media update’s Nicole van Wyk helps you take your Twitter business account to new heights by providing some insightful tips and tricks that will keep your consumers engaged, and more importantly, interested in new business developments.
Twitter is an ideal platform for brands who want real-time engagement with their customers.
Like: The 'Like' button is represented by a heart icon in the right-hand corner at the bottom of a tweet. Your likes are a list of tweets you like.
Retweet: This icon is found between the reply button and the like button. Clicking on this means that you choose to share that particular tweet on your profile. Generally, people share tweets that echo a sentiment they agree with — often originally posted by like-minded brands.
Direct message (DM): This option is available for when you wish to privately message someone as opposed to @mentioning the user in a publicly shared tweet. Dealing with customer service queries is sometimes easier via DM.
Follow: The people you follow are business or personal accounts that you have subscribed to. Once you have followed someone, you’ll be able to view their updates on your Twitter newsfeed.
Followers: These are Twitter users who have subscribed to your account and who want to view the tweets that you post.
Trending/trends: These are popular and current topics that are widely shared on Twitter at any given point.
Home timeline: When you log in to Twitter, this is the first page you see. Your tweets, tweets of the accounts you follow, retweets and promoted tweets are all displayed on your timeline.
Bookmarks: You are able to bookmark tweets you may want to go over or read later for example, an article or thread that is too long to skim through there and then.
Mention ‘@’: This is used to tag users in a tweet using the @handle.
Hashtag ‘#’: You can follow trending topics when you search for hashtags or you can join trending Twitter conversations by using the hashtag (#) symbol.
Lists: This helps you to organise your followers and stay updated with accounts that you find most relevant.
Stay ahead of the tweet-tweet business with these useful tips:
Include a brand introduction:
Writing an introduction for your brand on Twitter means coming up with a brief yet informative bio because you don’t want to bore your followers will a long explanation they can find on your website, remember that Twitter is a platform where
snackable content gets posted. Tell your followers and potential followers about the service you provide, where you are located and even some of your company values.
Create a professional handle:
Your ‘@’ handle should be professional and easy to find when someone searches for your brand on Twitter. Try to avoid using underscores and numbers — rather stick to something simple.
Link to your business website:
When linking to your brand’s website, remember to use a clear format for your link. Your followers want easy access to your business and you are making interaction with your followers easier when you link them to a broader platform — such as your website — without any hassles.
Follow like-minded business brand accounts:
Follow other brand accounts that have similar goals and interests to your brand. You can interact with them by retweeting and replying to their tweets. This is important so that you stay up to date with the latest industry news.
Use an appropriate avatar
And by avatar, we mean your Twitter profile picture and
header image. Using the same profile picture from your company’s LinkedIn profile or using your company’s logo makes it easier for your followers to find you and follow you. The Twitter dimensions for your avatar or profile picture is 400 x 400 pixels and your header photo should be 1500 x 500 pixels.
Put the search bar to good use
Find and connect with the right brands and people by searching hashtags pertaining to your field of expertise. For example, if you are a #marketer you would be searching for marketing expos or events and this can be found by searching for the relevant hashtags.
It is important that you include trending hashtags in your tweets so that more people engage with your company account.
Identify influencers
Find influencers that your brand aligns with and interact and engage with them on Twitter. When your followers begin to associate you with an influential figure, your brand will gain traction.
Manage and schedule tweets
Apps such as
Tweetdeck make this easier. Take it from
Maxwell Gollin who proposes the best time to tweet is midday and between 17:00 -and18:00.
Think about it, most people take their lunch breaks around midday and have enough time to scroll through Twitter for the latest updates. And people leave work around 17:00 to 18:00 to head home and relax. This is the perfect opportunity to visit the blue bird app.
Prove that your brand is socially conscious
In doing so, you also need to ensure that your brand shows that it has an interest in its consumers.
Find a cause you believe in, but not sure how to tweet about it from a brand perspective? Read our article,
Participating in online activism: Four ways to protect your brand image to find out!
Keep up with trends
Ensure that your brand keeps up to date with the latest trends and that it uses relevant hashtags in posts. By joining the
right conversations, you’ll be able to make it easier for your target audience to find you.
Pinned tweet
This is the tweet that appears at the top of your timeline when someone visits your profile. It allows you to show off what your business is about, when you were a trending topic or what you feel best reflects company values.
Whatever you choose to pin needs to be so eye-catching that someone would want to scroll down and read the rest of your tweets.
Tweet links to other relatable content
This needs to be done so that you don’t bore your followers with
your content all the time. It becomes tedious and people want an interactive and engaging account to follow.
Tweet often and engage with your customers
Engage with your customers, but always make sure that you have something valuable to add to the conversation and that you are addressing issues in a friendly tone because online customer service is just as important as in-store service.
Be an inclusive brand and use your @ button
Mentions allow you to tag relevant people in your conversations giving you a wider reach as a result of engagement via retweets, likes and replies.
Use Twitter analytics
Your analytics allow you to determine what works and what doesn’t for your brand. This way, you can keep track of what you should be doing more of and what you should be doing less of.
Include images, GIFs and emojis
People enjoy a break from words from time to time and visual aids provide that break.
Do you think that it is necessary to hire a social media manager to optimize your business Twitter account? What are your thoughts?
*Image courtesy of Louisem.com