Twitter – The Little Bird with the Big Marketing VoiceAre you using Twitter for business (and if not, why not)? Are you ‘kind of’ using Twitter for business (when you remember, have time, have something to say)? Are you a bit uncertain of the little bird with the big voice?
At Bubble Towers, we use Twitter as part of our marketing strategy. It’s well worth the effort. So, if you are not sure how to make a start and utilise Twitter, this little guide will help you navigate your way through the basics.
Twitter is a conversation
It’s best to approach Twitter as an information portal and a conversation. If you approach it as a place to make direct sales you won’t make or keep many followers. Think of it as a networking event – you wouldn’t walk into a networking situation and hard sell at everyone you came into contact with. You get to know people; what they do and what things you have in common. You have conversations about your industries and your areas of expertise. So too with Twitter!
Follow me . . . . . .
Start by following all the people you know and other businesses you have come into contact with. Follow your industry influencers. When you find people of interest, see who they follow – they might also be of interest to you. Thank people when they follow you – it’s polite and may spark a conversation!
What are you going to say?
Whatever interests you and you think might be of interest to your followers. Links to articles you have read and links to your latest blog articles. If you have a special offer on your website; link to that.
#Hashtag
Hashtags are very useful little tools. You use hashtags to make your tweets searchable. If you are writing about marketing for instance and put the term #Marketing within your tweet, other Twitter users searching for information using that hashtag will be more likely to find you.
How often should I Tweet?
Regularity is the key here. Ring fence some time for all your social media. Little and often is much more effective than as and when or sporadic.
Live vs Scheduled Posts
I’m a big fan of ‘live time’ when it comes to social media but it does help to schedule some posts ahead of time if you know you are going to be too busy. HootSuite is my favourite dashboard for doing this but there is also Buffer, which allows you to store and schedule articles of interest for later posting.
My favourite live times are the ‘hours’ such as Yorkshire Hour and 4Nhour. A great place to get connected, and increase your brand reach.
Put it on the dashboard
Hootsuite is far more than just a dashboard for scheduling posts. It helps you to organise and manage your social media platforms. It will alert you to any direct messages you get. It also allows you to target profiles with specific search terms (such as ‘marketing’). Most importantly though are the analytics. The analytics means you can track and study your social media activity and test how effective (or not) it is being. The result is, that you can make the time you invest in your social media efficient time that will yield desired results.
