By Bob Milliken
For an effective social media strategy, most businesses realize that they need to have a presence on more than one major social platform. While this has led to the creation of Twitter accounts for businesses, many struggle to generate content and posts due to the character limit. To help, here are 8 tips that can increase the effectiveness of your Twitter campaigns.
1. Keep posts on the shorter side – This may seem ridiculous, after all there are only 140 characters allowed per tweet, but keeping tweets short allows users to add their own comments and ideas when they retweet. Try keeping your tweets below 100 characters.
2. Twitter is not about promotion – Studies have proven that tweets that promote a company or product don’t usually do as well as messages that are more conversational in nature.
3. Know what time to tweet – Each market is different, so take the time to research tweeting habits. If you see that the majority of your target audience is active during after-work hours, then it would make sense to tweet when they are more likely to be online.
4. Know what days to tweet – Much like knowing what time to tweet, it is a good idea to also know which days are best to tweet in order to maximize engagement. To interact with businesses (B2B) then tweet on days when the companies are open. Customers, are usually more receptive to messages on days when they aren’t working e.g., Saturday and Sunday.
5. Use hashtags – Hashtags in Twitter allow for categorization and make tweets searchable. For example, if you use the hashtag #fresh in a tweet and then search for ‘fresh’ on Twitter, you should see similar posts using the same hashtag. Keep it simple by using only one to three hashtags, at most, in your tweets.
6. Realize Twitter moves fast – The average trend on Twitter lasts about one hour, to one day. So, if you see a trend developing or beginning, act quickly to join the conversation. Posting after the trend has faded will usually lead to tweets being ignored.
7. Watch who you follow – Following people is one of the quickest ways to grow your own follower base – usually because users will follow those who follow them. But, when it comes to business, you want to be sure to follow users who are relevant. For example, follow your customers, strategic partners, and even competitors.
8. Keep an eye on Twitter – In order to effectively spot trends and see what your target market is saying, it is worthwhile to use a program like Tweetdeck, Nimble or Hootsuite which allows you to see all tweets, track hashtags, topics, and more.
If you would like to learn more about using Twitter in your business, contact us today to see how our services and solutions can boost your social media presence.
Connect with Bob at TheITguy@CascadiaSystemsGroup.com, or give us a call –604.270.1730.
Your comments are appreciated – ComputerCents@CascadiaSystemsGroup.com, #ComputerCents
Bob Milliken is the president of Cascadia Systems Group.
