How to market your business on social media: Part 2 - Twitter
Following on from my original post on marketing your business on Facebook, here's part 2 of the series on social media with some tips for using Twitter.
According to 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, Twitter is second only to Facebook when it comes to social media popularity. The goal of marketing your small business on both platforms is the same: to actively engage current and potential customers.
But Twitter requires different strategies.
How to get (and keep) a Twitter following
On Twitter, you get 140 characters to make an impact. But your tweets can't make an impact unless you gain a following. Here are a few surefire ways to increase your follower count, according to Forbes:
- Tweet valuable content that is not only focused on self-promotion, but also on what will help and interest your target audience. Include links, images and video for added engagement.
- Follow other people (specifically those who may be interested in your brand) because they will probably follow you back.
- Engage in the Twitter community. This means favoriting and retweeting others' tweets, responding to tweets directed at you, and following important people in the target industry.
- Use hashtags - they are extremely important in making your tweets visible to anyone interested in your industry. Hashtags broaden the scope beyond your followers and help others discover you.
- Add Twitter buttons to your website and other social media accounts.
- Pay to promote tweets, and make sure promoted tweets (and your profile) have a link to your website.
It is also extremely important to tweet on a regular basis - at least once a day if not more. If you don't have time to log on to Twitter every single day, consider using a platform like Hootsuite, which allows you to schedule your Tweets and other social media posts in advance.
How to design your profile
Be sure to make your profile attractive and consistent with your brand identity. Its design should echo your website's design, and the description should contain keywords associated with your business and industry. According to Forbes, these tricks will help your profile show up in Google search results.
Consistency is also important in your posts. Your tweets should maintain "a consistent tone so that people clearly understand who you are and what you do," says John Ferrera, CEO of Nimble, a CRM systems provider for small businesses.
How to track your success
According to Stacey Miller, a social media manager at cloud marketing provider Vocus, it's important to take advantage of Twitter's analytic tools. Analytics can help you understand what is and is not resonating with your audience. They can help you see the times of day and days of the week your followers most interact with your tweets and the types of tweets they prefer.
Twitter data shows that 50 percent of users have either visited or shopped on the website of the small businesses they follow, 43 percent plan to make consistent purchases from those businesses, and 60 percent made a purchase as a result of something they saw on Twitter. With stats like that, it's clear that having a strong presence on Twitter can really boost your business.
The sites I mention or link to in this post are just examples that I thought you'd find useful - I don't endorse them or their services. I have no affiliation with them and make no representation about their services.