By now you have probably heard that Twitter has been growing at a phenomenal pace and that most businesses all over the world actively use the social platform to drive new customers to their products and services. This is an avenue you will want to include as part of your overall marketing strategy.
Did you know there are roughly 330 million monthly active users on Twitter?
So, what does this mean for you and your business?
If you are not capitalizing on Twitter as a source of traffic, you will be leaving tons of potential business on the table. Twitter being a leading social media platform attracts a lot of business toward it. With the right marketing strategy, businesses can use this platform to create successful social media campaigns to increase sales, boost brand recognition, and increase customer service.
In this article, we will give you an introduction to Twitter and how to create successful campaigns to generate traffic.
Introduction to Twitter and Social Media
Twitter is the largest micro-blogging platform that allows people to send short messages or “tweets” to their followers in real-time. With Twitter, the spread of information has become much faster and local businesses stand a lot to gain from tapping into this phenomenon.
Twitter is a Social Media Marketing tool, which businesses can tap into immediately. Twitter eases social sharing via tweets and huge hype can be built around launches via trending topics using the “#” tag.
Twitter has an increasingly growing user base and has currently millions of users. This can potentially be a huge source of traffic for your business.
Basics of Twitter Marketing
Like any business, you must have a clear game plan or marketing plan, or you may find yourself spending plenty of precious time using Twitter but not seeing desired results.
When it comes to selecting the name for your Twitter business profile, use your own name or the name of your business for branding. Also, do not forget to use keywords relating to your business in your short bio. People will often find others on Twitter by searching keywords in Twitter Search.
When your account is set up, be sure to start tweeting (status updating) right away. Do not be picky or too self-conscious. Just start sharing. It is important that you have some updates on your Twitter page before others see it.
Remember, content is king. Tweet links to your videos, articles, blog posts, audios, or anything else interesting to your target niche market.
Once you have a following be sure to keep them engaged by posting content regularly and consistently.
Building Your Twitter Page
The first thing you must do is get an account at Twitter.com and set up your profile page ASAP. Use a custom twitter background featuring your business instead of the default templates. On your profile page, put up a quirky description about yourself or your business that gets people curious about you. For ideas and inspiration, look at how other businesses in your niche, as well as global companies, introduce themselves.
Add a profile photo ad header image. Use a clean, simple design so that people who visit your page can have an enjoyable experience. Make sure the design is consistent with your branding!
Once you have got your page up and running, it is time to start getting followers!
How to Get More Followers
At the beginning of your Twitter campaign, you can click “find people” and via Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL you can find friends who already use Twitter.
Find and follow the leaders in your niche by scouring the many Twitter user directories. Pay particular attention to these trendsetters/influencers. Befriend as many of your competitors as possible, and don’t forget the small guy, as they tend to be quicker to repost your messages. These relationships should be nurtured over time and a few may well lead to some kind of joint ventures in the future.
Another simpler way of getting followers fast is simply promoting your Twitter on your blog, Facebook fan page, or email lists of people who are
already following you. Tell them that they can get the latest updates and news (as well as special offers) by following your Twitter account.
The Twitter Marketing Strategy
Every business needs a marketing strategy. Here are some simple twitter marketing strategies you can immediately learn and apply to your business
to start growing it immediately:
Who do you want to reach on Twitter? Be specific and limit your scope to the demographic you really need – do not try and reach everybody.
Look up at least 10 of your customers on Twitter (a quick name search on Google can turn up their Twitter profiles). Once you have found some, look at who they’re following and who they talk to. These people could also become part of your audience. See how they describe themselves and the keywords they use.
The goal here is not to find everyone you’d like to interact with (that would probably be next to impossible) but to find people who might fit
into your audience.
Understand their language – you need to understand how your audience talks, what they like, and what they share. Look up what people are saying
about your company. Are they saying good things or bad things? Are they asking for advice about what product or company to choose or are they giving feedback?
Notice the tone your niche is using. Are they generally formal or informal? This will be very different depending on the companies you are tracking and the people you attract. It is always good to match the tone of your audience.
Also, look at what your audience shares and retweets. What kinds of links and articles do they like? What kinds of terms and ideas get them excited or annoyed?
Finally, don’t forget to set a goal and track your progress. Determine what you want to achieve within your community and monitor your progress – it’s the sure-fire way to success!
Integrating Twitter with Other Websites
You can integrate Twitter with a variety of social platforms and your website to create buzz and a huge following.
One of these places is your blog. You can add a “Tweet This” plugin at the end of every blog post so as to ease the sharing of your great content with others.
Besides that, you can add a “Follow Me” button on the sidebar of your blog so you can get more followers.
One more thing worth mentioning is using your account as your signature wherever you go. Name cards, forums, commenting on
blogs; all these are places where you can build a following and get more customers. Start doing it as soon as possible.
Advanced Tricks
Here are some advanced twitter tricks you can learn and apply immediately:
- Tweet 125 characters instead of 140: Although you can now tweet more than 140 characters, the whole purpose of Twitter is the short messages. Shorten your tweets to 125 (or shorter if you can) to encourage easy re-tweets and added comments.
- Use Groups to organize your Twitter. Even when you are following a large number of users, you really pay close attention to only a sum of their tweets. By creating groups, you have a feed specifically for those tweets that are really important.
- Don’t Use “& “ in Your Twitter Profile: For some reason, the “&” symbol doesn’t get along well with Twitter and won’t be displayed properly.
Mistakes to Avoid
Twitter can be a great way to build your audience, that is if you do things correctly. It is so easy to get things wrong, which could harm your brand and undo all your hard work.
- Ranting or nonsense posts on your business account
- Randomly following users just to increase one’s number of followers.
- Be inactive after you’ve garnered a following.
- Don’t ever brag too much and provide zero value.
- Do not expect to be re-tweeted if you do not re-tweet in return.
- Do not take your followers for granted.
- Spamming is a huge no-no (but you already know that, right?)
- Using default avatars such as the egg.
- Do not EVER use generic backgrounds.
- Don’t use Twitter to stalk or harm others.
In short, stay away from these Twitter mistakes and you’ll be on the pathway to twitter success! Remember to treat others how you would like to be
treated yourself.
Need Help with your Twitter account?
Twitter can help your business grow in terms of building rapport with your audience, increasing your customer base, and helping the spread of information to your market at a faster pace.
Rome was not built in a day, the same way building a strong following doesn’t happen in an instant. However, if you practice these twitter marketing methods, it is 100% that you will be soon bringing in streams of steady traffic into your business.
Once you have found what works best for your business, replicate, and multiply your efforts and in no time, you will build yourself a solid business empire streaming with thousands of followers.
Alternatively, if you want an expert to run your Twitter marketing campaigns as well as your other social media campaigns, then we can help, just as we do for lots of other businesses in the boating/marine industry. Follow us, or contact us today to find out how we can help you!
