Twitter is a powerful social platform used by celebrities, brands and individuals to communicate fast and to the point. Even though it is one of the most successful social networks operating today, not many small businesses understand the potential of using Twitter as a marketing tool.
The speedy pace and the infamous 140-character limit per post may seem intimidating for small business owners, but once you become familiar with the Twitter rhythm things will run smoother and smoother.
Your goal here is to make your tweets pop. There are no two ways about it. The clever tweets that truly shine in this media are the ones that say so much with so little.
How is it done? Here are a few tips for guerrilla tweeting that will get your business noticed.
Keep It Shorter
Yes, you do have 140 possible characters per tweet, but the fact is that most successful tweets are about 110 character long – or even shorter! Also, reducing character length ensures that anyone who retweets (i.e. shares) your message has a bit room to add their own comment if they like.
Use #Hashtags:
For those of you who still think these little ####’s symbolize curse words, it’s time you understand the hashtagging business. By placing a hashtag in front of a word in your tweet, that word becomes both a link and the identifying topic or keyword of your tweet. While your tweets are only viewable by your Twitter followers, tweets with hashtags are viewable for everyone who searched for the hashtag.
Let’s say you tweet about a new summer collection for your fashion brand. You can integrate hashtags that will contextualize your tweet and expose it to more people: “New #summer collection is here! Get ready to upgrade your #wardrobe”. Since hashtags are links, it’s important not to use more than two of them per tweet, otherwise it’ll be both unreadable and spammy.
Use @Replies, @Mentions and @Retweets:
The @ followed by a username (aka “Twitter Handle”) allows you to specifically mention a follower or other twitter member in your tweet. This allows for a conversation between twitterers and followers, and lets you interact with your audience on a personal level.
People love replies and mentions because everyone likes to either feel that they are part of a conversation or that people are talking about them. Make sure you reply to people who mentioned you and engage with them. This is how the discussion in Twitter is kept alive.
Retweets are another way to interact with people on Twitter, and especially when you’re using Twitter for business. It basically means that you re-post their tweet on your channel. It’s a great way to show someone that you admire their content and what they do. In the Twitter universe, a retweet is a compliment, so use it whenever you see fit but don’t abuse it!
Tweet Amazing Content:
If you love your business, then you will have no trouble finding interesting content to tweet about, like behind the scenes pics of new products being tested, a daily special on your menu, on-the-job snapshots of interaction with customers or even a link to interesting articles associated with your business.
The content in your tweets should capture the passion and the appealing side of your business which will compel fans to interact and feel like they’re a part of your brand. Let followers get to know the people behind the business and include content that reflects the funny, inspiring, positive and upbeat mood of your brand.
Stay Current by Tweeting Regularly
Engage your audience and show that you are on top of the game in your industry. Tweet regularly but keep your tweets interesting and relevant and keep direct sales to a minimum. Retweeting your fans’ tweets when you are @mentioned is great, especially when it comes to Twitter for business marketing.
When you’re starting out, it’s good to experiment with different kinds of tweets. See how people react to updates or to anecdotes. You can also tweet questions to get a reaction from followers – “Who likes #cupcakes?” or “What’s are your top 5 #favoriteflavors?”
Track Your Tweets
Tweet tweaking can be a long process of testing various styles of tweets to find out what works for your business, and in the beginning you will certainly be surprised at times by what your audience may like. Make sure you track which type of tweets get the best response so that you can make all of your future tweets count!
