Need help getting started on a marketing strategy for Twitter in 2020? This #SEMrushchat recap can help you discover tactics and options that could work for you. The truth is, there are more campaigns that fail on Twitter than succeed. The best way to avoid wasting time and money on any marketing strategy is to learn what to do and what not do from people that use the platform every day to help businesses meet their goals.
Last week, our community and guest, Madalyn Sklar, offered a lot of helpful Twitter marketing details and tips. The topics discussed during the chat included why Twitter is a good and unique platform for business purposes, tactics for growing an audience organically, ways to create the perfect tweet, overlooked Twitter features businesses could use for growth and the brands that are doing well on Twitter and what you can learn from them.
Check out the tweets below and let us know what you think of the opinions by sharing in the comments below.
Q1. What makes Twitter unique and different from other social media platforms, in regards to using it for business purposes?
Twitter provides an incredible opportunity to engage with countless people who share your interests. This makes it an ideal platform for connection.
It’s realtime, it’s authentic, you “choose” what you see, it’s a resource, a business productivity tool, a news channel, and best of all – a “Search Engine” – use it to FIND value, rather than just shout stuff to the masses.
Twitter is live here and now and always busy 24/7 for you to reach out to your ideal clients/customers.
The “intimate” feel of the niche and industry communities on Twitter is one of the most unique attributes of the platform. There is the ability to be public and connected simultaneously that hasn’t been replicated on any other platform.
I feel like Twitter is the most direct way for customers to exchange with a brand and vice-versa. As a business, it’s a great way to engage with people and other brands in a transparent and effective way.
You can #connect to people quickly and easily. Even reach out to people you would never call or email. There is a different etiquette too. And Twitter people just seem cooler – 😂- and overall, willing to share and offer support.
What I love about Twitter and what makes it uniques is that it is real-time and you can connect and grow your communities with like-minded professionals and to also connect with your audiences or customers.
Twitter is the go-to place for breaking news, so it’s great for industry news, updates, and getting involved in conversations in real-time! (like this one!) It’s constantly updating with new information and opportunities with trending hashtags.
Q2. If a business is new to Twitter, what are the most effective tactics to grow their organic following?
LISTEN! for those in the back LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSTEN! Observe how people are speaking at your brand or just in your industry alone and respond authentically. Stop with the automated response.
A2: – Find your target demographic
– Understand what they engage with/enjoy
– Identify pain points
– ENGAGE with your audience!
– Educate your audience on what you do and who you are
– Participate in Twitter chats
A2. 📝 Make replying and retweeting a habit
👍🏻 Consistently deliver good content
#️⃣ Monitor hashtags & trending topics
🔗 Engage with influencers
Start by observing who, who and what is discussed around your areas of interest. Find related open discussions such as this to broaden your network. Listen and respond in context. Share more than your own opinions. Curate your feed.
Consistency and speed are crucial. Companies need to respond swiftly to mentions and replies. Also, companies should reach out through mentions and use hashtags that are relevant to their industry. Posting engaging tweets such as polls or hosting chats.
A2:
✔️Follow industry-related informative handles
✔️Follow the followers of your competitor
✔️Create Tweets based on the recent trends related to your business
✔️Use related Hashtags for better reach
✔️User simple content with icons, images & videos
Q3. Fill in the blank: a perfect tweet is _____
A Perfect Tweet is one that enables people to share their opinions and ideas, and be responsive. It’s that statement in a conversation that you just want to respond to and talk about, and share your story. Twitter is a meeting of many storylines joined together.
A perfect tweet is one that elicits a reaction! It inspires others to like/comment/retweet/visit your website or take some other action.
A perfect tweet is written thoughtfully, relevant to your audience’s needs and gives a punch of value to them.
A perfect tweet is…not about perfectionism – more about authenticity and connecting with your audience.
Off-the-cuff tone comes with the territory – communicating in the same formal tone you use on LinkedIn doesn’t resonate< IMO. Just be concise.
My Twitter feed is filled with a variety of engaging tweets that include: 🔥 promotional info
🔥 motivational quotes
🔥 retweets and retweets with a quote
🔥 sharing other people’s content
🔥 Twitter polls
🔥 videos
🔥 GIFs & custom GIFs
Q4. What are the most overlooked Twitter features and how do you use them to grow your Twitter presence?
Twitter features that not enough people take advantage of:
✅Search (and advanced search)
✅Geolocation features
✅Tagging in Photos
✅ Lists (private and public)
✅ Gifs (to bring tweets to life)
✅ Did I mention Search?…
Totally overlooked features:
✔️ Twitter moments
✔️ Live video (via periscope)
✔️ The mute button
✔️ Lists
One of my Favorite Twitter features are Lists, and I have a number of lists that I visit when I want to see what is going on around San Diego, involving SEO, about machine learning, regarding security. Each topical list transforms twitter for me.
I think Twitter’s new expandable card deck is something to mention along with their advance search is worth exploring. Last, I would say is their ability to follow specific topics on twitter.
#TwitterLists – Manage your group #TwitterTrends – to define search trends @PeriscopeCo – video content is future #TwitterMoments – to tell a story Explore Tab Native GIF search – engaging And polls🔥
Learn more about Twitter’s Media Studio here: https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/media-studio
Q5. What brands/companies are nailing it on Twitter? What lessons can other businesses learn from them?
Some of the brands that I love to watch and follow that are doing a great job are… @MeetEdgar
@CMIContent
@SMExaminer
@Wendys
@moonpie
@Zappos Great content examples, great engagement examples and great examples of using social for customer service. #SEMrushChat
I think these brands/companies are crushing it on Twitter. @semrush (of course!)
@Oreo
@JetBlue
@Subway
@VancityReynolds
@garyvee What you can learn from these Twitter accounts is that people love tweets that are creative and fun.
I’m all for brands throwing out jokes and punchlines towards their competitors. @Wendys and @tacobell do this very well. It’s been done so well, there are compilation articles and videos about their ‘best tweets’. Businesses can copy their fearless/casual approach.
There are some sports teams that really “get it” my favorite twitter is @Rockies – they’re fun, engaging and a bit snarky when appropriate. They also RESPOND to fans. Which I think is huge!
For starters:
@netflix
@MerriamWebster
@wendys
@moonpie
@Target
@burgerking
And obviously, @semrush 😉 #SEMrushchat
Key reasons: Engagement, personality, regularity, conversations, human.
I always use @innocent as an example but @monzo, @netflix and @Missguided are also brilliant on Twitter! 👏
It’s not an ad but for me, you guys @semrush. In my opinion, businesses need to understand that every social media channel have a different audience so, the content must be adapted for every digital channel.
Have any Twitter tips for 2020?
Share them in the comments. We will be discussing Social Media Live Streaming in our next SEMrushchat which starts at 11 am ET/4 pm BST on Wednesday, December 18th.