Does your company use Twitter for marketing? Or do you see social media platforms like Twitter as tools to engage followers directly, organically?
Answering “yes” to one or the other is just fine. Many businesses do. But, with all due respect, is there any good reason not to put yourself in a position to answer “yes” to both?
Maybe there’s one: money. Marketing carries a cost, no matter where it happens, right? If you can’t afford to market your company, relying instead on word of mouth and organic growth, you can’t use platforms like Twitter for that purpose?
What if you didn’t have to spend any money to market on Twitter and other social media platforms, though? What if you could employ simple, conversational tactics to increase your brand’s exposure and create new customers out of thin air?
It’s not as wild as it sounds. These five strategies can help you get it done.
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Find the Optimal Times to Tweet and Use the Scheduling Feature to Work Ahead
Use Twitter’s internal scheduling and analytics tools to vary the timing of your tweets and find the times that seem to generate the most engagement. Use those windows for self-promotional tweets, including overtly salesy ones.
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Tweet Links to Complementary Content With Your “Two Cents”
Position yourself as a thought leader by tweeting links to complementary media or blog content with a sentence or two of commentary introducing it. (The Twitter handle for Asiaciti Trust is a good example of how this should look in the real world.) Be prepared to explain what you mean if followers or the linked outlet engage.
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Conduct At Least One Twitter Poll Every Week and Follow Up With Respondents
Twitter polls do well to generate conversation around topics relevant to your brand and, it follows, your brand itself. Schedule one every week and make time to announce the results and engage with respondents.
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Post “Out of Character” From Time to Time, But Keep It On Brand
This is a difficult line to find and an important one not to cross. Yet it’s essential for brands hoping to build organic buzz on social media platforms like Twitter. One-dimensional self-promotion just doesn’t cut it with sophisticated audiences.
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Quote-Tweet Thought Leaders and Be Ready to Respond If They Engage
One of the most effective ways to increase engagement with your Twitter presence is to engage with handles that have more followers than yours. Rather than replying directly to their tweets, which could get you lost in a fast-moving conversation, quote-tweet them. All of your followers will see the tweet, and the handle being engaged might reward you with a retweet or reciprocal quote-tweet of their own. Let the conversation blossom from there.
Take Your Twitter Marketing Game to the Next Level
Twitter is a powerful, low-cost marketing tool for digital brands. It’s also not the only social media platform on which these five tactics work well. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest — all these and more are built for organic outreach that really works.
You can apply the lessons learned on Twitter, or wherever you choose to begin your social marketing adventure, on virtually any social media platform. And you can be sure your competitors are doing the same. Which means you have not a minute to lose.