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Drive Engagement into Your Twitter Marketing

Image Credit: Rosaura Ochoa

Let’s face it, when Twitter was launched as the first micro-messaging social network, we were all a little skeptical about how it could help anyone except the short-messaging obsessed teens. Not long after, the chirpy little blue bird surprised us by hitting the 100 million mark, and today it has reached beyond 500 million users. I doubt if there really are that many teenagers out there in the social media-sphere. Anyhow, we know that Twitter has managed to attract users from varying age groups and different professions including celebs, brands, and even small businesses.

 

No wonder businesses have found a plethora of marketing opportunities on Twitter, which allows sharing of a strong 140-characters message that has the potential of reaching millions. Businesses are using Twitter to build a relationship with their clients and customers on a personal level as the network allows them to stay connected without having to invest too much time and money. Therefore, the major factor that helps businesses utilize Twitter’s true potential is through user engagement. Are your 140 characters strong enough to drive Twitter engagement?

 

We briefly discussed Twitter engagement in my previous post regarding Twitter lead generation. Today, we will take a look at some of the most sure-shot tips and tricks to increase Twitter engagement so that you can make the most of your social media marketing campaigns. But before that, let’s take a look at the factors that determine Twitter engagement.

 

Factors that Determine Twitter Engagement

 

One of the best aspects of social media marketing is that almost everything is measurable. Engagement, that is generally an abstract concept, is measured on Twitter as a sum of three components; replies, retweets and mentions.

 

  • Replies – This is when a follower directly replies to your message or communicates with you in response to any of your activities. Replies have your brand handle in the beginning of the tweet.
  • Mentions – Mention is when a follower mentions your brand in his/her tweets. This is different from a reply as it is not usually triggered by any of your activities.
  • Retweets – You get a Retweet (RT) when a follower shares your message through his/her feeds. Retweets means the message was highly engaging and interesting from the prospect’s point of view and might have the tendency to go viral.

 

Many businesses, despite a good number of tweets, fail to spark twitter engagement because the message usually fails to grab reader’s attention and hence, do not trigger reply, retweet or mention. As promised, here are a few effective tips to overcome that problem.

 

Bring in the ‘Giants’

 

Have you ever wondered who your customers/clients re likely to trust more, your sales person or your CEO? Of course, it is the CEO. For your prospects, CEO is the one who represents the company. They take his/her words more seriously and are likely to answer their call to action. If it is not your CEO or any other ‘big gun’ who is managing the Twitter account, your followers are likely to assume that it is just another sales person doing his/her job. Your brand feels like just another business trying to sell, and worst, your business message appears nothing more than a sales pitch.

 

‘Value’ Goes Viral

 

You cannot really engage your Twitter followers unless you make them see the value in it. So, in simpler words, your Twitter message must be focused towards your prospects, rather than your business and service. Now, a number of factors count here. For instance, more than the message of the tweet, what matters is the tone and the way it is delivered. In content marketing, there are at least two ways to say one thing. You can either say,

 

“We bring you the best internet marketing tips.”

or

“Learn the best internet marketing strategies with us.”

 

The later is not only more conversational and customer-focused; it also has a subtle call-to-action. If one of your followers is able to find value in your message, he/she is likely to retweet it as well.

 

Harness the ‘Hashtags’

 

No matter how annoying they may seem everywhere else on the internet, hashtags are actually magical on Twitter. Unfortunately, many businesses are not much aware of its usage. These tags allow businesses to gauge the trending topics and jump in the conversation to become a more active apart of the community. Use hashtags to define your business service or product in a more appropriate manner. But remember, it is best to limit the number of hashtags you use. It is confusing for the customers as well as the system.

 

Impress with Images

 

A picture is worth a thousand words and that is how Twitter goes beyond the 140 character limit. Use high quality engaging images along your message. Images can say a lot more in less time than it takes to read 140 characters, and therefore, they have more engagement efficiency. Some followers will even retweet your message just because of that image. And as we have already mentioned, retweets add up to increase the engagement factor.

 

Try the Tested

 

As I just said, engaging your audience in 140 characters is a tough job. You need to be extremely to-the-point, and that point must be something that clicks the readers right away. It must be highly user-centric, they must be able to see the value in it and it must have a call-to-action with a high probability of getting answered by your followers.

 

There are of course, a number of ways to create such a message. You can be as creative as you wish to be, but that is as long as you know it will work. Not to mention, there is always a chance of failure that can surface in the form of low engagement levels or negative exposure. So, unless you have a plan B in case of failure, it is best to stay on the tested course. Here are three examples of engaging messages on Twitter.

 

  • Share Your ‘Success’ through giveaways and offers while announcing the news.
  • Interrogate and Engage by asking for suggestions and opinions regarding the hottest trend or product.
  • Triggers Clicks through Curiosity by sharing only the best bit rather than the complete info.

 

Follow theses strategies and you will witness a visible increase in the Twitter engagement and ultimately the yield of your social media marketing campaign.

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