Businesses today understand the importance of being a part of social media and creating their own account online. If you wish for your brand to spread quickly among target customers, it is best to know the basic rules.
Your Twitter account can quickly gain more followers and you can reach the right audience by staying consistent in terms of content and schemes. Here are some tips to kickstart your social media campaign.
[Note: For this purpose, let's have a look at Amazon.com's official business Twitter account as an example. This is not an endorsement for the company.]
Encourage people to follow you on Twitter or include hashtags in their posts to avail of freebies and special prizes. Online contests will also create a buzz on the social media platform and increase brand awareness.
You can track how a specific hashtag is performing from the minute it is out there. In the case of Amazon's #KindleFire, we see that so far in the past month it has generated 12,100 tweets and made 74 million impressions.
Courtesy of Hashtags.org Analytics
Courtesy of Hashtags.org Analytics
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Twitter Account Basics
1. The username
Think of a Twitter username that describes your company well. Many companies will use their own name or brand then add the location or year to distinguish it from others in the same market. The username should be simple, composed of a maximum of 2 to 3 words only. Also separate words as necessary or use proper capitalization. Think of a name that will easily be remembered by your target customers. Make sure that you include the company logo or a clear photo. People will easily link the username with the photo and help them remember better. Check out Amazon's profile page. Aside from a very direct username, it also contains a short description and information on customer support.
2. Social media engagement
Constantly provide good quality content and posts. Your Twitter account should be active and post 5 to 10 times each day. The quality of the tweets should also remain consistent and pertain to your kind of business. Provide updates and fresh information that will drive more followers and give the impression of reliability. Also provide links, articles and other interesting news. More people will be willing to follow you on Twitter if you are always the first to provide developments. By the 140-character limit on tweets, we know that Twitter users have a very short attention span and should, therefore, be hooked at the first instance -- and then with a question to invite discussion. You can do it by accompanying an announcement or a promo with a photo.
3. Answer on time
When there are questions and concerns, be sure to answer within a reasonable amount of time. Take some time to research and delve more into the details before answering specific questions. When hosting online conversations and hashtags, it is also best to keep the exchanges within topic and to encourage others to answer and share their own opinions on related matter. Maintain a professional tone and always give excellent content that people will keep referring back to. Some businesses create a dedicated support account for customer service, so all concerns, comments and complaints are directed to a team and the official account, where all announcements are made, are not muddled.
Maintaining the Twitter Account
4. Visual appeal
According to studies, tweets that include pictures, videos and links gain more impressions and have a wider reach compared to plain posts. Online users are more likely to look more into the details if there are attractive photos and interesting information included to further explain the post. Use catchy lines that will entice online users to click on links and talk about recent and interesting issues to spark their interest.
5. Hashtags and contests
Hashtags are among the most useful and effective social media tools that you can use to drive the right clients to your company. Hashtags categories topics accordingly so you can talk about current events pertaining to your business, new products or services, people in the industry and basically anything else related to the industry. Manage the hashtag accordingly and keep the conversations within topic. Host contests and online promos regularly.
Encourage people to follow you on Twitter or include hashtags in their posts to avail of freebies and special prizes. Online contests will also create a buzz on the social media platform and increase brand awareness.
You can track how a specific hashtag is performing from the minute it is out there. In the case of Amazon's #KindleFire, we see that so far in the past month it has generated 12,100 tweets and made 74 million impressions.
Courtesy of Hashtags.org Analytics Courtesy of Hashtags.org Analytics
