Reading Time: 3 minutes
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Twitter might limit your updates to just 140 characters but that doesn’t mean you can’t pack a lot into each and every one.

One of the things that makes Twitter an ideal marketing tool is that every tweet will feature on every followers’ feed so you can be sure your audience will have an opportunity to read it.

By following some simple steps and carefully crafting your tweets to suit your audience and brand, you can use Twitter to grow your business.

Step 1

Once you’ve set up an account, you want to gain followers. Make sure you let your audience know you’re now on Twitter with an update on your website and other social media platforms.

Step 2

Following other people and businesses is one way to grow your own followers but be selective. Start by following your customers, business partners, trade organisations in your industry and other businesses in your community. Journalists, bloggers, writers and thought leaders that focus on the sector your business operates in are also excellent people to follow.

Step 3

Knowing what to tweet can be tricky. You want to promote your business, but don’t go overboard by bombarding your followers with links to your website every time. Comment on subjects not directly related to your business and share photographs and videos too. You want to engage with your followers rather than every tweet being a sales pitch.

Step 4

The character count on Twitter means you need to keep your updates short and to the point. Consider the message you want to get across and think about the quickest way to do this. If you’re linking to a website you’ll want to use a URL shortener, such as Ow.ly, to use up less space.

Step 5

Twitter isn’t just about posting updates either, you want to create a two-way conversation where you can talk to your customers. If they tag you in a post respond and use questions to encourage them to talk about your brand and engage with you.

Step 6

Hashtags are a great way to widen your reach. Using trending topics with a relevant connection to your brand can help you reach new users. However, using too many hashtags can be a turn off – use them sparingly but effectively by seeking conversations where you can add value and expertise.

Step 7

You’ll need to assess how your business is doing on Twitter to continue getting the best out of the social media platform. Twitter Analytics is a great tool for monitoring your impact and seeing what is working. The dashboard will show you when the best time is to tweet and the type of content that is most engaging to your followers.

Do:

  • Follow a variety of people – Get engaged with your customers, thought leaders, other businesses and the media.
  • Keep an eye on trends – Look at trending topics and hashtags and see if you can make a connection with your brand.
  • Get your employees involved – Encourage your staff to follow and engage with the business Twitter account.

Don’t:

  • Forget to tweet – Make sure you tweet regularly and respond to all enquires directed at the business.
  • Make every tweet about you – Your followers will become bored of reading your tweets if they are all ‘salesy’ so be sure to include other types of content.

Don’t just use comments – Use videos, images and links to news articles or blogs that will entertain and interest your audience.

Woya digital is a social media marketing agency in Chichester, that can assist companies of all sizes, anywhere, promote themselves through the internet. Our fixed price offering is straightforward and yields results! We are fantastic at social media management, website design and SEO, all paid monthly, with no upfront investment.