What’s a #TWIP?
What’s a #twip? Well it as Twitter Tip – and we have lots of them designed to make your Twitter marketing really deliver. Twitter is increasingly being used by organisations to maintain contact with their customer base on a regular basis. It’s a great way to deliver news and views, offers and new lines – as well as stirring up some interest and response. As an digital marketing company we work with all sizes and types of organisations to help them make the most of their Twitter marketing – and here are a few tips culled from our experience.
1 – Tweet regularly
Unlike Facebook, Pinterest or Google+ Twitter is a fast moving platform. Many users follow hundreds of accounts so if they blink, there is a chance your tweet will be missed. We recommend around 15-20 tweets per day to strike the correct balance between getting noticed and not being a pain.
2 – Include keywords in your bio
Twitter should also be used to support your search engine optimisation or SEO so, for example, links back to pages that are part of your SEO activity will help improve the performance of those pages. Your Twitter bio can also help with SEO: be sure to include at least one keyword in your bio that reflects your business. Keep the bio free of ‘corporate speak’. A few keywords deployed in an accurate way will help improve search visibility. Keep in mind search engines often display your 160-character Twitter bio in the links’ description the results pages, so make your company description attention-grabbing.
3 – Customise your appearance
There are many opportunities for you to customise your Twitter page. One obvious way is to align it with your corporate branding, but a more interesting way might be to develop a more personalised, perhaps humorous look. Another good idea is to keep updating your page – it will keep everything fresh and demonstrate that you are taking things seriously.
4 – Build your followers
Like most worthwhile marketing activities, you will need to put some effort into building your followers – or outsource the hard work to a social media specialist. It is not a case of ‘build the page, and they will come’. Email all your clients to tell them you are now on Twitter – and the benefits they will enjoy by following you. Use the Twitter Search tool to search for people and organisations who are tweeting about subjects that relate to your business and market sector – if you follow them, there is a good chance they will follow back. Automated software is available but Twitter may regard this as ‘aggressive following’ and penalise and even close the account. Set aside an hour a day to build followers.
5 – Build conversations
64% of Twitter users are more likely to make purchases from businesses that answer their questions on Twitter. Twitter is your opportunity to ‘listen’ and respond. Monitor your feed and use the search facility to ‘hear’ what users are saying about you, your market sector, products and services – and respond to their tweets in the most appropriate way: with a follow, a reply or a Direct Message. Building conversations is a good way to show the community – not just the Tweeter – that you want to engage with your customer base
6 – Respond in real time
As mentioned above, Twitter moves fast and people who use Twitter will often be expecting responses equally quickly. Ensure you can resource your Twitter marketing properly as you will need to monitor and respond virtually in real time. Few organisations can afford to monitor 24/7 but similarly if you are unable to respond in a timely manner you may need to look at 3rd party support from a social media or twitter marketing company.
Your #TWIPS
We recently asked for some of your #TWIPS on our social networks and were delighted with the response! Below are some of the suggestions that we had received through our Facebook page, Twitter and Google+
Liz Ferguson – A great way to boost your profile (and followers) is to run giveaways – it really does help to get your company / blog out there!
Glenn Marvell-James – Obviously the best way of promoting business is to sign upto Opace – Web Design in Birmingham
Shianne de Klerk – Share! Share related content with your followers and it can start discussions/debate. It makes it more interesting and will keep you in the front of people’s minds.
Abbey Jo Kershaw – Do a small giveaway – nothing huge! You will rake in the fans who are simply there for the competition.. then they will forget they are following and when they see something that catches their eye its easy for them to get in touch
Jordon Cox – A great way to find people that have the same interests as your own is using Hashtags. These hashtags can be searched and all of the people that also used that hashtag will come up. You are then in a position to connect with them.
Princess Aurora – The best way to promote your business is to run giveaways on twitter frequently as this really helps to promote your business. A good way to get more followers through giveaways is to tweet that you will run a big giveaway once you reach a certain amount of followers on Twitter.
Lisa Jones Use a list of keywords in your tweets that describe your business and industry. Use these words when you compose your 140 word posts.
Lisa Jones Keywords continue to be a relevant and driving force for web content.
Kathy Cakebread – Think about the time you post your status. People tend to log on at around 9am and you don’t want to get your tweet lost amongst others. Get yours at the top.
Jeanette Horner – Make sure it’s not all about you. Me, me, me is seriously off-putting. Instead write for your particular clients and customers. What do they want to know? What do they ask you? Educate, inform and entertain them.
Kim Styles – To increase your number of potential customers Use a search engine to find businesses that sell supplies or services to your niche market and see if they have a twitter account. For example, google “golf ” and find golf equipment shops. If any have a twitter account, follow them and then follow their followers
Charlene Yorke – Do sponsored tweets, they will be at the top of ‘trends’ they could also pay bloggers and influential people on Twitter to write sponsored ads.
Michael Scoates – Use Twitter to get customers onto your other social media platforms and vice versa, e.g. tweet “New product announcement on our Facebook Page!” or post a Facebook status of “New giveaway on our Twitter feed!” #TWIPS
Michael Scoates – Remember that to some customers Twitter is the only face of your business they may see, so keep it professional! #TWIPS
Michael Scoates – 140 characters not enough? Don’t forget that you can add pictures to Tweets for an extra thousand words!#TWIPS
Gaz Bennett – Be yourself (as long as your not a massive …….) Look at the tesco mobile twitter conversation and what that did for them when it went viral. Just be friendly and a bit more human. no one wants to follow a simple, we have xyz in stock but a hi guys, we now have xyz in why don’t you nip over and take a look. People are much more likely to interact with you if they feel they are talking to a person and not a robot.
Michael Scoates – If you want to reach a LOT of people quickly, ask your Followers to Retweet (RT) your message, it only takes one click. #twips
Liam Gillman – Do not underestimate the power of a clever, eye catching designed theme. Not only does it attract attention from potential clientele, but will also get you noticed and “linked in” ( pun intended ) amongst varying articles discussing the power of design and marketing. #TWIPS
Jackie Allum – RT at around 2pm on a Wednesday as it seems like the most productive time and ALWAYS put a . before your tweet to get to ALL your followers.
Chris Phillips – Make sure it’s the people who can directly benefit your company you want to be following and not just the funny comedians or soap stars. Well placed business people often give up insights that will benefit a small company and are well worth following. Think Richard Branson or Peer Jones for instance.
Kelly Martin – Give something to your followers, don’t just do the hard sell. People need to know you are going to offer them something for free as well as your company products. Share inspiring quotes, take an interest in your followers, this encourages your followers to share you further and take more of an interest.
Pinklerz Zazzle – Post relevant content to your business but also be human! Robotic tweets won’t be engaging, show the personality of your business and attract new customers at the same time by thinking outside the box and thinking up some creative ways to engage. One well thought out tweet will be much more effective than 10 repetitive tweets
Emma Gallagher – Twitter is instant & gets your message out there so use it especially to attract a younger customer. Tweets that show you are human and can relate to the reader are always good. Wishing people a nice weekend for example always makes me think well of a company it’s simple but you would be surprised how many companies just sign off on a Friday without comment. Correct spelling & grammar where appropriate always good too. #TWIPS
Caroline Burt – don’t use jargon and interact with followers x
Michael Scoates – Stay in character to keep brand awareness high, if you’re a meercat, tweet as one. Simples. #TWIPS
Nick Liam Jones – Use intentional comedy equivalent of the current news Jokes/Comedy trend on twitter/facebook FAST.#TWIPS
Laura Meg Miller – Make sure you have a good few recent pictures of your business and write a little about the company, do poll sheets on your account or/and small giveaways at end of each month. make sure you communicate a lot with your followers or they will leave keep them posted
Andrea Williams – Don’t always sell. Offer valuable information that shows you are leaders in your field. Show facts and figures in case studies, with client approval, as potential clients always want to know how others are doing. Make sure your giveaways are things that your business offers, not just a gimmicks. Offer a free review or run a survey as a prize.
Pauline Rendell – Think when your customers will be online! It’s annoying when promoters and businesses are not online in the early evenings or on weekends. Twitter and facebook marketing is not a 9-5 job!
Melanie Fairypants Kelly – Have a reviews section for feedback from people that do use, offer incentives for people that get you new custom. and pair up advertising with a company that offers something linked to you so you can get each other referrals .
Laura Caraher – #TWIPS Engage with your audience, don’t just tweet at them tweet with them. Don’t just push promotional tweets 24/7 interact with and thank followers who RT your content.
Caroline Louise Wood – #Twitter #marketing #tip best tip I can give is talk to your customers, Interact with them ask questions and make them feel part of your business, Also run competitions and contests as this generates a lot of traffic and possible future customers
Siobhan Lucy – Get an influential contact in your field or celebrity interested in your brand others by contacting them with relevant info/freebies. A retweet is a great way to earn free marketing and association with that person
Lucy Vassallo – Cultivate a Relationship. pay attention to someone who retweets or favourites your tweets something that you have shared. Thank the person individually for there retweet, as you should never take a person for granted when starting up a new business. Get to know your followers by sharing your content in the hope for positive feedback.
Jo Booth – I tweeted this also as wasn’t sure #Twitter#marketing #tip run a Rafflecopter giveaway, to build followers & link in with a popular blog who will promote it #TWIPS
Carol Phile – #Twitter #Marketing Tip (#twip) – run competitions. I have seen companies start very small and when they run competitions, they start to grow. There are a lot of us compers around, and we all have friends and family and we all like to boast about our prizes and where they came from and what quality they are…
Ryan Roberts – Don’t use twitter for pushing sales, you should build relationships with potential customers/clients. Twitter should be used as a big networking service. Talk to people directly and follow back those of interest. A company that can engage it’s potential customer and interact on a personal level will ultimately be more successful than a company spamming, pushing for sales.
Rachael Wise – Opace – Web Design in Birmingham My #marketing#tip would be simply to respond. If someone tweets you, reply. Basic, but really improves customer experience! #twip
Sarah Louise Gray – #Twitter #marketing #tip my tip would be to make it personal. When generic emails, tweets, ads etc appear you tend to ignore them. If they are addressed to you, you feel like you are valued and take a look.
Jenny Long – #twitter #marketing #tip There are two sides to marketing with twitter. The first, to gain followers which can certainly be boosted with competitions, promotions and encouraging people to re-post tweets. But the trick is to keep followers. And to do that you need to be entertaining and to make each follower feel special. So that means sharing information not only about your business but information that will be useful to your followers. As for the entertaining part – relate to your followers in a friendly, easy manner. Polite but not business formal. Pizza Hut are an excellent example of how to do this.
Rebecca Mark Morgan – #twitter #marketing #tip Connect with your followers. Address them by name and thank them. Tweet with flare and personality. Connect with the right people, so the right people see and come to you.
Michael Scoates – Don’t put your company name or product in hashtags, use a tag like #Win and your details will appear to those searching that tag.Also, use hashtags consistently across all your platforms, e.g.#TWIPS on Facebook, Twitter, G+, Instagram etc. for one discussion.
@rahrah21 – #Twitter #marketing #tip make it personal. generic tweets, ads etc appear you tend to ignore If addressed to you feel valued
@RachaelSelina – My #marketing #tip would be simply to respond. If someone tweets you, reply. Basic, but really improves customer experience! #twip
@Velmanatov – Use follow and retweet competitions to rapidly gain followers through the network effect. #TWIPS
@kiddy_boo – #Twitter #marketing #tip run a Rafflecopter giveaway, to build followers & link in with a popular blog who will promote it #TWIPS
@BenAlder – #twip top tip, always include a picture or photo as they stand out on the news fed
@homernbloss – Always respond as soon as possible and run competitions I now know about you so it works! #TWIP
@BenAlder – #twip how about generating interest by hosting an auction twitter. Never seen it done and might attract lots if people
@diammondgirlz – best tip I can give is talk to your customers, Interact with them ask questions and make them feel part of your business
@baddesley – KISS – Keep It Simple! Tell the truth, include ALL the information that might make someone want to buy (size etc.) and KISS!
@jammyjojo1 – my #TWIP is to not over complicate ur @ name something appropriate with your brand/company yet catchy n memorable at the same time
@LCaraher – #TWIPS Engage with your audience, . Don’t push promotional tweets 24/7 interact with and thank followers who RT your content.
@BenAlder – generate interest by having a happy hour each week. change what the hour offers eg good offers, expert free advice or giveaways
@millizilli – #Twitter #marketing Lots of ‘Compers’ out there. Keep up with trends-more advent comps this yr but all comps garner interest.
@greigo_uk – HOST WEEKLY COMPETITIONS AND GET PEOPLE TO FOLLOW AND RETWEET #twip #twitter #marketing
@groundrootsjay – #twitter #marketing always have a twitter friend that will reweet your tweet every time. That way the tweet has always traveled.
@racheyra – #twips use twitter for conversation and interaction. It’s not just a place to push out your message and brand. That’s v boring!
Image Credit – marek.sotak
If you found this blog useful you can follow us below to get the latest as we release more useful internet marketing blogs over the coming months!
And don’t forget to share…
0 Comments