8 Twitter Tricks That Bring in Business

 In Marketing, Marketing

Twitter gives you one hundred and forty characters to make an impression – not a lot! Many businesses make simple mistakes that cost them significantly in customer engagement and retention.

 

By being savvy and selective with how and when you Tweet, you can avoid some of these pitfalls and see your follower count soar.

Shorten your URLs using a service such as bit.ly, ow.ly, or Buffer.

The URLs included in your Tweets make a big difference in the character count of your messages, and by cutting them down you have more room to convey your message to your customers

Use a service such as Hootsuite to track what people are saying about you.

You can have the service track hashtags, mentions of your brand, or any other number of search terms. By keeping your ear to the ground for social customer service, you can avoid potential PR nightmares before they happen.

Don’t be afraid to create a dialogue with your customers – even your negative ones!

Many people are afraid of their Twitter critics, but by creating a dialogue and attempting to address their concerns forthrightly, you may find that some of your harshest critics change their tune about you and your services.

Experiment with Tweeting at different times of day.

Tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer both offer analytic services that you can use to see which Tweets are popular, and at what time. You can use this data to begin to target your messages to different audiences at different times of the day. Another benefit of using services like these is the ability to schedule Tweets in advance. Hootsuite even offers an auto-scheduling feature, which schedules your Tweets to go out at optimal times for traffic during the day.

Come up with a custom hashtag for your business and promote it everywhere!

Put it on your business cards, your merchandise, the bumper of your company cars and all over your website. If you’re a larger brand, you can also come up with hashtags to advertise specific promotions or campaigns in addition to your main company hashtag.

Create a dialogue with brands that are complementary to yours and let your customers see you talking.

If you’re a florist, reach out to the local wedding catering company on Twitter to say hello. RT their Tweets and keep an eye out for the opportunity to cross-promote and offer deals.
If you want a lot of new followers very quickly, you could offer a giveaway of goods or services. Encourage people to Re-Tweet your posts and have their friends follow you, then pick a random follower to win.

Keep an eye on the hot “trending topics” in your area, as well as in your larger geographic region.

If you can find an in for your product, use the momentum and popularity of the trends to get more eyeballs on your content. A word of warning, however, is to be sure you understand exactly what trend you are jumping on. Be careful not to seem glib or try and jump on a trend you don’t fully understand. Social media users, especially on Twitter, are savvy to over the top marketing tactics.

If you follow this advice, you should see your follower count and engagement leap. It’s important not to treat Twitter as an afterthought in your business. Social media is an invaluable tool for hearing directly from your customers, and it is something that needs to be checked and responded to every day.

There should be someone on your team that is dedicated to maintaining a social presence and growing a community. If you’re a large company, you may have the luxury of appointing an existing employee as a social media manager. If you’re a small business, you might find yourself spending a few late nights on Twitter, but you can always get the mobile app so you can tweet anytime.