The way we use social media is changing,
and for brands it’s no longer about having the most followers – it’s all
about engagement. If nobody sees your tweets or interacts with them,
then what’s the point in twittering at all?
We recently carved out a new social media strategy that has seen our Twitter reach grow by over 80%. We’re now achieving more than 100,000 monthly impressions, and engagement levels are rising accordingly.
Social media marketing can be a mixed bag, but following these tips should put you on the path to a successful 2016…
1. Find out who’s following you
If you’ve managed to build a decent
following but you’re struggling to engage with them, perhaps you simply
don’t understand your audience or know when they’re active. Initially,
you should focus efforts on learning more about your existing followers
rather than chasing new ones.
Followerwonk
from Moz is a brilliant tool for getting a firm idea of who’s tracking
your every move. You can use most of the features for free, but there’s a
premium version with added functionality that’s particularly useful if
you manage more than one account.
One of the best features is the word
cloud it generates, allowing you to visualize the keywords in your
followers’ bios – giving you a better understanding of who they are and
the type of content they’re thirsty for. You can also analyse when
they’re most active, allowing you to schedule tweets for when people are
watching.
2. Content is king
Once you know who you’re targeting, you
can tailor your output so that people will actually want to read and
share it. Producing regular, enlightening and relevant content on your company blog
is a fantastic way to engage people, and you can use your social media
accounts to direct them to your work, thus forming a strategic inbound
marketing campaign.
Also See: Supercharge Your Twitter Growth With 7 Simple Content Ideas
Your Twitter account should also offer
more than just self-promotion, so share useful content from other
sources too. Look at what’s trending and perhaps put your own spin on
news stories, alongside a link to a trusted source that has already
covered the story in detail.
3. Reference the right people
When linking to outside content, make
sure to include the author in your tweet as there’s a chance they’ll
retweet your comment. The same goes for including influencers – people
who have a large following and are prominent within your field – who
might be interested in what you’re doing. You can get thousands more
impressions by including the right people in your tweets, but don’t spam
them!
4. Use imagery
Tweets with images get more clicks, more
favourites and more retweets so you should start making your Twitter
much more graphically appealing. No matter your niche there will be
images relevant to what you’re doing, even if you haven’t taken them
yourself. Don’t brazenly start stealing images from around the net, use a
source like Unsplash to find beautiful copyright-free pictures for your social media channels.
Share images of what you’re doing, and
think about creating graphics with text to do some of the hard work for
you too. Adding text to an image is simple yet effective.
5. Use hashtags in the right way
For years we’ve been told that hashtags
are our friends, but so many people are over-using them. It’s fine to
include one or two in a tweet but make sure that they’re tags that
people will actually take notice of. Ritetag
is a great resource for finding out exactly how popular hashtags are,
giving you an amazing insight into which keywords will work best for
you.
6. Keep it short and sweet
According to research by social media powerhouses Buffer, the best length for a tweet is between 71-100 characters.
You’ve only got 140 characters to play with in the first place, so
Twitter is designed to be a snappy medium and being concise leaves room
for people to quote your tweet and respond – expanding your reach again.
7. Get shooting
Twitter Video is a seriously underused
feature, but we live in a visual world and audiences crave video
content. You may be limited to 140 characters with your messages, but
you can say so much more in video because it’s so immediate – you can show rather tell.
Think about live tweeting short clips
from events, or showing the world a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your
work space. Uploading a 30-second video, whether shot directly through
the app or pre-recorded, is a great way to make your account more
personal.
Shaking things up with a broad range of
content targeted at the right audience is key to boosting your
engagement and making social media work for you. It worked for us, and
continues to do so.
Source: http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/social-media-marketing/7-killer-twitter-tactics-for-2016/
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