Twitter has rapidly become the ‘go-to’ platform for sharing and exchanging information, including link content. It is also excellent for Twitter marketing. For both bloggers and brands, Twitter, now in its seventh year, is rivaled by only Facebook as the most effective way to build website traffic for your marketing campaign. Pay attention to these Twitter community-building tips and you will notice the difference.
Social media has come a long way since then as have the strategies, tactics, methods, and power associated with social media.
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In reality, a successful social media marketing campaign is multi-dimensional. Actually, it’s kind of complicated. Ask any social media marketer “How do you do social media marketing?” and you’re likely to get the “Um, where do I start?” look.
There are a lot of elements to address and minute details to cover. Often, the most difficult stage is the initial one, when you’re trying to gain traction and pick up momentum.
The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.
– Albert Einstein
Effective tweets have characteristics that are easy to spot. You’re going to want to take advantage of that and utilize some of the practices that make for popular tweeting if you want to become a reliable tweeter that people can turn to.
Here are the best ways to build an engaged and relevant Twitter community we have found and used in our business:
Twitter marketing … think like your target community
Make your tweets relevant and interesting to this specific community. You should do minimal to no selling. For the Finger Lakes client, he is sharing facts on the history of the Finger Lakes, the most popular State Parks, and the regional wineries and wines.
Twitter community building … use “You.”
People want to know how you can provide value to them. Catering to that need is a strategy that works extremely well on Twitter. Tell your followers how the link they’re about to click on will help them. It should come as no surprise that the most commonly retweeted word is “You.” Posting a tweet that utilizes the word “you,” statistically, gives you a better chance of being retweeted.
Ask insightful questions
Participate in relevant conversations. In the case of my Finger Lakes client, he has prepared many questions on wine production, types of Finger Lakes grapes, and details on the Finger Lakes themselves.
Twitter communities … emphasize clarity
I have one person I follow who might as well be tweeting in a different language. Of course, he tweets in English, but his word sequence rarely makes sense. There’s always some hidden meaning to what he’s tweeting, and it’s up to his unfortunate followers to figure out what it is. Don’t be like that. Your tweets should be so clear that your followers can see what’s on the other side immediately. Your followers shouldn’t need a decoder ring to figure out what you’re trying to say.
Twitter marketing … add value
Remember there is a very fine line between tweeting frequently and spamming. We recommend 1-2 new tweets (not counting responses) per hour in non-peak times and 3-5 tweets per hour in peak hours. Note that tweets and tweet subject material should be semi-prepared ahead of time.
Keywords
You want your tweets to be searchable because that’s how people are going to find you and what you’re tweeting about. Therefore, you have to use proper keywords when tweeting. If your Twitter profile specializes in hockey information, you’ll need to include the words “hockey” or “NHL” somewhere in your tweets, because that’s what people are going to be searching for. Make it as easy as possible to be found.
Craft a distinct personality
Use it consistently. Show your emotion, enthusiasm, and passion.
Be concise
Twitter only allows for 140 characters, and you may think that’s concise enough. It’s not. Ultimately, you should keep your tweets to 120 characters. Why? Well, if you want to get retweeted, you need to leave room for someone to include “RT @YourTwitterName” in their retweet. I find that I retweet much less for people who don’t abide by the 120-character suggestion. Be brief and you’ll have a better chance of being retweeted over and over again.
Be a member of the community
Be an active listener and dialog participant. Don’t become a one-way broadcaster.
Shorten links
With those 140 characters being so valuable, you don’t want to waste space by putting an entire hyperlink into your tweet. You should use some popular link-shortening services to clear up some space for you. There are plenty out there, but I prefer bit.Ly since it gives you a ton of great analytics data on who’s clicking your links. Whichever service you choose, just make sure you’re cutting down on the space your links take up.
Many businesses function
Use ideas from all of them. For example, use some of the social charities and issues that your business supports and highlight your efforts.
Link to lists
For some reason, people like to read lists. You’re here reading this one, aren’t you? My Twitter stream is constantly full of people tweeting lists, and I tend to read almost all of them. I’m not the only one. People pay attention to tweets that link to lists, probably because they’re full of easily digestible bits of information that pop. Capitalize on that.
Be consistent
Be consistent in your value add and dialog to discriminate your voice from the crowd.
Ask questions
When you ask questions, you’ll sometimes feel like you’re just shouting into an empty room. But you’ll be surprised at the response the more you ask them. Engagement is a huge part of using Twitter the right way, and people love to offer help online.
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If you’ve got a question about something, ask it. You’ll get some great answers most times, and what’s even better is that your followers will be even more aware of you. Never think your followers have nothing to offer you.
The bottom line
Who are some of your favorite tweeters, and why do you think they’re successful?
In summary, find ways to have fun … and let it show in your tweets. People will certainly notice!
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy innovating your social media strategy?
Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
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