As we’ve established, connecting with customers and prospects through social media is essential to any business. Twitter is the biggest and most popular social network in the world, with over 500 million monthly active users. According to HubSpot Blogs research, 50% of respondents say their businesses have used Twitter for marketing, while 28% say they’ll be using it in the future.
While Twitter is a great place to connect with customers and prospects, it isn’t a perfect fit for every business. Perhaps you already have a social media strategy in place and are looking to expand into other platforms. Or perhaps you’ve been asked to help market a brand or product through social media, but aren’t exactly sure how to go about it. Don’t worry — we’re here to help! In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to integrate Twitter, email and internet marketing into a cohesive strategy to boost your business.
Why Twitter?
If you’re reading this, I assume you’ve at least heard of Twitter. Launched in 2006 and originally built for allowing users to post and share short messages or “tweets”, the service has evolved into a massive media platform with over 500 million monthly active users. These users access and engage with content through various channels, including Twitter itself, third-party sites such as Facebook and Google, and SMS.
Unlike some other social platforms, Twitter isn’t just about connections and digital sharing. The service also allows users to discover content, products and businesses they might not have found otherwise — it’s simply a matter of connecting the dots.
How Does It Work?
You may already be familiar with the basic concept of how Twitter works. After all, it’s probably the most popular social network out there. Every user has a “digital dashboard” where they can read and engage with content from various sources, including other users, companies and brands.
The service is incredibly easy to use. Simply visit Twitter.com, click on the gear icon in the upper-right corner, and choose your country to view the local businesses, brands, and organizations that are available to you.
From here, you can follow the prompts to create an account, or you can use your email address to log in if you already have one.
Once you’re logged in, you can start exploring the various content resources that Twitter has to offer. These include other users’ tweets, blogs, and websites, as well as information about companies, brands and organizations.
The Pros
One big pro of Twitter is how accessible it is. While many social networks, including Facebook and LinkedIn, require you to have a fairly sophisticated knowledge of computers in order to use them effectively, Twitter is the opposite. Simply go to the site, create a username and password, and you’re good to go.
The upside with this is that anyone can use it; all you need is a device with an internet connection and a desire to stay informed.
Twitter also has a significantly large audience. According to Statista, there are currently 500 million monthly active users on the platform. While this is just one estimate, it’s quite possible that this number is much higher. It would also make Twitter the largest social network in the world.
Along with this massive audience, Twitter also offers a diverse group of users. According to the same source, Twitter’s user base includes users from all over the world, with over 150 million monthly active users in China alone. While this might not seem like a positive trait, it can actually be a great advantage when it comes to marketing and communicating with a multicultural audience.
The Cons
The downside to Twitter is that it’s not necessarily the best choice for every type of business. If you’re looking for a place to market your product or service, you might find that there are already hundreds of other businesses trying to do the same. This makes it quite difficult to stand out.
Also, although Twitter is a free service, you will need to develop and maintain a good social media presence. Simply having a profile on the platform isn’t enough — you will need to regularly engage with your followers and make sure that they know you exist. This means you’ll either need to spend money on ads or rely on organic sharing.
Last but not least, although it might not be a con, it’s still important to note that not everything on Twitter is created equal. Just because a company or individual has a large number of followers on the platform doesn’t mean that their content is any good. It all depends on the content that they’re sharing and how well they’re doing at engaging with their followers.
Where Should I Post?
So, you’ve decided that you want to give Twitter a try and see how it can help your business. Where should you post? There are several options, but first you need to understand how the platform works and what sorts of content perform well on it.
Firstly, keep it short and sweet. Twitter’s most popular tweet is only 28 characters, and that’s what the platform is really known for these days. The ideal tweet is normally between 10 and 25 chars, and there’s a reason why tweets with these characteristics perform so well — they’re optimized for the platform and easier to engage with.
Secondly, make sure that what you post is relevant to your target audience. If you’re posting about a topic that your followers aren’t interested in or concerned about, then it’s unlikely that they’ll engage with you or your content. Relevance is important on all social media, but especially on Twitter, where your post can potentially reach millions of people.
With these few tips on where to post, you’ll be able to get the most out of your Twitter account — and make sure your customers and prospects know exactly what you offer.