media update’s Nakedi Phala takes you through five ways you can use Twitter for your business. 

With various elements such as hashtags, lists, social media influencers and pinned tweets, Twitter can help you generate sales and improve your business’s reputation. 

As a business, you should plan wisely in terms of how Twitter is going to fit into your marketing strategy.

If you’re looking to boost your business, or if you’re new on Twitter, here are five ways you can make this platform work for you: 

1. Have a good set up

Your @handle

Start by creating a Twitter handle, as this will be your name for your business. Make sure it corresponds with your brand’s identity because, once you’ve chosen a handle on Twitter, you can’t change it — so choose carefully.

Use between seven to 15 characters for your @handle — names that are too long make it difficult for consumers to find your page, so keep it short and sweet.

Your profile picture and header image

A profile picture for your business Twitter page can be of your brand, logo, or even of your business. Just remember that it needs to be easily recognisable to your audience.

The header image can contain information, such as your tagline, hashtag or something that adds value to your branding.

Remember, your audiences will be seeing these images every time you retweet and engage with them, so they need to be visually appealing. 

Your bio

Setting up your bio is a great opportunity to include useful information about your business or brand or even a call-to-action. Consider the following for your bio: 
  • Include keywords — product or industry related
  • Include your brand’s hashtag, which you’ll use throughout your campaigns
  • Include links to your website and other social media platforms in your bio
  • Make use of emojis (it’s a social media platform after all), which will give your Twitter posts a human touch 
Remember, your Twitter bio can contain up to 160 characters, so you should choose the words you want to include wisely. 

2. Make use of hashtags 

Hashtags — or #tags — give users the opportunity to identify related tweets that direct them to a particular topic or trend. Making use of #tags offers you the opportunity to appear in user searches which can lead them to your Twitter profile. 

Using industry-related hashtags is a great way to increase the visibility of your business or brand beyond your target audience.

You can start by using commonly used #tags, like #ThrowBackThursday, #WackyWednesday and #FlashBackFriday.

By using these #tags, you’re allowing your business to participate in conversations on Twitter, which will also improve your engagement, and soon, people will start noticing your brand when they click on popular #tags, which might lead them to click on your profile. 

Use images, GIFs and polls 

Images

Twitter has cool features, one of which allows you to post a maximum of four images per post, with captions. But be careful not to just post plain images —  do some graphic work on them that tailors to your brand or business and that grabs your audience's attention.

Remember to be specific, use present tense and to give credit or citations where required. 

GIFs

This visual feature allows you to communicate with your audience as it uses a short suggestive motion that often includes satire or humour. So if you are not into using words, GIFs are your heroes.

They are also trendy and easy for audiences to share and save on their devices because they don’t take up a lot of memory space. 

Polls

Twitter polls are one of the best ways to establish how your business, brand or product is perceived. All you have to do is ask a question or make a statement followed by two or more vote options. 

Polls also improve engagement between your business and consumers. The results will show how many people voted in numbers and percentages; this data can then be used to make changes to your business’s marketing strategies, where required. 

4. Engage with customers and influencers

It is important to interact with your customers to keep them interested and educate them about your product or business. A great way to do this on Twitter is to make use of the ‘lists’ tool, which is a function that is used to create groups of media practitioners such as journalists, public relations practitioners and influencers who are interested in your cause. 

5. Use Twitter for advertising

When it comes to advertising, you can consider using the promoted tweets option, which allows you to tweet content that will appear in a user’s Twitter feed along with posts from people that user follows.

Another alternative is to use the promoted accounts feature, which is designed to help businesses and brands become discoverable and gain new followers.

Additionally, adverts on this feature are designed to target specific Twitter users who could have an interest in your business or brand. 

If you are not using Twitter for business, you’re already behind. Twitter is one of the best social media platforms that can help you divert traffic to your website and other platforms! 

Which Twitter features do you use to benefit your business? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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Wondering if your business needs Twitter to improve? This article has the answer: Social media sentiment: What is it and why you should care.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy