In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we give 4 quick tips for driving more engagement on Twitter.
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Problem:
Twitter is amazing. There are 1.3 billion Twitter users currently and nearly 67 million Twitter users live in the U.S. alone. Besides its reach, the real value of Twitter also lies in the strength of individual interactions on the platform. In fact, 42% users learn about products and services via Twitter. 41% provide opinions about products/services. 19% seek customer support. No wonder, millions of different brands, businesses and companies publish tweets every day to increase visibility and also to boost twitter engagement to turn followers into sales.
The good news is that if you engage Twitter users the right way, you will either get retweets, likes, @mentions or your tweets will get favorited. But often businesses get confused when they hear that firing off random tweets is probably not the best way to go about building twitter engagement. And to add to the confusion, even very few marketers understand know how best to leverage Twitter to increase engagement with users online. So, what can you do to bring more engagement to your Twitter account? Let’s explore….
Solution:
Think of Twitter as one big, happy, receptive community of people, with a propensity to connect and interact with brands and start conversations. This makes Twitter a huge source for seeking out new followers and other mass influencers, besides building new and meaningful relationships with people. And the best way to raise your engagement rate is by watching what you tweet, when you tweet, and how you tweet.
1. Timing really is everything. So, it is vital to know where your audience is in the world and also to identify the best times to tweet to them. Twitter Analytics can help you find out where the largest percentage of your Twitter audience come from and then you can use something like Tweriod to figure out the best times to schedule tweets for your audience. Peak time tweets get better engagement.
2. Part of Twitters charm is that it works in real-time, so you have to stay tuned in and listen to tweets about your brand even on the go. Join in the discussion. Respond to questions and engage your audience with great content.. Hit reply and chat. Like a tweet or even retweet it. Show you care. It makes you more likeable.
3. Use the proper tweet length. If you max out on 140 characters then your tweets may be too long. Shorter tweets reportedly result in 17% higher engagement. Ideally you should keep tweets under 110 characters so that users can add their own commentary to it, when they
retweet. Even the bite-size tweet content should tell a short, but engaging story in itself. It could link to a great article or even be a well-timed hashtag.
4. Tweets with images are more easily noticeable and get more engagement than tweets without them, just like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Snapchat, There are a number of tools you can use to find the right images for use in your tweets. For example, you can use Twitshot in any browser to find images to use when you share links. Twitter has made it easy for brands to get creative and engage audiences with visual features such as Twitter photo collage, native GIF search, and even live streaming.
If you want to improve the chance of your tweets getting discovered by a wider audience, all you have to do is use relevant hashtags. Not only will you get higher visibility, they are also implicit calls to action. Add hashtags that give your tweets context and do not use more than two hashtags per tweet for maximum engagement. Tools Hashtagify and RiteTag can help you determine what hashtags to use and whether they are relevant to you.
5. People often wonder whether it is okay to ask for a retweet. It surely is, as long as you only ask for retweets occasionally, especially for content that is worth sharing. Asking for a “Retweet” can get you 23-time higher response rate. You can even retweet your own tweets so your brand can rehash or replug older content, especially if it is currently relevant or if you can think you can better it. You can also use the quote feature to add a comment to your earlier tweets. Even retweeting interesting posts from users who have built a following on Twitter can raise your brand profile.
Because of its real-time nature, Twitter has become integral to companies’ customer service departments. Every time a customer tweets to or about your brand, you can engage with them. Twitter users generally expect a quick response to their questions or comments. Even negative tweets from customers are an opportunity for brands to address complaints and convert them into positive, happy experiences.
Benefits:
Only the very best tweets can attract engaged traffic. Write and post better tweets using some of the techniques mentioned in the podcast today, to vastly increase the reach of your tweets. Your tweets are likely to go farther and get shared by many more too. So get tweeting and retweeting to win the hearts of the Twitter crowd!
We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @DirectiveGroup or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.
Join us for an upcoming episode where we talk about ‘Important Social Media Tips For Any CEO’
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