Shane Barker / 11 Mins Read
Updated: June 23, 2022
What is Twitter marketing? Here's some simple to-do items to ensure you put your best foot forward. Discover the Twitter marketing strategy and learn the basics and examples of Twitter marketing.
Twitter has quickly become one of the best tools at your disposal for doing marketing and market research.
Currently, Twitter has over 450 million active users. No business doing digital marketing would want to lose out on such a large user base.
That’s why Twitter has quickly become one of the best social media applications to do marketing on and it should be in every digital nomad’s repertoire.
With that in mind, it can be difficult to get a firm grasp on the marketing aspects and opportunities on Twitter, which is the exact reason this article exists!
Here’s what we’ll be looking at today:
There are plenty of reasons why Twitter is a great platform to do marketing on. The first reason is quite simple, it has a large audience and is free to download.
Who doesn’t love marketing for free?
A large audience also means that your brand or product can reach a wider audience, whilst also being able to interact with your customers and provide feedback and support quickly. Twitter also allows you to keep tabs on your competitors and what their up to.
Twitter analytics will also provide great insights into your users’ habits and preferences, which can in turn be used to create better digital marketing campaigns and products.
So, we know what Twitter is and how to use it for social media purposes, but how can it be put to use in the digital marketing landscape?
Twitter marketing is essentially the ways businesses use Twitter to help them create content that can specifically target certain audience demographics to promote a service, product, or brand, all to generate sales.
Twitter’s 450 million active daily user base offers a large and varied audience, from generation Z to generation X and some baby boomers even!
It’s a process that requires a lot of prerequisites and steps to get right. A business will need to create a Twitter account, get it verified and build a customer base.
There are also plenty of other smaller goals that need to be achieved to have a successful Twitter marketing strategy that we will touch upon today.
So, you’re ready to start marketing on Twitter. There are a lot of things to get right if you want to be successful on Twitter, here are some you’d have to nail on the head if you want your business to thrive on Twitter.
If your Twitter account has no followers, then it also won’t get sales.
Building a large following will take a while, but it is important to keep growing your profile on Twitter. This is done by keeping engagement up with your followers.
This is done by continually posting updates regarding your brand, and writing informational pieces that are in line with your brand and products or services.
To help you stay continuously aligned with your brand while producing content at scale, it is recommended to create a content style guide. This documentation will enable anyone on your team, or other professionals you might be working with, to understand your brand voice and personality.
If you’re feeling creative you can host live sessions, create Twitter polls and get in on the latest trends and hashtags.
Make sure that everything you post and share is of relevance to your audience. If you start building a small following, just to alienate them, you’ll be back to square one.
To do this, you’ll have to keep an eye on your posts and how well they do. Posts with a larger number of retweets and likes are most likely more in line with their interests, and you should focus more on those.
Once you’ve got your target audience, curate more articles, posts, and videos that relate to them. If done right, you won’t only be growing your follower count faster than before, but you’ll also establish trust between your brand and your followers. This trust will allow your followers to feel comfortable following affiliate links, buying your products, or referring your brand to their friends and family.
Getting your hashtag game on track when doing marketing on Twitter is crucial to your brand’s success in the social media application.
Data shows that Tweets that have more relevant and better hashtags have a 55% better chance of getting retweeted than those without.
If you’re trying to find the relevant Tweets currently, your best bet would be to take a look at your Twitter analytics. If you’re a business or brand, you could also create your unique hashtag and if it’s catchy enough and starts piquing interest, you can use that hashtag as marketing material.
There are plenty of examples, like Lay’s #DoUsAFlavor Twitter campaign. It might seem tempting to shove in as many hashtags as possible, but that is counterintuitive.
If you add too many hashtags to your posts, they will start to feel cluttered and desperate. Instead, keep the hashtags to two or three, and make sure they relate to your audience’s interests and your brand.
Twitter Ads is a paid-for ad that you run through Twitter. When you apply for a Twitter ad, you will be given plenty of different options to customize the ad in the way you want.
A very prominent part of Twitter ads is the idea of keywords. When you’re planning your Twitter ad, make sure you keep the right keywords in mind. Keywords should be relevant to your topics and should be things that are searched for by most people.
This will allow you to target the key audience you’re trying to reach; at the time you want.
There are two types of keywords you can set your sights on when using Twitter ads.
This is when you’re focused on keywords that users use when they search on Twitter. Your post should come up on the search results faster when the user types in the searched keywords.
An example would be a company that sells handmade dolls targeting words like handmade, toys, children, and stuffed toys.
As suggested in the title, focusing on a timeline keyword is when you target users’ thoughts and actions on their timeline.
If a user has recently tweeted about a specific thing, for example taking up jogging as a hobby, companies that shell athletic clothing and gear will be targeting keywords like “jogging.”
Any sort of Twitter ad campaign is a great way to generate new followers towards your Twitter handle, which in turn could lead them to your website. When running these campaigns don’t forget who you’re targeting, when your audience is the most active and to analyze data afterward.
Twitter, although a great social media platform isn’t nearly as interactive as Facebook or Instagram, don’t let that stop you from engaging with your followers. There are plenty of conversations and tweets to be had.
If you are looking for some sort of engagement directly on the app, that’s not a direct message, then Twitter polls are just for you.
A Twitter poll is when a person or business posts a question, with options available for followers to choose from. You can offer up to four different answers to your question. This is a great way to find out the opinions of your followers and their expectations of your brand.
Keep an eye on the comment section as well, since there will be plenty of opinions down there as well. People love voicing their opinions online, especially when it’s about minor issues.
It won’t be replacing your Twitter analytics but provides some engagement with your audience with the benefit of gaining some extra knowledge.
Now that you’ve got a handle on how to use Twitter for marketing, there are some important practices you should be keeping in mind when using Twitter for marketing.
Keeping an eye on your Twitter analytics is important to gauge how well your account and posts are doing.
If they aren’t doing great, you should be looking at your hashtags and if they’re relevant enough to other Twitter users and brands. Keep tabs on the number of people that engage with your posts, and see which posts get more than others. Posts that get more engagement should be your golden standard for the next post.
Another important thing to look for is which users your posts are reaching. If it’s an affiliate link that isn’t getting much action, even though engagement is high on Twitter, the post is most likely not relevant to those who see it.
Having a specific voice or tone on Twitter, that is recognizable is important for brand awareness. Some companies like Wendy’s have done this well. The persona that is used on Twitter should be consistent but also work within the brand you are trying to create and sell.
Some businesses will need a firm, realistic tone, whereas some companies would prefer a fun, lighthearted tone. Companies, like Wendy’s, even take advantage of memes and online culture to promote their own business.
A great way to decide what tone you want to use on Twitter, go look at your competition. Look at their social engagement and what tone they’re using. A large amount of engagement is a good sign and should be what you’re aiming for too.
Don’t be alarmed though, if you settle on a voice and it doesn’t work out, you can try and try again. Eventually, you’ll start to see a pattern of posts and voices that work better than others. If you then lean into these, your posts will quickly get more engagement.
If you receive a lot of direct messages, you can also set up a chatbot to help with some more general information about your business.
Having clear goals is an important part of any marketing strategy, and the same goes for marketing on Twitter. Make them as clear and realistic as possible.
You’ll inevitably come back and tweak your goals a bit, but continuously working towards a goal is much easier than just moving along at your own pace.
To best find the goals you need, look at your business and decide what long-term goals you’d like to achieve. Then find smaller steps towards the larger goals that are achievable and measurable.
Add follower goals that are related to your business. If you want a predominantly male audience in the younger range, then you should try to add x number of followers from that category by a certain period.
From there, your goal should be to get them to your landing page. Try to get between 5% to 10% of your leads to go to your landing page.
Another great way to measure the success of a post is the number of retweets. If someone retweets your post, it’s reaching a wider audience, and the best part is it’s free!
If you find that you aren’t reaching any of your goals, they might have been a bit ambitious to start with. Adjust your goals accordingly, but never stop working towards them.
Sending certain tweets out at specific times is key to boosting engagement.
There are plenty of optimal times to post tweets, like holidays, special events like the Superbowl, and other world events that can happen at any time.
To take a hold of these opportunities you need to be fast and sharp. Worldwide events have short periods that dominate the news cycle.
Holiday promotions are another great way to get more followers on your landing page looking for promotional deals.
The best part is, it doesn’t even have to be a famous or religious holiday. Take the 3rd of June as an example, national doughnut day is celebrated every year in the USA.
On this day, companies like Krispy Kreme take their chance to offer limited promotions or deals, like buying a doughnut and getting a coffee for free, that not only get them a lot of engagement on social media but get people to their shops as well.
These tweets allow you a wider audience than usual, and the engagement comes off friendly and builds a great reputation with your business and the general consumer.
Some companies, like B2C companies, might find that they have more engagement on weekends, which means they might be posting a lot more during the weekend than during weekdays. A B2B company might be busier during the week since most of their clients are at work as well. B2B stores are all the rave right now, if you’re looking to start a B2B Ecommerce store, then this guide for how to start a B2B ecommerce store is just for you.
Content calendars have been the secret to being successful online since the dawn of online marketing. Content calendars are used by Vloggers, Youtubers, and digital marketers.
A content calendar is not only a great way to avoid you getting stressed out later, but it will also help you create better, more original content. It’s well known among entertainers that coming up with something funny quickly on the spot isn’t as easy as it looks, and only the best of the best can do it effectively.
The rest of us need some preparation and brainstorming, as well as revisions before creating and posting.
Keep an eye on upcoming events and try to plan tweets ahead of time, as well as any promotions you would like to have. Think of witty or smart hashtags, or if there are any trends that you might be able to incorporate.
A content calendar will also help you analyze your posts easily afterward. Keep an eye on the different types of tweets going out. Not all should be promotional. Keep a good balance of promotions, stories, blogs, and informational pieces.
If you prefer, you could pick certain days of the week to post certain things. If you’ve got content on other platforms like vlogs or podcasts, don’t hesitate to share them on Twitter as well.
Social listening just means that you are aware of current trending topics and conversations happening currently on the platform.
Being aware of the current trends is important for your posts as well. Keeping your hashtags as relevant as possible should keep your post engagement up, as well as show your audience that your brand is in the loop.
A verified logo on your Twitter account will show your followers that your brand can be trusted. It will also protect your company from other accounts trying to pretend to be you.
The little checkmark next to your account is as important as anything else on this list.
Getting your account verified isn’t difficult. To verify the account, you will have to provide Twitter with your business website, your ID, and the official email address of the business or owner.
While we’re busy talking about your profile, make sure it’s informative and professional. Here is the list of everything you need to get verified on Twitter.
Benefits are plenty when it comes to using Twitter for marketing.
Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, another 12 million users joined the social media platform. Mostly due to Elon’s promise of promoting freedom of speech on the platform.
Twitter is an excellent platform nonetheless. It has a large potential customer base and allows businesses to keep their followers up to date with the brand and its promotions and opinions.
This allows a brand to build a trusted following, which in turn leads to more leads being converted to customers. Building a community behind your brand is an excellent way of assuring a clientele of customers who will always return to your brand, as well as promoting it to their friends and family.
Twitter polls, comment sections, and Twitter analytics will allow you to get excellent market research about your customers and what they want.
Twitter is an excellent tool for marketing and should be used by any business that wants to be successful online.
Building brand awareness, gaining valuable analytics, and directly engaging your audience are all benefits of using Twitter to market your brand.
Remember when marketing online you want to cast the net as wide as possible, and funnel leads down towards your landing page. Twitter and other social media platforms are just one of many ways to get started.
If you wish to dig further and develop your social media presence, you should have a look at this article that provides valuable insights on social media strategies based on different platforms.
Hopefully, this article will help you start marketing your business on Twitter as soon as today!
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Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant who specializes in influencer marketing, content marketing, and SEO. He is the co-founder of Attrock, a digital marketing agency. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, influencers with digital products, and a number of A-List celebrities.
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