4 Keys to Marketing on Twitter
With over 302 million active users, Twitter is a platform you need to get in on.
By Nathan Resnick •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Look at most companies' social media activity, and chances are their Twitter presence is going to have the smallest, but still rapidly growing, following among the platforms there. Twitter was originally created for sharing short-burst thoughts, yet it has grown into one of the three core social media platforms, beside Instagram and Facebook. That's why you need to pay attention to your tweets.
Related: How I Went From Zero to 380,000 Twitter Followers Without Spending a Dime
At my own company, Yes Man Watches, our tweets are motivational and inspiring. Yours may be different. But the point is to grow your Twitter presence through compelling content. A potential follower won't waste time on your page if your tweets aren't interesting. So, to achieve that, ensure that your Twitter presence aligns with your brand. Think about your core competencies and base your tweets around them. Taco Bell, for instance, has built its active following by incorporating comedy, tweeting, in one case I saw, "Time will heal a broken heart, but Taco Bell will heal it faster."
With over 302 million active users, Twitter is a platform you shouldn't miss out on. To ensure you too make the most of your account, utilize these three keys:
1. "Favorite"/ retweet interesting content.
Finding content based on hashtags can be a key to growing your following. When you "favorite" -- yes, Twitter uses the word as a verb -- someone's tweet, you will often catch his or her attention. Doing this manually can be tedious, and platforms like FlockWithMe.io automate this process. On FlockWithMe's platform, you can automatically "favorite" and follow people based on hashtags. This white-hat approach enables you to interact with real people while you're seamlessly growing your Twitter following.
2. Tweet often.
To ensure your account stays active, I recommend tweeting at least once a day. If you're running a Twitter account for your brand, there really isn't a limit. When I worked on the Twitter account for Kickstarter Success, we would often tweet once every five minutes, as our target market of crowdfunding was packed with new projects waiting to gain exposure. With the help of the crowdfunding community, we grew to 200,000-plus followers in just over a year.
3. Interact with your followers.
Tweeting your own tweets is just as important as responding to what people are saying to you on Twitter. If someone tweets @yourtwitter, be sure to respond in a timely manner. Oftentimes, brands actually use Twitter as an extension to their customer support activities. For example, Delta Airlines uses the handle @DeltaAssist to manage customer questions.
Related: 5 Steps to Harnessing the Power of Twitter
4. Catch trends.
One of the best ways to integrate your brand into the Twitter community is by voicing your opinion on trends. If one of your Tweets goes viral through a hashtag, chances are your Twitter following will increase dramatically. To see what's trending on Twitter, simply go to the homepage and look in the bottom left. If a trend catches your eye, I suggest tweeting what you think about it. As I write this, #BBKing is trending to commemorate the passing of this music legend. If you too were tweeting today and believed that your followers knew #BBKing, you could tweet your own condolences.
As Twitter continues to grow, it should be an essential part of your company's marketing strategy. By interacting with your followers, you'll find that they'll become more loyal to your brand. A company's footprint can expand through Twitter and there's no reason not to utilize this community. If your company isn't on Twitter already, it's time to start, or risk losing the potential to interact with over 302 million people.
