With an estimated 288 million users every month, Twitter has become a great tool you can use to promote your business. Social Media Marketing is still quite new in regards to business but it is definitely something for you to consider, even more so if you want that edge over your competitors.
1) Bio
The Twitter bio is 140 characters and gives you the opportunity to give a brief insight into what your business provides. At a first glance of a Twitter account, the bio is one of the first items that you will notice so it’s vital that you can clearly define who you are (as a business) and what you do with showing some personality.
The location part of your bio also plays an important part as it can help customers or clients determine whereabouts you’re based in the world.
2) Content of your tweets
Have a quick think about the way your followers see your tweets when scrolling through your profile. Are they all the same? Is it constant self promotion? If you are answering yes to these questions, then mix things up, make the profile more user friendly: tweet images/videos, tweet general information or news, engage with the audience. For example, tweet about current affairs, especially if they might concern your business or customers! Nevertheless, when doing so never be biased towards a certain topic!
Sticking to the 80/20 rule allows you to keep an ideal balance between normal content (80%) and self promotion (20%). This way, the majority of your content will be interesting and inform your followers instead of constantly promoting a service or product you can provide.
3) Who are you following?
A common mistake for businesses on Twitter is to follow people just for the follow back. Whilst this initially looks good on statistics, they are not going to engage with your tweets or become potential customers. You need to establish a clear and specific target audience and then go about finding them.
According to MediaBistro, 67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from the brands that they follow on Twitter. On the other hand, it isn’t just potential customers that your business should follow. Suppliers, competitors and experts of the industry are worth following too!
A quick word of advice – don’t keep following those small business accounts if they do not follow back as this will have a negative impact on your ratio and it could be interpreted by others that they are not interested in what your business does.
4) Hashtags
Hashtags (#) are a fantastic tool to take advantage of on Twitter as they allow you to find every tweet about a certain subject or topic. They can be manipulated by companies so that they can promote events, gain valuable feedback or to collect various opinions from the general public. For example, the biggest hashtag of 2014 was #WorldCup with it being used a huge 21.6 million times.
Once you’ve established what’s trending or what the current affairs are, you can then join in with whoever else is interested in that individual topic. This gives you that further reach to people and can result in people visiting your Twitter profile and perhaps even following you. Another effective way of using hashtags is to think of one for your own company, this way you can monitor all tweets regarding your business with that hashtag.
5) Response
Responding to tweets is an important aspect of Twitter. The whole platform is created for you to stay informed and keep in touch with other people. If a customer has a question for your business then be friendly and answer them, even if it is indirect!
When replying to people, don’t forget to be respectful and helpful – avoid being offensive. If you’re dealing with a complaint, the customer may be aggravated and therefore be sarcastic or offensive to you. If this happens then maintain a calm, friendly attitude and continue to help them the best you can. Don’t forget that this is a business Twitter account, not your personal one. You’re representing your company and any offensive comments or bad attitudes will be reflected onto your business.
These are just 5 quick tips you can do to improve your business’s Twitter profile! Check out why neglecting social media is a dangerous game here.