Beyond the Hashtag: Creating a Twitter Strategy That Works

Thinking about using Twitter as part of your marketing strategy? You might want to take a look at this if you really want to create a Twitter Strategy that works.

twitter strategy that works

When many businesses refer to social media marketing, they are primarily talking about Facebook. Sure, they might have accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other platforms, but the majority of their time and effort is devoted to Facebook.

There are plenty of reasons for this — many of them valid — but by ignoring Twitter, you are ignoring some prime opportunities to market your business and build your audience. Considering that more than half a billion tweets are sent every single day, people are clearly using Twitter. The question then becomes less about whether you should be tweeting, and more about how can you leverage the service more effectively?

Forget What You Think You Know

At this point, you may be asking yourself, “Why even bother with Twitter?” The fact is, a very small percentage of people who use Twitter actually follow brands, and the majority of tweets that mention brands aren’t retweeted or otherwise acknowledged. Is it even worth the effort?

The short answer is yes, and for several good reasons:

  1. Influencers are on Twitter. The people who create the content that gets noticed are almost 400 times more likely to be on Twitter than those who aren’t.
  2. Twitter has incredible reach. By some estimates, the actual potential reach of a tweet is double the actual user base. Because tweets can be embedded in content, show up in search engine results, and can be read by people who don’t actually have Twitter accounts of their own, your tweets can reach far more people than you expect.
  3. Twitter encourages more interaction. Studies show that people find interactions with brands on Twitter to be more authentic and reliable than via other platforms. And it’s no mystery that many people take to Twitter when they want to complain or get resolution to a customer service issue – and brands that respond appropriately are generally better received than those that ignore customer comments.

So while it might seem like Twitter isn’t worth your time, the fact remains that as a brand building tool, Twitter is invaluable. Therefore, you need to develop a Twitter strategy, just as you would for any other social media platform. Working with an agency, like FrankelMedia.com, can help you define that strategy, but in the meantime, you can begin improving your Twitter presence with a few key changes to your tweets.

hash tag twitter strategyWhat You Need to Know About Tweeting

While your overall Twitter strategy depends on your company goals, how you construct your tweets can make a significant difference in the overall response to your messages, especially when composing direct response advertising messages. If you are just beginning to test the Twitter waters, or if you want to try to improve the response to your existing campaigns, keep these important points in mind.

  • Hashtags not required. Hashtags are great when you are trying to expand the reach of your message and get it in front of the right audience, but as with many things, less it more. Adding a hashtag in front of every word is not only annoying, but often viewed as too promotional. If you are already using Twitter’s targeting tools to reach your audience with a sponsored tweet, skip the hashtag altogether and use the extra characters for useful information.
  • Ask questions. Remember the “social” part of social media? Use it! Ask questions in your tweets to encourage people to interact with you. When they do, they are more likely to click through to your site or respond to your offer.
  • Focus on new. Twitter is a real-time platform. People use Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest and greatest news from the people and brands they follow. In your tweets, then, it’s important to focus on what’s new and find new angles, even when you are promoting existing products.
  • Convey urgency. Again, the real-time nature of Twitter makes it imperative that you convey urgency in your messages. Using words like “quick” and “hurry” spurs people to action. Don’t make the mistake of using all caps, though. Studies show that tweets that overuse capital letters don’t perform as well as those that don’t.
  • Keep it simple. You have 140 characters to work with, which automatically limits the length of your message, but it’s best to focus on keeping your messages even shorter.

Twitter can be a valuable addition to your social media marketing, but you cannot treat it the same way that you do Facebook or other platforms. As you develop a strategy, consider why you are using Twitter, and develop your tweets accordingly. In time, you’ll build a larger following and see better results from your efforts.