Deciding which social media platforms would be best suited to marketing your business defines the strategy you take in developing your online public presence. Twitter is an established and active platform, and here we explore the benefits it can bring to your company.
History of Twitter.
The initial concept of Twitter was a platform to keep groups of familiar or like-minded people connected. To this day, this is still the case, but on a far broader spectrum to simply staying connected with friends and family.
Twitter has become a hub for building connections. Whether you are looking to make business contacts, or hoping to improve your interaction with past, present or future customers, Twitter may have a lot to offer.
Who uses it?
Consumers, and businesses large and small use Twitter. Twitter is a fantastic method of interacting and engaging directly, and indirectly, with a large audience. Roughly 70% of small businesses are on Twitter, and 85% of followers feel more engaged with a small business after following them on Twitter.
Is Twitter still useful for small businesses?
As a small business juggling the various social media platforms can be daunting. However, establishing a Twitter presence can be very beneficial for small businesses.
Like most social media platforms, setting focused, achievable goals is the key to success when you decide to establish your small business on Twitter. This could be working to build, and to establish your brand identity, or increasing your reach to the demographic’s you have identified as key targets for your small business.
When you are running a small business, it can be tough prioritising your marketing efforts or feel like time wasted going through your competition’s Twitter feed. The ability to market your brand through fast paced interactions can give you broader reach in your online presence for less time spent. Consumers on Twitter can become advocates of their own accord, generating interest for your business that can make all the difference in your brand’s journey of growth.
How can I market my small business on Twitter?
Establish Your Brand
Design your profile page to reflect your brand identity and company ethos. This is vital, as this could be the first interaction a new customer or client has with your business. Your audience needs to gain a clear understanding of who you are, what you have to offer and where they can purchase your product or services. Expressing your brand’s identity through the images you select for your profile and cover photos are critical.
Selecting your brand’s voice will also help you to establish how you as a company would like to present yourself on Twitter. Are you taking a humorous approach? Is your online voice strictly professional? Consider who your target audience is and how you would hope to interact with them. What would be the most effective approach to take? If you have not yet established your customer avatar, here is how to Create Your Ideal Customer Avatar.
Advanced Search Tool.
In 2021 Twitter had around 206 million daily active users all over the world. With the help of Twitter’s Advanced Search tool, it is now easier than ever to filter down those users to identify key stakeholders for your small business.
You may be looking to increase sales or to simply keep track of trends that may be relevant or useful to gaining traction for your company. Whatever your goals, assessing your target demographic and utilising Twitter’s analytics and search tools will help you to develop a strategy best fit to marketing your small business.
The basic search of hashtags and general searching can be a minefield, however, Twitter’s Advanced Search Tool features a series of parameters which can make a huge difference in sifting through the millions of tweets flooding the platform every day. Whether you are looking for a specific phrase or keyword, or you could even opt to exclude keywords from the search. Tweets posted from targeted geographical locations, or posted on specific dates or date ranges; these can all be identified and sorted for you, saving you time.
Monitoring and interacting with anyone who tweets to or about your small business can lead to many positive outcomes. You use it for inspiration, helping you to better understand what content in your industry gets the most attention. Whatever your desired outcome, this tool can be invaluable on such a busy reactive platform.
It can also be used to identify positive and negative responses from customers, enabling you to respond and interact in a positive or helpful manner with potential or current clients and customers.
If you want to monitor interactions about your company, it may be worth considering posting a company hashtag in your bio. This may encourage users to share their thoughts or tag your company when they Tweet about you, making it easier for you to find and interact with users.
Content sourcing is also a fantastic way of staying relevant, actively participating in industry news, and keeping up with hot topics and trends. Whilst it may seem time consuming, it doesn’t have to be. Keyword searches and setting alerts for key sources can be an excellent way of sourcing content inspiration and information to support your small business.
Social Listening.
Expanding your brand identity’s reach and interacting with consumers on an active, regular basis can do wonders for growing your brand awareness and increasing sales. Proactively monitoring and responding to customer feedback, as well as keeping track of potential and current competitors can make all the difference in how you market your business. Social Listening can also alter the direction you take in your online interactions. Allowing for flexibility in your social media strategy is always advisable as you never know what current affairs within your industry will require your attention, and your response. Having a clear understanding of your online brand identity and how you wish to present yourself will help to define those responses and improve brand affinity.
Go Direct.
Uploading content directly to Twitter is more likely to increase engagement results when using the platform. When using Twitter, it tends to gain more traction if the content posted is uploaded directly to Twitter. For example, a video uploaded to Twitter plays automatically, whereas a YouTube link involves clicking away from the platform; decreasing the number of people who are likely to commit to watching the video.
Another useful tip is if you have any upcoming events which you would like to sell tickets to, why not pin it at the top of your page? Post the direct link to encourage ticket sales and make it easier for users to purchase.
Paid Campaign
Creating and running a paid campaign on Twitter can be a fantastic way of further pushing your content and brand to a wider audience. Consider your goals; are you hoping to achieve more active engagement levels or drive people to your website? Are you trying to make direct sales?
A paid Twitter campaign can help you to navigate and target the demographic audience you wish to reach. During the setup process, you create your own custom target audience list, set a daily budget for the campaign and push your most engaging content to the audience you have selected.
You may wonder, what content would be best to use? While using visually engaging photos in rotation is vital, videos between 6-15 seconds long perform best.
Get In Touch.
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