to social media app Buffer, it is acceptable to tweet 14 times on weekdays (with certain limitations and it drops down to seven on weekends), while maintaining an informative air rather than an annoying one. This may seem like an awful lot of tweets coming from one person until you consider just how much information is appearing on one’s feed each minute. On some days, I will step away from my computer for five minutes and come back to 150 new tweets! For best results, it is good technique to be engaging multiple times a day, every day, whether it is through new content or re-tweets. As you post, try out new key words and hashtags to see if some resonate better than others. There is no perfect formula to become a Twitter guru, so researching, predicting, and analyzing outcomes is a great place to start when crafting your technique.
For more Twitter best practices, see our blog on Tips for Leveraging Twitter’s New Analytics Dashboard and How to Merge Twitter Accounts – Without Losing Followers
Tags: Audience, Best Practices, Buffer, Content Creation, personal brand, Public relations, sales, Social media, Twitter Filed under: Branding, COMMUNIQUÉ PR, Monitor and Measure, PUBLIC RELATIONS, Social media, Strategy, Tech Industry