Using Twitter for marketing is not exactly a new concept. Like other social media sites, Twitter is one of the most viable social media sites where businesses – big or small – can market their products to a group of interested individuals.
However, that’s not the only reason why marketing with Twitter should be on your ‘to do’ list.
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Twitter By The Numbers
- Users: 320 million
- Unique monthly visitors: 120 million
Demographics:
- There are 65 million Twitter users in the United States. Asia-Pacific regions account for about 30% of users.
- 38% of 15-34 year olds use Twitter.
- 24.6% of verified accounts belong to journalists.
- 25% of all male online users and 21% of all female online users use Twitter.
Sources: Pew Research (PewInternet.org), AdWeek.com, Statista.com, and Twitter’s own reported information.
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Twitter comes with a big list of advantages including but not limited to the following:
Cost Effective – Creating a Twitter account is free, allowing small businesses to start marketing without putting out a large amount of cash. The only investment needed for Twitter marketing would be the computer, Internet connection and time to devote to the task.
Target Market – Twitter makes it possible for businesses not just to reach just any market. Through proper following, small-scale companies can make contact with the people that are most likely to patronize their products.
Immediate Reach – Twitter makes it possible for businesses to send a message at any time of day. This lets the business make the first sales pitch to potential clients should there be a favorable change in the market. Since they’re the ones that first caught the attention of those interested, then chances are the buyers will be going to them for the product.
Captures Attention – Twitter has a maximum of 140 characters for posting. This forces account holders to get straight to the point for every tweet. For most people, this is a convenient way of getting information, diminishing the need to read full articles in order to get the data they want. At 140 characters, Twitter is the perfect tool to grab attention in today’s fast-paced lifestyle.
Promote Other Sites – Twitter is not just an ideal platform for direct marketing but also for an indirect one as well. Account holders can tweet links to related websites and blogs that could eventually help increase their traffic.
Builds Brand and Credibility – Depending on what a person tweets, the platform could also help establish the owner’s expertise in the industry. Think of it as a micro-article that can provide followers with tips and tricks on how or what to purchase. This allows the business to set themselves up as the immediate experts on a product, ultimately building client trust.
Allows Monitoring – Tweeter users can monitor the impact of their marketing strategy using specific tools in the application. They can even use the platform to ask followers for feedback, ideas and suggestions about their service and product. Essentially, it is a quick and efficient way of providing customer service.
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Simple Twitter Marketing Strategies
Surprise and Scheduled Games
Provide your followers with games and events as often as possible. It can be a scheduled weekly event or something that you come up with as a surprise. The important thing is to keep your followers interested, usually by providing a prize. Take advantage of these games by including an RT or hashtag in the rules. This way, you are invariably reaching the followers of your followers.
Link, link, link
Twitter is a great way to start connecting with potential clients, but it’s definitely NOT the only way. Businesses can also utilize the platform to drive traffic to their main websites or blogs. Simply Tweet interesting information like a “teaser” and provide a link to the website. The 140-character teaser Tweet should encourage followers to follow the link.
Measure your Progress
Measuring your brand impact through Twitter can be tough, but with the help of several tools, it can be done. Some of the most popular tools that can be used today include:
• Web Analytics
• Search.Twitter.com
• Cotweet.com
• Tweetdeck.com
Using link-shortening tools such as bit.ly can also be very helpful due to the character limit.
Know Who to Connect With
One of the biggest mistake new account holders make is following practically anyone that can be followed. Unless you’re selling a highly generic product that everyone will need, this is really a very ineffective marketing approach. Instead, target individuals who have the motivation to purchase what you offer. Selling make up items? Target female Tweeters that are 18 or above since they are the ones most likely to use the product.
Work with what you Have
The next question is – how exactly do you start harnessing Followers? You have to start with what you have. If you already have a website, blog or a Facebook page with subscribers – then advertise to them. Ask existing fans to follow you and work from there. Following complementary businesses such as shoes and shirts (if you’re a makeup business) and asking for an RT will get you in touch with more potential clients.
[Of course, don’t forget to take into account the nature of your business. Marketing strategies are typically dependent on what kind of product or service is provided.]
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How to Get the Right Followers in Twitter
Getting more followers in Twitter is one of the most important steps in marketing through this social platform. The fact is that no matter how well-thought of your Tweets are, if very few people are reading them, then it really wouldn’t matter much.
This is why the first goal of a small-business owner is not just followers but get the RIGHT follower demographic.
Choose a Photo and Stick to It – The business should decide on a specific logo and use it as their permanent profile. Changing the image too often will only confuse followers. Make sure that the logo is easily identifiable and can be directly associated with the kind of product or service the business provides.
Name Used – The business name will obviously be the Twitter’s account name. This is why as early as possible; individuals should make sure that they get something catchy and descriptive for their business. Like their profile picture, the name will be one of the identifying factors of the business.
Follow the Target Market – A great way to find viable customers through Twitter is by checking out the following of similar businesses to your own.
For example, if you are selling bags and accessories, then following a business selling shoes and shirts might be a good idea. There’s a good chance that people who are following the latter will appreciate the former. Follow this people and they will be curious enough to check on you and hopefully follow back.
Follow Other Business – Start following Twitter accounts of other businesses within the same industry. This doesn’t refer to competition but rather, to complementary companies, whether they’re big or small. Companies usually follow back since it is good for their image. It’s also a good idea to devise a tweet that a company would find appealing enough to re-tweet. This would definitely attract the attention of more followers.
Retweet Information – Retweet relevant information and ask followers to retweet the data you gave them. This works best for sales announcements. By asking followers to RT (retweet) information, a business can reach out to second degree followers. Re-tweeting what others have to say can also boost the brand and help the business communicate better with their followers.
Start Contests – As I already mentioned above, there’s nothing like contests to attract more followers. Businesses could ask their existing followers to retweet information or share some data. At the same time, this makes for an excellent marketing ploy. Offering exclusive items to existing followers is also a great way to generate some new ones.
NOTE: Keep in mind that getting Twitter followers is a continuous effort so don’t stop no matter how many followers you already have.
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Hashtags and Twitter Marketing
If you’re joining the Twitterverse for business marketing purposes, then it’s not enough that you get followers and update your status regularly. If you want to thrive in today’s highly competitive market, it’s important to use ALL the features provided by Twitter to your advantage. One of those is the baffling hashtag.
What is a Hashtag?
A hashtag is characterized by the symbol # and is often used to emphasize keywords in a tweet.
“I love the new book from #digiwebrocket”
The words immediately following the hashtag are basically the keyword of the Tweet. Its main purpose is to organize tweets while at the same time helping the spread of information in the social network. In the example above, the hashtag #digiwebrocket will help Twitter group and organize all the tweets about the site. This way, any search made on the topic will be easier since the website already has all the related tweets associated with the keyword.
How Is This Useful?
Used correctly, hashtags can be an excellent tool for Twitter marketing.
For example, you can start a contest, inviting all participants to use the hashtag #GameOn. This allows you, the originator, to track how far the hashtag has gone through your layer of followers. Depending on the popularity of the game, your hashtag may also get to the trending list of Twitter in which case, it will gather more exposure. At the very least, these hashtags will inform second-degree followers about the existence of the business, hopefully inspiring them to become subscribers themselves.
What to Remember when Using Hashtags
Considering how useful these hashtags are, it only makes sense for businesses to take some time to properly consider what hashtags to use. Obviously, the hashtag should be something related to the business or the contest or topic that your promoting. A good rule when coming up with a hashtag is using the “CamelCase” method. This means that you can connect several words together and separate them by simply capitalizing the first letter of the following word.
Hashtags also shouldn’t be overused. The simple way of using hashtags is by using the tag at least twice for each post. It doesn’t matter where the tag is placed – up front, in the middle or at the back – as long as it doesn’t number more than two. Also, the hashtag needs to be relevant to the total post.
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Top Tools for Marketing in Twitter
Twitter by itself is already a powerful marketing tool.
But if you really want to get the best out of the platform, you need to go beyond what Twitter readily offers its subscribers. Remember that unlike other account holders that are on Twitter for fun, you’re here for the marketing opportunity. Hence, it’s important that you make use of all the tools at your disposal to promote, introduce and track the development of your brand.
The good news is that there are lots of business-friendly applications today.
Some of the best include but are not limited to the following.
Socialmention
If you want to analyze information on the Twitter, Socialmention is a solid tool. All you have to do is enter the “keyword” in the search space of social mention and what follows is details of the keyword being used in what sentiment, top keywords used in reference to the keyword you have entered, and top users of the same. The searches are not only limited to Twitter, but it also includes other social mediums like Facebook/ Photobucket etc.
HootSuite
HootSuite is an all in one social media management platform that works great with twitter (and all your other social media networks). You can use the software to engage with people across all your social channels from one convenient dashboard and create customizable streams to monitor conversations as they unfold.
HootSuite also enables you to automatically publish and schedule new tweets and then measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, with easy-to-read reports. And there’s lots of add-ons and plugins available for Twitter marketers to extend functionality.
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Bitly
Twitter only allows 140 characters per update, limiting your ability to share information and long URLs and links can limit you even more. Twitter will shorten URLs you post using it’s integrated t.co service and you cannot opt out, but using Bitly ensures your shortened links are also trackable and you can get good solid metrics.
With Bitly you can track individual link analytics, gather audience intelligence and measure campaign performance all in one location.
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So What Are The Downsides?
The problem most businesses have with Twitter is being able to successfully connect their products and services in a way that doesn’t feel ‘spammy’ or turn their feed into a pitch fest (it’s potentially a huge turn off for your followers) – We set out to study the real psychology behind Twitter and what we found was nothing short of amazing.
Is there a solution?
YES THERE IS! You see most people are just not aware of the POWER behind Twitter. This massive social media system carries our “thoughts”. Twitter actually mimics the way we like to think and feel (in little perfect snippets that people can and do absorb on both a conscious and subconscious level).
Marketers on Twitter who understand how these thought patterns work are successful at selling their products every day because they harness POWERFUL SECRETS linked to the subconscious that COMMAND people to react to certain kinds of tweets.
This process is called “seeding” and if done correctly can lead people to think, feel and eventually act on what you are telling them to do.
Whether your niche is marketing, music, weight loss, politics, or just about anything, the point is, Twitter allows for expression, interaction and conditioning for your followers, unlike any other social media. (This is how Twitter psychology helped President Obama win the 2008 election and there are hundreds of examples of successful “programming” that works well on Twitter.)
Attracting Fanatical Followers
Twitter Marketing our new guide, will teach you step by step how to climb the stairway to Twitter success and it’s unlike anything you may have tried before. This is not just about working Twitter for followers it is about turning people into FANATICAL FOLLOWERS.
Once you use these strategies you will do more than just grow followers, you will captivate your audience to the point that they will promote your business on many different levels FOR YOU!. These people will give you pure gold in return for what you will offer them (something any business can easily do).