As a small-business owner, you know that establishing your brand online is crucial for success. However, with such a saturated market, it can be difficult to figure out how to rise above the digital noise and make your company truly stand out to customers.
That’s where Twitter comes in. It doesn’t matter whether Twitter is already a part of your social marketing strategy or you’re just signing up now. These five tips can help you use Twitter to better market your small business and get Twitter followers.
Optimize Your Bio
Your Twitter bio is one of the first things potential customers will see when they land on your Twitter and should act as a snapshot of your brand’s identity and mission. To help your company come up in Twitter and Google searches, make sure your bio is keyword dense and contains the most common phrases customers use to find your business/service. As you can see on this Twitter profile of small-business owner Lori Janeson, putting your exact location will help locals find your company.
Network With Influencers
As a small business, you can’t expect to land a partnership with Miley Cyrus or Kylie Jenner overnight. However, don’t discount small-time local bloggers as a source of publicity. Use Twitter’s advanced search to find verified and influential users in your area, then reach out to them via @mentions to establish a rapport.
There are various kinds of collaborations you can leverage with Twitter industry-leaders, from simple retweets to sponsored reviews and competitions. Not only will the influencer increase your reach by lending you their follower’s attention, but they can also add credibility and a human face to your brand. You can also outsource this task to a company like Twesocial.
Offer Fans Incentives
A recent study by SproutSocial found that people generally follow brands on social media to receive incentives, such as bonus offers, promotion codes and first access to sales. People tend to go on social media to see what their friends are up to, not to view dozens of self-promotional company posts. So, it’s important that you offer value to your fans to earn your place on their feed. Make your posts short, entertaining and visually interesting. And when you are promoting a new service or product, offer your Twitter fans an exclusive deal.
You can also use a auto tweet program to schedule your tweets.If your auto Tweet is one that may garner a lot of response and engagement, you don’t want it to just sit there and bomb out. You want that Tweet to go out when your employees are going to be able to keep an eye on it and any developments.
Monitor Trends
When you’re trying to stand out in a sea of similar businesses, paying attention to trending topics on Twitter is vital.
To see the top 10 current trends, look to the column on the left side of your Twitter home page. Using a trending word as a hashtag will cause your brand’s tweets to join an ongoing conversation and show that your brand has their finger on the pulse.
However, this can also cause your tweet to get lost in the noise. To get ahead of the game, you need to predict trends and jump on them before your competition does. For example, if the school holidays are about to finish, start tagging #backtoschool a week early along with a promotion that’s relevant to your brand.
Use Images
Although Twitter used to be all about those all-important 140 characters, times are changing. Research by Buddy Media has found that Twitter posts that include an image link get twice the engagement rate of tweets without images and are retweeted 150% more.
Infographics are particularly popular, enjoying three times the amount of likes and retweets than any other type of content. By creating infographics specific to your business, you can communicate fun facts about your brand while also communicating key ideas to your audience.
It’s not easy to grow a small business, but having a powerful Twitter presence is a great start. By utilizing these five simple tips, you can transform your Twitter account into a magnet for followers and your business into a respected industry leader.
