Gone are the days when the only community that existed was the off-screen one. Nowadays, if you’re not active on social media, your business is really missing out on a huge potential customer base that most likely doesn’t even know you exist.
Twitter is one of the longest-standing and most popular social media platforms, with an estimated daily user base of approximately 126 million as of 2019. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be going anywhere soon – so if you want to make the most out of the platform, you need to know how to do so.
Here are 25 unique ways to promote your Twitter:
1. Make yourself recognisable with your handle, profile image and bio. You want your customers to understand exactly who you are, what you stand for and what you can offer from your profile.
2. Ensure your social platforms are cohesive in style, and that you have easily locatable links from all of your other channels to your Twitter account, so that people can find you in as many ways as possible.
3. Research your competitors’ audiences and figure out who it is they’re appealing to, and how. Then do the same yourself.
4. Keep your Twitter handle as close to your business’ name as possible, so that people know who you are when they find your account. Make sure it’s short and sweet, and try to avoid using numbers or any other fussy characters that aren’t a part of your name.
5. Use your logo in your profile image. You want to be recognisable from any platform for who you are, and your logo is the best way to do this. While it might be tempting to use a friendly team shot as your image, save that for a future post. A logo is far better promotion.
6. Don’t rush your posts. Make sure everything it is you have to say is relevant, interesting, funny, entertaining, educational, and spelt right – or all of the above!
7. Tweet during peak hours. If you have a business account, you should be able to see exactly which times of the day your followers are the most active. Use this window of time to schedule out your Tweets, so they’re more likely to be seen by the biggest audience (and retweeted, etc.).
8. Experiment with images in your Tweets, which are said to increase responsivity to posts and give you a higher chance of being retweeted.
9. Keep up with the current trends, especially the humorous ones, and find ways to work them into your posts. A funny and relevant meme is far more likely to bring in interested customers than another boring post about your opening hours.
10. Host competitions on your website or in store where entrants have to follow you on Twitter in order to be in with a chance of winning the prize. It’s an easy way to bring in more followers, who are likely to keep on following even after the competition has ended.
11. Schedule your posts. It’ll stop your Tweets from getting too repetitive, and help you to figure out exactly what it is you need to say, and when.
12. Add your social handles to the bottom of your website, which is where most people know to scroll down to now if they want to find out more about a business. If Twitter is your main focus for growth, put it first in the list, and it’ll most likely get clicked on first.
13. Give branded video a go. Video takes longer to produce and is harder to get right, but it generally works well to get a brand seen on Twitter, so if you’ve got some new information to share or a product to promote, try it out for yourself.
14. Carry out Twitter polls – they’re a great way to interact with your audience. It’s up to you how seriously you want to take your polls, but if you’re clever enough with them, you can use them for market research purposes as well as promotion.
15. Get into the habit of including your social handles in all of your promotional copy, including any advertising leaflets, shop sale banners, and reusable shopping bags. Consider batch-producing cheap merch, like pencils, with your name and one or two social handles on for effortless marketing.
16. Start using calls-to-action in all of your posts, so that if you’re found on Twitter by a non-follower, they’ll know exactly where to go to give you a follow or shop your products. In fact, if you include a link too, you can take them right there yourself.
17. Tweet on the weekends for optimum reach. Some studies suggest that the best time for posting is between 12 and 6pm, although your peak posting times may vary depending on your audience and their own social media habits.
18. Make sure you’re using the right hashtags. You won’t get seen without them, but with a sensible few (not a spammy amount), you have a good chance of reaching out to a wider audience who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.
19. Reach out to your followers for a wider discussion. This works well to bring in more interested Twitter users – just be wary of getting too controversial.
20. Use Twitter Advanced Search to find a far more interested audience through searching specific industry terms that are relevant to your business.
21. Consider influencer marketing. Many businesses still shy away from influencers and the new form of promotion they offer, but it’s worth at least dipping your toe into the waters, as influencer marketing can be incredibly effective at getting your name out to thousands of potential customers.
22. Boost your hashtag marketing success with sites like Hashtagify, which tell you which hashtags are best to use for your business.
23. Look at your competitors and see what they’re doing well, then copy their general ideas. Nothing on social media is truly original, and if you see something that works well for someone else, give it a try yourself, but with your own twist.
24. Don’t forget about Twitter ads. You have to pay for them, but it’s worth it. Think of Twitter ads as the equivalent of having your name up on a billboard on the motorway – except the audience you’re targeting is smaller and more niche.
25. Track your past engagement, repeating what works and ditching what doesn’t.
