Twitter marketing; How to use Twitter to market your business?
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a text messaging system that allows you to send messages (tweets) up to 280 characters (140 characters as of November 7, 2017).
Each tweet can contain a link (to a blog post, PDF file or anything else) and a photo or video. Since multiple images can convey multiple concepts to the audience, the 140-character limit for Twitter marketing will not be too cumbersome.
Twitter users can follow or subscribe to you, and you can follow others. This follow-up allows you to view, reply and share tweets with your followers (retweets).
What are the advantages of Twitter?
Due to the limited number of characters and the shortness of the messages, Twitter falls into the category of microblogging tools (such as Tumblr and Plurk). Twitter has many points in common with today’s popular social networks, such as Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube; But it does have advantages over each of them that set it apart from the others:
Facebook:
Tweets are like Facebook messages; The difference is that unlike Facebook, which considers several factors for displaying posts to each user or tab’s followers, each tweet appears in the followers’s Twitter feed;
Instagram and Pinterest:
Twitter, like Instagram and Pinterest, allows you to share images and comment on submitted images; But the possibilities and potential for forming a coherent conversation and developing a discussion is much greater than the ability to post comments on Instagram and Pinterest.
LinkedIn:
Tweets are similar to LinkedIn status update posts; But LinkedIn’s approach is based on professional relationships and mutual trust or agreement; While Twitter allows you to follow everyone, including strangers. This feature is very useful for targeting potential customers.
YouTube:
Although it is not possible to create a separate channel for videos, you can post a video in your tweets or link to the video you want.
Given such capabilities that make Twitter a mix of useful and useful features of other social networks, the use of Twitter in marketing can have major benefits for the business; At the same time, marketing on Twitter requires planning and targeted actions; So you need a codified strategy for marketing on Twitter first and foremost.
How to develop a marketing strategy on Twitter?
A well-targeted strategy is the foundation on which your success in Twitter marketing will depend. In fact, this strategy is what differentiates the performance of the most influential brands from the failed Twitter accounts. In the absence of a clear plan and without understanding the goals and actions that help achieve those goals, you will only waste your time and money. In addition, when it comes to reviewing results and evaluating performance, you will not have a clear criterion for proving the effectiveness of your actions. In such a situation, it will be difficult to justify spending more financial and human resources on Twitter marketing.
Remember that for every hour you spend researching and developing a strategy, you accelerate the process of achieving your business goals by tens of hours. With this introduction, you need to do the following:
Define success and set goals
To start marketing on Twitter, you need to determine the answer to the important question, “Why and for what purpose or purposes do you work on Twitter?” For example, you could make a list of key business goals, such as:
• Production of interested customers and increase sales;
• Strengthen customer loyalty;
• Increasing awareness of the brand and its products;
• Reduce customer support costs;
Then extract precise and measurable small goals from the heart of these major goals. In this way, it will be easier to evaluate progress and prove success. For example, if your main goal is to “attract very good interested customers,” your particular goal might be something like “using Twitter to attract 30 email marketing listings per month.”
Keep in mind that you should also take the time to evaluate and record the current state of your business performance. In this way, you can accurately determine your performance in achieving the set goals and prove the effectiveness of the strategy and achieve tangible and measurable results.
– Research about competitors
One of the most important and essential steps in developing an effective Twitter marketing strategy is to gather information about your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. In order to research competitors:
• Identify your competitors on Twitter;
• Check their followers;
• Check profiles followed by competitors on Twitter;
• Evaluate the number of posts and the amount of interaction they receive and do;
• Check what specific actions they have taken on this social network now and in the past;
Evaluate the effectiveness of the programs and strategies they have implemented;
Then identify the opportunities and gaps you can fill and incorporate them into your Twitter marketing strategy.
– Identify your target audience
Your brand on Twitter can not and should not be everything to everyone; In other words, you need to identify the people you are looking to attract and formulate your strategy in a way that is valuable to them, not necessarily all Twitter users. In this way, you can take more targeted and effective actions that will encourage target users to interact and eventually become customers and create a sense of support for your brand.
– Specify the desired number of Twitter accounts
Depending on the size of the business and the goals you are pursuing, you can use a Twitter account; Or use different accounts for different parts and functions of the company (eg support, sales, human resources, etc.).
– Align your Twitter marketing with marketing on your other social networks
In many cases, we see that different business working groups work practically separately. If you feel that this is the case for your social media marketing team, you can break down barriers and facilitate communication between different groups. In this regard, it is necessary to link the marketing strategy on Twitter to the overall marketing strategy of the company’s social networks, so that you can develop a better strategy for your Twitter marketing by using the records and information of other social networks in which you have been active.
– Be unique on Twitter
While posting the same post on all social networks is possible and, of course, easier, this is not an approach that works for you. Keep in mind that each social network has its own characteristics and user community; So while using a single strategy for all social networks may seem like a shortcut, it will undoubtedly be costly for you by reducing engagement and productivity. As a result, you need to use a unique and distinctive strategy for your Twitter marketing that is unique, innovative and different.
Notable steps and tips for marketing on Twitter
After developing a marketing strategy on Twitter, you can see a much better performance of your plans, considering some important points and taking special measures in accordance with this social network. Here are the most important steps and points to consider.
1- Show your brand
The target audience experience of your brand on Twitter is primarily shaped by your account and profile. Through this section, you can tell your business story in the virtual Twitter community and show the nature of your brand.
To do this, your Twitter presence needs to have the same atmosphere and feel that you have displayed on your website and other social media. In this way, you identify your business and you can build trust. In this regard, you should use usernames and images that match the brand, style and context of your presence in other situations.
Choose your Twitter username
Your chosen username will be the most influential representative of your brand on Twitter. This name will be placed next to all the tweets you send and is the only way to identify you and your brand on Twitter.
For a Twitter username, you can use your own name (the best option for professionals who work individually or whose specialty is the core of their business) or your business name. Preferably avoid using different non-alphabetic symbols to make it easier to remember and type in the username.
If it is not possible to choose the name of your business, use a similar and appropriate name.
Select the appropriate profile picture
In your Twitter account profile, you can use two different images, which in order to portray and tell the story of your brand, you must use both. To upload these images, you must go to the Profile section in your account settings (Settings).
The main image of your Twitter profile is a square image that sits next to each tweet you post. In this section, you can put your company logo or face image.
Note: Some small businesses use the business title for the username and the business owner’s photo for the profile picture. This method can give your virtual account a more realistic and reliable human personality.
Another image you can put in your profile is a larger image called the Profile Header image. Here, similar to Facebook, the header image is placed at the top of your profile page. This image should also be purposeful and narrate a story or topic related to your brand.
You can also change the color of the buttons and the background of your Twitter profile through the Display section to better match the space and logo of your brand.
2- Fill in your profile information
Completing a Twitter profile is a must for your business. All the information and details that you enter in the different sections of the profile will help the audience to better understand the nature of the business and complete the story of your brand.
In this regard, do not neglect to complete the following three important sections in the Edit Profile section:
Location in the Location section: This way, you specify the location of your business for the audience. By providing more details in this section, in addition to facilitating face-to-face communication, you provide the ground for building more trust.
Website URL in the Website section: In this section you can share an URL with users. Although the website address is usually included in this section; But it is better to design a dedicated landing page for Twitter on your website and put its address in this section so that you can provide more relevant information to Twitter users.
• Bio section: In this section, you must introduce yourself and your business in 160 characters. Refrain from stating your goals and aspirations and focus on the benefits. In addition, by adding a little human personality to the posts you make in this section and distancing yourself from clichéd texts, you can bring your profile to life.
3. Start following other users
By following or following a Twitter user, you subscribe to his / her posts or tweets. Keep in mind that especially in the beginning it is necessary to be more meticulous and more strict in choosing the people you follow.
To follow a Twitter user, all you have to do is find his profile and click the Follow button.
Keep in mind that Twitter, like Instagram, is very sensitive about the number of people you follow in the short term; So be careful not to rush your business account in the first week because of what seems suspicious on Twitter, and your Twitter marketing plan will be affected.
Note: Your Twitter experience will be influenced by the people you follow, not the people who follow you; So to have a better experience than working with Twitter, be more careful in choosing the people you follow.
In general, for Twitter marketing, the following groups are good options to follow:
• Customers;
• Business partners, suppliers, contractors and retailers;
• Competitors or partners;
• Commercial or specialized organizations in your field of activity;
• Local businesses;
Businesses run by people you know (your business network).
Usually when you start following the users you want, you will see that a number of people you do not know will start following your account. This is not a concern and you should focus on the people you are looking for right now.
4. Start the conversation
Twitter conversation is different from other social networks; In the sense that everything is concise and useful, and as a fast and hectic social network, it is very attractive to its users.
Before you start talking and participating in discussions, first wait and read other people’s posts to get acquainted with the atmosphere of Twitter. Then enter the conversation whenever you feel you have something to say.
In order to start a conversation about marketing on Twitter, you should be familiar with the 5 types of posts that are posted on this social network:
• Tweet: A message that you normally post to your followers using the Tweet button.
• Reply or message sent in response to another tweet. This is a public message in which the other party’s username is mentioned and will appear in the list of the home page (Home section) of his followers and you. In addition, with each answer, the contact will be notified through the mentions section in the Notifications section.
Mention or user ID: Whenever you use an @ in a message with another user ID, you mark that person. The difference between the mention and the previous one is that you do not reply to the other party’s tweet here.
Direct Message (DM or Direct Message): A message that you send to another user privately through the Messages section. Note that in the default settings of Twitter profiles, it is not possible to send messages to people you have not followed.
Retweet (RT): A message that another person has tweeted and you share it with your followers.
5. Write smarter, more professionally, and more accountably
After getting acquainted (gain, obtain) with present-day techniques that came from Twitter.
The answer to this question will be different for each business; But in general, you need to strike the right balance between what your target audience is looking for and what is driving your business. Most businesses can achieve this by focusing on the benefits that their products and services bring to users. In this regard, you should provide useful information to your audience and answer their questions so that they are considered as a valuable member of the community they are following. This is one of the most important first steps in attracting new customers.
Writing a headline-like message for Twitter requires art, skill and experience. To create such a message, try different ways of expressing a story and see which one has the most interaction and reaction. Due to the limited number of characters you have, each word needs to carry a load to convey your message.
Keep in mind that in the long run, the quality of what you share (not necessarily the quantity) will help grow your followers. As your audience grows, you need to develop a media marketing program on Twitter. Your media app focuses your Twitter conversations on topics that are specifically designed to attract potential customers. In addition, the program will help increase engagement and increase user activity by determining the times when your target audience is most likely to be active and developing a tweet schedule.
6. Drive traffic to your website and blog
Twitter is a great tool for driving traffic to your website and blog. To do this, you need to set up your tweet around a link and write a message that can persuade people to click to get more information.
Note that all links are automatically shortened using Twitter’s t.co service and will occupy 23 characters, regardless of the number of characters per link; Even if the number of characters in your link is less than this number.
7. Link your Twitter activity to your other Internet activities
Now that you have started marketing on Twitter, it’s time to turn it into one of the components of your online business presence. For this purpose, you can get help from the following methods:
• Put your Twitter account link on your site and blog. In most content management systems, it is easy to add a Twitter link to a list of social networks that appear at the top or bottom of a website or blog. Note that it is also possible to place a follow button via the Twitter publicity site.
• Timeline Add your Twitter messages to your website and blog. Another thing you can add to your site by visiting the Twitter Publisher subdomain is the timeline or list of posts you have shared on Twitter. In this way, you can expose your conversations and interactions directly to the site visitors so that in addition to receiving more visits, you can encourage them to follow and interact more. Keep in mind that the tweets you share should grow your business and boost your Twitter marketing; So be strict in choosing the tweets that you put in your site showcase this way;
• Facilitate users to share the content of your site and blog on Twitter. By inserting the sharing link via Twitter below the site content; You can also increase the likelihood of your audience sharing content on Twitter by using the Publisher site and placing the text you want to send directly to Twitter.
Another way to streamline Twitter interaction from a blog or website is to embed or embed a tweet in the content. This way, you can select any tweet you want and put it in the article you want. For this purpose, it is enough to select the Embed Tweet option from the top menu of the desired tweet to generate the relevant code for you.
8- Use the mobile capabilities of Twitter
With almost any mobile phone, you can always stay in touch with your Twitter audience:
• Smartphones (Android, iOS) and the Twitter mobile website allow you to use Twitter and exchange messages;
• Non-smartphones using SMS: The list of operators and supported countries can be viewed through this link.
Twitter also allows you to notify by sending push notifications to smartphones so that you can be immediately informed about things like ID mention, retweet or like tweet, receive a new follower and receive a private message.
Keep in mind that quick responses on Twitter are very important, so by using this feature, you will always be up to date with the latest happenings in your Twitter account.
9- Share photos and images
The image is more attractive to people than the text; So illustrate your tweets wherever possible. You do not necessarily need a professional photographer or camera to do this; Rather, a smartphone with image editing software or app will often suffice. In addition to regular images, it is also possible to insert animated GIF images in tweets, which you can use if necessary; Just be careful not to overdo the image.
All the pictures and videos you add to your tweets will be in your gallery, and the last six will appear on your profile page. By carefully selecting the images you tweet, you can turn this section into a showcase for your brand, especially for new visitors.
10- Send a video
Today, thanks to the ubiquity of high-speed internet, people’s interest in watching high-quality video content has increased, so you can use this interest to tell the story of the brand or various marketing-related goals on Twitter.
To put a video on Twitter, you can upload it directly via the image upload section on Twitter, or first upload the video to another video server, such as YouTube, and then put the video link in your tweet. This allows live streaming of videos on Twitter.
11- Organize your followers in different groups
As the number of people you follow increases, it will become more difficult to stay focused on the information that is flowing to you every day and every moment. You can organize your tweets and received information by using the listing feature on Twitter and grouping your followers. For example, you can divide your followers into groups of customers, potential customers, local or affiliate businesses, business or professional organizations, inspirational people, and close friends.
As each list is created, the tweets of the members of that list are displayed in a separate timeline. In addition, it is possible to make the lists public or private. When you create a public list, you will be notified by deleting and adding members, and anyone can join your list. In private listings, everything is private and only you can change members.
To create a list, you must go to the Lists side menu in your profile, and to view the list of other competing users or businesses, select the View Lists option from the menu next to the Follow button. To add or remove users from the list, you can use the Add / remove from list option in the same menu. Note that even users you do not follow can be added to your Twitter lists.
12- Expand your audience community by using hashtags
The Twitter experience of most people is limited to the people they follow. The best way to get out of this constraint and find relevant content is to use your favorite hashtags. As someone who is looking for marketing on Twitter, you should use popular hashtags in your posts to expose yourself to people who are not following you. When the user clicks on his favorite hashtag, all the tweets that contain that hashtag will appear in a row. Using trendy hashtags (for example, for a conference being held) can help your business grow. To find the right hashtags, in addition to always being up to date with the latest news and events in your field, you can also get help from competitors’ posts. In addition, you can create hashtags for your own brand. For more information on this, you can refer to the article we published earlier about hashtags.
13- Evaluate your Twitter marketing performance
Implementing a marketing strategy on Twitter and implementing the tips mentioned will not end your work; Rather, during all of these processes, as well as at the end, you should monitor the performance of all your Twitter marketing actions and overall. For this purpose, it is necessary to check all the indicators that you have set in the specific goals of your strategy and the extent to which they are achieved, and if there is no proper return, make the necessary adjustments and adjustments.
You can use the following tools to evaluate different indicators:
Twitter Analytics Tool: This tool is available to all Twitter accounts for free and shows good information about the interaction with your posts;
TweetReach: This tool also shows information about how your tweets, links, keywords and hashtags work and how well you interact with them.
• Twitonomy: This tool displays the statistics of your account or any other Twitter account (for example, competitors’ Twitter).
Concluding remarks
Twitter, as a fast, vibrant and up-to-date social network, is one of the best options for use in marketing. At the same time, marketing on Twitter, like any other method of marketing, requires planning, strategy and steps, and attention to the specific points that we mentioned in this article, the most important of which are mentioned. Combining the above tips with creativity and innovation can be a successful combination that will increase sales and grow your business.
