Twitter has amassed, well, a massive following: Over 600 million users, 58 million Tweets sent daily and 9,100 tweets sent every second. And while being fairly young, Twitter has become increasingly valuable in professional realms: 47% of people who follow a brand’s Twitter are more likely to visit that company’s website. That’s a serious amount of leads coming your way via Twitter. How you engage with the Twitter community will dictate ultimately how they interact with you and your brand. There is Twitter etiquette, and once you have that down, networking and sharing will improve your relationships with industry peers, clients and the general public, and increase your sales potential. Here’s a list of tips so you can Tweet your way to success:
Show Off Your Personality
Even if this is a professional Twitter page, personality matters. This will depend on your personal brand and how you want to convey your business, whether that means professionalism, concern for clients, humor or a hometown mentality. Your bio can be a shorter version of your website bio, or something entirely new. If you’re only tweeting about your products, chances are you won’t be interesting to follow. Say how you feel about issues, share relevant news or spark up conversations!
“Bring the best of your authentic self to every opportunity.”
— JOHN JANTSCH
Excellence Is Key
The quality of content that you share determines the amount of users who will believe in your value. Define your goals and who you would like to reach and keep this at the center of your Tweeting strategy. If that means reaching customers in a friendly and striking way for the sake of getting direct leads, then think about how friendly your Tweets are, how often you are using calls to action (more on this later) and if your content is focused. Shared (or Retweeted) content should also follow this model. Follow leaders in your industry that you admire and share their relevant Tweets. Also Tweet to leaders and let them know what you think of their content.
Be Consistent
Tweeting consistently is the best way to develop a natural presence. Focus on information and thoughts that are true to you and your brand, and that will be valuable or entertaining to your follower base. Staying within the 8AM – 7PM range is your best bet because your posts are more likely to be read during these hours. This includes all 7 days of the week, but weekdays are most successful for engagement.
Be Brief
Twitter has a 140 character limit, but those that stay under 100 characters have 17% higher engagement. If you’re having trouble fitting all the words you want into a single post, we recommend using a tool like Thsrs, where you can enter a dense word and it will spit out shorter synonyms for you to pick from.
General tips:
- Don’t use “and” where an ampersand (&) works
- Get rid of unnecessary pronouns, like “the” and “that”
- Make up space with contractions. Use the “don’t” or “won’t” over a “do not” or “would not”
- Use numbers instead of words: “11” for “eleven”
Be Social
This may seem a little blunt, but Twitter is a location to talk and listen. Make sure that not only are you tweeting relevant topics, but that you’re effectively connecting with users, especially those that reach out to you. This is the best way to grow your following. There’s a few ways to share and engage:
- Retweets: A big part of Twitter etiquette is celebrating great ideas. Share compelling information you find from other Tweeters or promote positive feedback your business receives.
- Replies: Reaching out directly and openly to someone’s great Tweet or reply message is a great way to show direct genuine interest.
- Favorites: Favoriting great Tweets lets others know you appreciate their ideas.
- Direct Message: You may consider this route if customers request personalized information and it’s best to connect with them individually.
- Follow: Follow those you value. Everyone has a different philosophy on this, but we believe in following to build strong connections and gain knowledge or inspiration from other individuals or brands.
Include CTAs
Tweets that request a call to action in creative ways have higher engagement rates, but too few businesses actually employ CTAs. Find a great way to naturally incorporate them, whether that’s asking for a response, share, vote, etc.
Use Helpers
Use social schedulers like Hootsuite or Buffer to stay ahead of your week and weekend Tweets. Just make sure to do this sparingly and adjust if something more timely arises. These should only be used for standard Tweets. Others should flow naturally to avoid sounding like a robot.
“Trust your instincts.”
— ESTEE LAUDER
Send Visuals
Visual posts on Twitter call for better interactions. Have fun here with memes, GIFs, and professional or personal photos. As long as your content is visually appealing, it has a higher potential for views and Retweets. There are many applications for uploading, and ones like pic.twitter.com and twitpic will largely increase Retweets.
Other Valuable Tips
- Use Bitly or tinyURL for shortening your links.
- Avoid using more than two hashtags (using more will significantly reduce the number of responses to your Tweet).
- Be positive! It’s shown that consistently great Tweeters use positive language and energy in their postings which makes for more responsive followers.
- Morning and daytime searches let you pull important information and gather tweetable content to distribute throughout the day. Creating Twitter lists will also help you locate important information through curated feeds.
Use these tips to your advantage and engage your audience effectively.
What are the best “tricks of the tweet”? Share with us below!
