Social media continues to shape and change how people live and interact. In business, this rings especially true when we look at how Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and all the other platforms have become incredibly important to how brands succeed and reach people. A decade ago, who would have thought social media platforms would have as much power as they do these days?
Nowadays when a brand doesn’t have an online presence, we immediately wonder why they are still stuck in the Stone Age. Twitter has come to take center stage in the online world, and it’s easy to see why. It provides a quick way for brands to get in touch with their audience, providing them with news and even marketing new products. It gives the internet user a chance to consume bite-sized pieces of media that are still highly impactful.
Twitter has recently expanded into advertising and marketing. Like Facebook this gives businesses the opportunity to market on a platform that pulls in the people they really want to communicate with. The platform has used different measures to do this, ranging from easy to more advanced techniques that are sure to bring in followers and customers. It’s possible to propel your business by putting a few clever measures into place. You don’t need a big digital agency to make it happen, just persistence and passion.
Twitter advertising offers two main options for marketing depending on what you are trying to achieve.
- Promoted tweets work well for raising awareness about a specific product, story or event. You create a tweet that clearly highlights your brand and also the item you want to raise awareness of and this is broadcast to pre-targeted people. You pay Twitter according to the engagement the tweet receives.
- Promoted accounts work well for a brand on a mission to gain followers and exposure. In this case, your Twitter account and profile are broadcast to a wider net of people according to how you targeted them when you set up the campaign. The accounts that stand usually show a level of care, passion and creativity. This is something people notice in your bio, cover photo and profile picture, so make sure these are good.
If you want your tweet to succeed it has to be:
Shareable: Ask yourself if it is something someone would want their followers to know or see.
Bite-sized: No one is on Twitter for long winded stories or links. You basically get at most two glances as people scroll through their timelines so make sure you capture them quickly.
Impactful: You have to give people something that will be worthwhile to their day, this can be a piece of information that gives them insight on the world, or a picture that inspires them – whatever it is, make it meaningful.
Identify the Audience
It is extremely important for Twitter to be a platform for two-way conversation for your brand, so make sure you’re giving as much love as you’re getting. Twitter advocates are a great way to achieve this. Identify followers that are loyal to you, and engage with you and reward them by showing their importance to you. This is something you can do by retweeting their tweets or giving them a shout out on your own timeline.
Participate
Trending topics don’t just exist to let you know what’s happening – they can be your way to creatively presenting yourself and showing relevance. There’s always something happening in the world, the smartest brands know to capitalize on this by giving their take on a world event. When it’s President’s Day, clever brands tweet about it and make graphics for promotion.
Google Partnership
This year Twitter will enter new territory with a partnership that will impact how brands market themselves on the search engine. Tweets will appear in search results, this and many other new features will give brands some more tactics to reach the right people. The most advanced thing you can do is prepare yourself for the next wave so that you and your brand are strides ahead when new trends begin to feature and gain traction, attention and usage.
