While most companies use a Twitter account, it’s often no more than a place to repost your blogs or publicise the odd promotion. It’s no wonder Twitter has a bad rap; between Anthony ‘Carlos Danger’ Weiner and Steven Harper’s twerking, it may be difficult to take Twitter seriously. But to dismiss it would be passing up the opportunity to utilize a truly exceptional digital marketing tool.
Pull up a chair
There is a conversation going on about you, your products and your competition on Twitter. You should choose to be a part of that conversation because your competitors will be. Twitter is a great way to organically develop a connection with your customers. Users tweet about their experiences, both good and bad, and that will include their experiences with your product or service.
If a customer had a bad experience, this is a unique opportunity for you to swoop in and right a wrong, in public. You win and the client goes from disgruntled user to raving fan. Hashtags allow you to follow the conversation and respond to users even if you are not following them. It’s a great public forum where you can see what people think, disseminate information, connect, share and sell.
Twitter Marketing
Twitter also offers a pay-per-click promotional platform for businesses who wish to reach a wider audience. There are a number of ways in which you can pay to promote your Twitter account.
- Enhanced Profile Page: Create a branded page similar to a Facebook fan page or have your existing page promoted to people who may be interested in your brand.
- Promoted Tweets: Pin your tweets to a search (this can be a search for your keywords or for a competitor’s brand), promote tweets to people who follow you, to users who are similar to your followers or promote tweets in response to specific trends or hashtags.
These promotions can help to generate followers whose profiles suggest that they will be interested in your brand. Twitter promotions can also drive traffic to your site and lead to conversions for new product sales or drum up support for special promotions and events.
Track your conversion rates to ensure that your tweets are getting tangible results and tweak tweets as necessary.
Quality not quantity
Every new Twitter user is tempted by the idea of having large volumes of followers. You may even be tempted to pay for followers just to make it seem like you’re a popular brand, but when it comes to followers, quality wins out ever quantity every time. Having a small group of followers who engage and share your content (as you engage with and share theirs) will be far more valuable to you than large swathes of users who clog up your inbox.
Regularly update your tweets
Twitter users generally have large followings and this means that your tweet will only stay in the feed for a few minutes or seconds before it’s buried under the barrage of incoming messages. This means that your Twitter account will require regular updates. Use more than one tweet for promotions and change the wording. If one tweet fails to catch the eye, perhaps the next one will succeed.
Twitter can be an effective marketing tool for the discerning user. A Twitter account needs to be effectively managed in order to garner the support of followers. It can really help to gather and disseminate information, connect with your customers, advertise special offers and events, promote your products and services and improve the service you offer to your clients.
