Since it was founded back in 2006, Twitter has gone from a relatively modest microblogging platform to one of the biggest social networks in the world. It currently has over 328 million active users, and celebrities and influencers use it for everything from promoting their latest projects to connecting with their fans. Naturally, it has also become a great platform for marketers who want to connect with clients and increase visibility.
If you’ve spent any amount of time at all on Twitter, you probably know how easy it is to use. All you need to do is come up with a comment off the top of your head and post it. As long as it is limited to 140 characters, it will be there for all of your followers to see. This in itself can increase visibility for your brand, but there is much more to marketing on Twitter than writing what amounts to a text message. You need to stand out among the hundreds of millions of other Twitter users if you want your brand to be visible, which means using some of these more advanced techniques.
Getting In on Conversations
Twitter is really all about conversation. You post something witty or interesting, and your followers respond to it by posting tweets of their own that may or may not keep the conversation going. It’s really what makes Twitter so much fun, and you can improve your brand’s visibility by responding to others’ conversations. You don’t want to shoehorn your way into topics that have nothing to do with what your brand has to offer, but you can and should search for relevant hashtags and topics, especially if they are trending. Many of the users having conversations about these topics will likely have the same interests as you, and they will be likely to engage you in conversation. This is a really easy way to find followers for your Twitter account, yet it is one that is sorely underused. Make sure that you acknowledge everyone who responds to you and contributes to the conversation.
Starting Your Own Conversations
Of course, you can always begin your own conversations by using relevant hashtags and mentioning influential people within your brand’s niche. To find hashtags that may be able to start a conversation, try using the Hashtagify tool. This will point you in the direction of some relevant hashtags that should increase visibility for your brand and get people talking about it. You should always acknowledge anyone who comments on your Twitter feed and contributes to your conversation, just like you would if you were to join someone else’s conversation.
Including Visuals
Studies show that tweets that feature images receive 18 percent more engagement and are retweeted 150 percent more often than posts that are merely text. The trick here is to choose the right images, especially since Twitter only allows tweets of 140 characters or less. Infographics make for great tweets since they contain text that doesn’t contribute to your character count. You don’t want to include a distractingly large infographic that looks obnoxious on someone’s feed, but it’s a great way to get around the 140 character limit.
As for images that don’t contain text, you should stick to photos that will gain the most attention. These can include popular celebrities, photos from current events, and anything else that will get people talking. As long as it fits within your brand’s niche, you should feel free to use it.
Timing
Timing is everything in social media marketing. You need to know when to post the right tweets for maximum visibility. Typically, this is between 12 PM and 3 PM on weekdays. This will of course depend on where you and your followers are located, but the beginning and the middle of the afternoon is usually when people will be the most likely to see your tweets. If this doesn’t seem to be the case, then you will need to pay close attention to when your users view and retweet your content.
You should also be paying attention to how often you tweet. If you only tweet sporadically, anything you say will be lost in the shuffle of your average feed. If you tweet too often, users might get annoyed with you for taking up too much room on their feeds. For best results, try to tweet about three times a day. That’s the kind of frequency that most brands use to drive engagement.
Posting Links
As with any blogging platform, posting links is a great way to increase traffic and engagement on Twitter. Of course, you need to know the best way to go about this if you want it to work for your brand. Naturally, any link you post should have something to do with your niche, and it should ideally be something that is currently trending. Your followers should want to follow a link that you post, and that won’t happen if they perceive it as meaningless.
Where you post your link in your tweet matters as well. Users are far more likely to click on a link that appears near the beginning of a tweet rather than near the end of one. Basically, you want to get users to click the link before they lose interest. And yes, it is possible to lose interest while reading a tweet. Whenever you’re posting a tweet that contains a link, the link should be the point.
Finally, don’t forget to include the links in the description box. Remember that you want users to click links, and they won’t do that if they aren’t sure where it will send them.
Watch Other Accounts
Just as the best writers are also readers, the most successful Twitter users are the ones who spend a lot of time on their feeds. If you ever find that you don’t know what to tweet, look to the other accounts that you follow. They can all provide inspiration and chances for conversation. There will always be something worth tweeting about if you look hard enough, so don’t give up.
