Twitter is a versatile social media platform that lends itself to a multitude of uses. Many people use it to have conversations with their friends, communicate with celebrities who like to respond, and even reach out to businesses when they have an issue. Perhaps the platform’s biggest weakness and strength are its speed. Conversations happen very fast and can become disjointed quickly. This is fine for the individual but not so much for a business, especially when that business is focused on marketing efforts on Twitter. Following are some tips to help you plan a marketing strategy on Twitter and stay away from random tweets.
Focus the Message
Image via Flickr by SambaClub
It’s very easy to lose track of what you’re saying on Twitter. The 140-character format makes it very easy to go on any number of tangents as you make statements and reply to other users. Instead of using the business account to get into conversations, use it to make announcements or commentary that relates to the business. And don’t hesitate to use the direct message (DM) feature. DM’ing a user gives you the opportunity to send a welcome message and get into a deeper conversation with the user if warranted. It helps keep the company message on target and consistent even behind the scenes in a DM.
Listen to What People Are Saying
People have opinions and they like to be heard. Twitter is a perfect place for them to air what they’re thinking about any given topic, and that includes businesses. If your business has a lot of followers or people are hashtagging the account frequently, you may find that it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on. Don’t let the signal-to-noise ratio make you give up on the whole platform; instead, get more people to monitor the account and have them collaborate behind the scenes with software such as Office 365.
The monitoring team can use Office 365 to communicate with one another, talk about tweets they’ve responded to, plan a strategy for the next round of tweets, and determine whose turn it is to make coffee today.
How Best to Use Twitter
Figure out what you want to gain from Twitter. Is it increased brand awareness? Setting a consistent message that people associate with the business? Or is it the desire to give the business a face in a sea of faceless corporations? Whatever the objective might be, you need to set one and stick to it as much as possible. Everything that goes on Twitter is a reflection of the company at large. You need to be mindful of the fact that what goes on Twitter is searchable and not easily deleted from the internet. Not everyone will react in the same way to the same message. When you are marketing to your audience on Twitter, you need to be mindful of who they are. This can be kind of difficult if you are not sure who exactly is following you. You want to promote your Twitter to the right people, and to do this you need some way of connecting with them. Most businesses turn to a third party tool for this as these can help them get out in front of people they otherwise would not have been able to.
Twitter is a platform that companies need to take seriously. People can use it to trash companies that they feel have done them wrong so anyone can see it. Be responsive, be courteous, and maintain consistency. You may not want to respond to someone’s aggravation, but 140 characters and a DM can go a long way toward goodwill for your company.