6 Twitter Tips Every Business Should Be Using

Originally published on Fruition.net
By LaRae Richards

When you’re building out your social media marketing strategy, you may be tempted to replicate the same content on every major social media platform out there. But before you jump into Twitter using the same tactics that worked on Instagram or Facebook, think again. Twitter isn’t for every brand, and depending on how you plan to manage your social media resources and your target market, Twitter may not be the right choice for your company. Other brands, however, effectively leverage the platform to help them find and engage with their followers. 

To find out if Twitter is right for your brand, test content on that platform against social successes you’ve experienced on other platforms. By clearly defining KPs like impressions, engagements, and link clicks, you’ll develop a clear understanding of if Twitter is right for your business. To help you have a truly impartial test (or improve upon your already successful Twitter efforts), read these 6 Twitter tips to help you capitalize your presence on the platform.

Optimize Your Profile

Optimize your profile to clearly express who you are as a company. This includes adding a profile picture that can easily be associated with your brand and is in line with your other social media profiles. Then, create a custom Twitter header image that’s formatted with the right dimensions: 1500px x 500px. An unformatted picture can cut off your messaging, cover up important brand information, and in general, make your profile look unpolished and unprofessional.  

Use Third-Party Tools & Take Advantage of Twitter Tools 

Tools can help you streamline your experience on Twitter. Some of our favorites include: 

• Social Media Management Apps: If you’re manually posting every tweet, there’s a better way. Social media management apps like Sprout Social or Hootsuite allow you to plan and schedule your posts from within the platform. At the beginning of each week or month, enter in planned posts to make sure you’re pushing the right content at the right time. Of course, don’t forget to create timely tweets regarding events that impact your business or industry.

• TweetDeck: This Twitter-owned tool helps you quickly and efficiently manage your profile from one easy-to-use dashboard.

• Tools To Find Hashtags: Make the most out of your posts by targeting trending and relevant hashtags with sites like hashtagify.me.

Follow The Right People

Follow competitors, industry leaders, and users within your community. By following the right people, you can stay up-to-date on the latest news and trends in the industry, keep tabs on the competition, and learn about trending hashtags that are relevant to your brand.  

However, following others is a balancing act.  Don’t start following too many people at once; Twitter may view this as “bot-like” or “inauthentic” behavior and suspend your account. In addition, try to keep your following to follower ratio positive (meaning your number of followers is greater than the number of people you’re following). Keeping this ratio positive improves your authority ranking, which is an important indicator of your success on Twitter’s algorithm. As a result, more users will see, find, and follow your content. 

Use Advanced Search 

Monitor mentions, research content ideas, and find your next customer using Twitter’s advanced search tool.  The tool allows you to drill down into very specific content for a reason - use it! For example, if you run a dental practice, you could use the tool to curate a list of every tweet posted by people in your city. You can then drill down further to find the phrase “dentist” or “who can recommend a dentist?” From there, you can reach out to users and invite them to set up an appointment.

Create And Manage Lists 

To maximize Twitter for your business and improve your experience on the platform, get organized by setting up and managing lists (curated groups of Twitter accounts). Create lists for things that make sense for your business, like influencers, industry leaders, competitors, customers, and employees. By organizing your lists like this, you can quickly and effectively view and engage with tweets that matter most to you while cutting out clutter from your feed. Once you set up your lists, continue to develop and evolve them as your Twitter account grows.

Engage 

Engage often with your own tweets and mentions - including liking and retweeting your own tweets. The Twitter algorithm grades each tweet in terms of popularity, so the more likes and re-tweets a post has, the more likely it is that your content will be shown to more users. Although liking and retweeting your own content isn’t weighted as heavily as other users’ interactions with your post, every engagement counts towards maximizing your brand’s exposure on the platform.  

Whether your company has tried Twitter and you want to perfect your strategy, or you’ve never used the tool and you want to dip your toes into the water, give Fruition a call. Our social experts can help you develop and refine your strategy to grow your account.  

Want expert advice on upping your social media presence on Twitter ? Contact Fruition to see how we can help grow your business!