The Do's and Don't of Twitter Marketing
Nearly 70% of businesses use Twitter for Business in order to keep in touch with clients and market their products and services. Not every business though, is using Twitter effectively. In this post I have put together a few do’s and don’ts to help you get off the ground and use your twitter account as effectively as possible. DO”S
Be social!
It can be irresistible to simply upload a load of promotional tweets through a scheduling tool and leave Twitter at that, but that won’t get you any real engagement and this strategy adds no value to an audience. Engagement comes from reaching out to people, joining in conversation, asking questions and being present. It’s really important that you remember this when you start using Twitter for business. It’s like walking in to a big room and saying hey i’m here look what I sell – and hoping for the best. Whereas you could walk into the room as start talking to people, asking out about them and building relationships. Try and treat your social networking strategy like you would treat your ‘real world’ strategy and you’ll almost instantly see results and feel less alone on Twitter.
Collaboration! Don’t just share your own content, share others posts and retweet interesting content from people in your network, show that you are able to collaborate. You’ll also find people more willing to share your tweets if you make an effort to share theirs.
Be You!
This may be a business Twitter account but that doesn’t mean you have to be straight laced and inhuman. Instead of simply posting your business or promotional tweets, try to show the lighthearted side of your business. What happens in the print room? or where have the team visited today? People build relationships with real people and not a logo. Remember this when you are planning your content. Show people you are real, and that you are ready to strike up a conversation with them.
Be Consistent
Try to ensure you use twitter regularly, simply posting a heap of tweets one week and then being nowhere to be seen the next show’s you aren’t dedicated to your followers. A simple way to do this is to schedule your posts a week in advance using Hootsuite and ensure you use your smartphone Twitter app to interact with people when they engage with you.
DON’T
Be Too Random
Before you start posting on twitter, try to have a strategy of in place, even if it’s just a small idea of what you will do. If you are too random, it’s hard to measure your success. You will also find you may post irrelevant content, or share information for the sake of having content on your feed. Also be sure not to tweet about politics or religion from your business account (unless the nature of your business) This can really alienate people if they have a different belief. It can be so easy to simple retweet something from a political party, and this is fine when it’s from your personal account. The best way to put a plan together is to brainstorm content ideas and schedule them in advance and be clear on the type of content your business account should retweet or re-share.
Be Negative
If you are aggravated with a companies customer service try and resist the urge to publicly argue with them over Twitter, especially using your business account, this can seen very negative to your followers and they vibe you want to be giving is a positive one! Similarly if someone is upset with your company and they begin to court you negatively in public, simply deal with it swiftly and publicly rather that deleting them, turn the conversation into a positive one something along the lines of: ‘Sorry to hear that! We would really love to make this right with you. Please DM me now and I will make this a priority’ – This way you are publicly showing you have great customer service.
Be Too Salesy
Try not to be a sleazy sales person who simply tweets out offers and services all day! To say ‘I have this for sale – get it now’ all day long is adding no value and it comes off as a bit desperate! Try instead to answer questions and provide case studies and use the soft social selling technique of offering value and help, this way people will be super warmed up to you when it comes to making a buying decision.