8 Tips for Tweeting on Twitter
I’m not a fan of Twitter. I find it one of the noisiest platforms out there, especially when it comes to marketing. Other avenues are much more useful for getting your message out — at least this is my experience.
But Twitter’s place in the marketing landscape isn’t lost on me. It can be beneficial when used right.
Tip 1: Recognize its limitations. Twitter isn’t a true sales platform. If you’re trying to use it to directly increase sales of products or services, it probably won’t deliver. It’s much better with engagement, networking and supporting other sales efforts.
Tip 2: Spend some time listening. As with any “new” social media platform, you want to get your feet wet before diving in. Follow some of the more popular folks in your industry to see what they’re talking about to get a better feel for its use.
Tip 3: Define your tweeting goals. There’s a reason you’re on Twitter, so put that purpose into words. Write it down. Post it to your computer. Carve it on your desk. Whatever. Just define it. This can help you find a voice and build a network behind it.
Tip 4: Engage in conversations. As with any social media platform, you gotta keep it social. When you tweet someone, you hope they’ll tweet back, so do the same for your followers. If they tweet, tweet a reply. You’ve got 140 characters; it shouldn’t take long.
Tip 5: Share your insights. And sharing goes far beyond tweeting back. If you blog, share it. Links to tips, advice and other information beneficial to your industry is also great content to share with others.
Tip 6: Use all the tools available. At first glance, Twitter looks awfully limited in what it has to offer. But the platform is equipped with tools that make using the channel much easier. The list function, for example, separates all the tweets for a definition so you can quickly scan those in the category.
Tip 7: Watch the hashtags…please. Hashtags are essential to getting your tweets to those outside of your followers, but overly hashtagging posts can make them virtually indecipherable. And they start to look pretty “sales-y.” Use them sparingly and only on tweets of utmost importance.
Tip 8: Keep tweets relevant. I’ve said this time and time again, but it begs another mention. “Either tweet something worth reading or do something worth tweeting.” If the content you’re thinking about tweeting isn’t of value, don’t post it on Twitter — or any other social media platform, for that matter.
But Twitter’s place in the marketing landscape isn’t lost on me. It can be beneficial when used right.
Tip 1: Recognize its limitations. Twitter isn’t a true sales platform. If you’re trying to use it to directly increase sales of products or services, it probably won’t deliver. It’s much better with engagement, networking and supporting other sales efforts.
Tip 2: Spend some time listening. As with any “new” social media platform, you want to get your feet wet before diving in. Follow some of the more popular folks in your industry to see what they’re talking about to get a better feel for its use.
Tip 3: Define your tweeting goals. There’s a reason you’re on Twitter, so put that purpose into words. Write it down. Post it to your computer. Carve it on your desk. Whatever. Just define it. This can help you find a voice and build a network behind it.
Tip 4: Engage in conversations. As with any social media platform, you gotta keep it social. When you tweet someone, you hope they’ll tweet back, so do the same for your followers. If they tweet, tweet a reply. You’ve got 140 characters; it shouldn’t take long.
Tip 5: Share your insights. And sharing goes far beyond tweeting back. If you blog, share it. Links to tips, advice and other information beneficial to your industry is also great content to share with others.
Tip 6: Use all the tools available. At first glance, Twitter looks awfully limited in what it has to offer. But the platform is equipped with tools that make using the channel much easier. The list function, for example, separates all the tweets for a definition so you can quickly scan those in the category.
Tip 7: Watch the hashtags…please. Hashtags are essential to getting your tweets to those outside of your followers, but overly hashtagging posts can make them virtually indecipherable. And they start to look pretty “sales-y.” Use them sparingly and only on tweets of utmost importance.
Tip 8: Keep tweets relevant. I’ve said this time and time again, but it begs another mention. “Either tweet something worth reading or do something worth tweeting.” If the content you’re thinking about tweeting isn’t of value, don’t post it on Twitter — or any other social media platform, for that matter.
This post was originally published on Beneath the Brand.