How can companies use Twitter in a meaningful way? We explain what makes an effective marketing strategy for Twitter.
- Twitter for business: Our strategy tips
- 1. Create a meaningful Twitter profile for your business
- 2. Publish creative and quality content
- 3. Check out your competitor’s Twitter accounts
- 4. Use hashtags – but not too many!
- 5. Measure the impact of your tweets
- 6. Be sure to be active on a regular basis
- 7. Run ads and campaigns with Twitter
- 8. Learn more about you and your audience through social listening
- 9. Create your own hashtag for your brand
- 10. Avoid Shitstorms!
- Conclusion: Develop a Twitter marketing strategy for your company
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Twitter for Business
Twitter is among the top 5 most popular social media networks around the world. Around 500 million tweets are sent every day. With around 206 million active users, Twitter should definitely be part of your company’s marketing strategy. The network stands for presence and topicality. When it comes to marketing on Twitter, you need to be strategic and clever if you want to capture and capture the attention of your audience.
In this article, we explain how to develop and implement an effective marketing strategy for your company for Twitter.
Twitter has been known to most people since Donald Trump’s presidency. And what good Trump can do, founders can do even more! With more than 145 million daily active users, the platform should also be part of your marketing strategy. However, you have to be strategic and clever if you want to capture the attention of your target audience. In this article, you will therefore find information about Twitter and tips on how you can use the platform sensibly for the company. We answer these questions for you:
- How useful is Twitter for businesses?
- How much does Twitter cost businesses?
- What’s important on Twitter?
- Which Twitter Marketing Strategy Makes Sense?
What businesses should know about Twitter
GENERAL
Twitter is a microblogging service. Microblogging is a form of blogging in which users post short text messages, also called tweets. The length of these messages is usually no more than 200 characters. But Twitter is also defined as a communication platform, social network or publicly accessible online diary. Unlike Instagram and Facebook, Twitter does not focus on contact with acquaintances and friends. Rather, Twitter is about what’s happening in the world on a day-to-day basis. Topics that move the users are in the foreground. Many companies also have an account on Twitter and share the news with their followers there.
TWEETS
Around 500 million tweets are sent on Twitter every day. The term tweet comes from English and means chirping. However, in today’s language, this does not mean a bird’s chirping, but a short message on the Twitter website. A tweet usually consists of a short text with a maximum of 280 Unicode characters. You can also add a photo, a GIF or a video to this. Your tweet on Twitter can also have hashtags, links, locations or references to other companies and user profiles.
By default, tweets are public, which means they are also visible to unregistered readers. Tweets are first shown to followers of your Twitter account. You can also reach a wider audience via hashtags, links or so-called re-tweets.
RE-TWEET
With a so-called re-tweet or retweet – which means “tweet back” – you can share tweets from another user with your followers. You can recognize a retweet by the fact that it is marked with a small heart symbol. But you don’t have to conduct every communication publicly on Twitter. The online service also offers the option of sending private direct messages to other users.
THREADS
If another user comments on your tweet and you react to it, a so-called thread is created. You can display this separately. This also occurs when you link several of your own tweets together. This allows you to post posts that contain more than 280 Unicode characters.
FLEETS
A fleet is a tweet whose content is displayed for a maximum of 24 hours. This gives you the opportunity to briefly depict fleeting thoughts. The feature is reminiscent of other online services like Snapchat, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Twitter for business: Our strategy tips
With the help of Twitter, you can expand the reach of your company. You can also use Twitter as extended customer support for you. Through the daily exchange with your target group, you can collect important information and receive regular feedback that will help you to advance your company. Twitter has many benefits to offer your business. However, these must also be correctly recognized and used. Therefore, be sure to take the following tips to heart:
1. CREATE A MEANINGFUL TWITTER PROFILE FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Alongside your website and other social media accounts, your Twitter profile is a flagship for your company. Similar to dating, the first impression is crucial here. Therefore, you should invest time and work for an appealing appearance. Your account bio cannot be longer than 160 characters. This forces you to present your company briefly and concisely. In addition, you can beautify the account with an attractive header image and a profile photo.
2. PUBLISH CREATIVE AND QUALITY CONTENT
Your tweets should have value for readers, not just irrelevant content. Therefore, focus on current topics and hot topics. Keep your tweets short and sweet. Use simple language, not too complicated. This tends to scare users away. Keep it simple here and be direct.
The message of your tweet should be quickly and clearly recognizable. But good content is not just good text: Use the functions that Twitter offers you. As a company, you can use @usernames to specifically address other Twitter users by mentioning them. Pictorial elements also have a supporting effect.
3. CHECK OUT YOUR COMPETITOR’S TWITTER ACCOUNTS
You can learn a lot from your competition. Be sure to keep checking their Twitter accounts. Look closely at the tweets – but don’t copy them! Perhaps just observing this will give you an idea of how you can reach your target group even better in the future.
4. USE HASHTAGS – BUT NOT TOO MANY!
Hashtags in general offer many advantages. In particular, they increase visibility. However, you should not overload your tweets with this. One or two hashtags per tweet are sufficient. Everything else quickly looks like spam and therefore unprofessional.
5. MEASURE THE IMPACT OF YOUR TWEETS
What is read and what is not? Which topics were popular? Collecting this data will help you understand the value of your marketing efforts. This allows you to further expand and refine your strategy. Your Tweet Activity Dashboard shows metrics for each published Tweet. Here you can see at a glance how often a tweet was seen, retweeted, liked or replied to by users.
6. BE SURE TO BE ACTIVE ON A REGULAR BASIS
Twitter is extremely entertaining. If companies want to be successful and visible on Twitter, they have to be constantly active. Participate in industry-internal discussions and conversations. Prove your expertise here and engage with your community. In this way, you promote your brand in a positive sense. The more regularly you are active, the more likely you are to find multipliers and advocates who will share your tweets with their followers.
7. RUN ADS AND CAMPAIGNS WITH TWITTER
Twitter approaches advertising differently than other social networks. Businesses only pay for ads when users follow their account or retweet, like, or click reply to the Promoted Tweet. Unlike Instagram and Co., there is no minimum amount for advertising on Twitter. In fact, what you’re billed for depends on the campaign and ad group objective you choose. You can allocate a total budget to your ads. If this is exhausted, the campaign is offline again. The rule of thumb applies the higher the amount, the greater the range.
In order to place Twitter advertising, you must select the “Twitter Ad” button within your profile. The next step is to choose the right target group that you want to reach. Twitter offers various filter options for this: by interests, place of residence or gender. The so-called “sponsored tweets” are then played out in a targeted manner in the timelines of the users that match the information you have provided.
8. LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR AUDIENCE THROUGH SOCIAL LISTENING
In this case, social listening means that you also pay attention to Twitter conversations, as these bring you new insights about your customers. For example, you can find out which topics are important to your target group and align your tweets accordingly. You will also get to know when a new trend emerges and can react to it at an early stage.
9. CREATE YOUR OWN HASHTAG FOR YOUR BRAND
A large number of companies are already using specially created hashtags. Because if your brand-specific hashtag spreads, it plays into your company’s hands: if a user uses it, they become a brand ambassador.
10. AVOID SHITSTORMS!
A shitstorm is an avalanche of negative criticism directed at a person or a company in the context of social networks, blogs or comment functions on websites, including abusive criticism. Unfortunately, you cannot prevent a shitstorm per se. If your community is grounded in something, then it doesn’t matter if the event is relevant or even worth that amount of outrage. Therefore you should be careful. Allow tweets to be read briefly. In any case, keep your tone factual and friendly.
Have a strategy ready just in case and train your employees on how to act in the event of a shitstorm. You should have concrete schedules at hand so that you can quickly find your way around in the event of an emergency.
Conclusion: Develop a Twitter marketing strategy for your company
Under no circumstances should you be intimidated by the fast-moving network. It is important to develop an effective Twitter marketing strategy so that you achieve concrete results. You can easily find out whether Twitter is even relevant for your company with a Twitter search. Search Twitter for terms related to your topic. Such terms can be, for example, “B2B”, “Marketing”, etc.
If you have a lot of followers in your business-related areas, Twitter makes sense for your business. You should also only get started with Twitter when you have sufficient capacity for it. A social media manager who looks after your channels – not just on Twitter – and plans content is perfect for this.
