When it comes to promoting a business or website, leveraging Twitter as a marketing platform can provide very powerful benefits. In fact, a marketing study performed by iModerate in 2010 revealed that after a customer followed a brand on Twitter, they were 79% more likely to recommend that brand than before following them.
To make full use of this social outlet, you’ll first need a quality following of interested users. Unless you’re fortunate enough to already have a large group of followers, getting to that point can be much easier-said-than-done.
Fear not – SEO Experts has 11 tips you can use right now to start building a great following.
Tip 1: Don’t Spam Your Followers
This might seem like a silly first tip for gaining more followers – but it’s vitally important. Many users will take a look at your posts before deciding to follow you, and if they lots of self-promotion in your past tweets, they will be unlikely to follow you.
There’s nothing wrong with levering your tweets to promote your own offers. Just do so when it’s genuinely helpful and relevant, rather than creating a constant barrage of salesmanship.
Tip 2: Provide Valuable Tweets
To expand on the first tip – make your tweets about them (your followers) rather than you. Provide plenty of relevant news updates and mentions of other people’s content that you find of great use.
By focusing on providing value first and foremost, you gain the trust and respect of your readers. When you do share something self-promotional, they will be more likely to take a genuine interest in what you’re sharing. The increased credibility from the value you’ve provided in the past will substantially increase engagement when promoting your own products, services, or web content.
Tip 3: Work With Others: “RT4RT?”
If you aren’t familiar with the more common Twitter lingo, you could miss out on some valuable opportunities. Take a moment to scope out some popular terms. For example, terms like RT4RT (Retweet-for-Retweet) can uncover great chances to have your own content retweeted by others, simply by sharing something of theirs to your followers.
Tip 4: Follow People & Interact
This is one of the easiest ways to get new followers quickly. Find relevant people, follow them, retweet their high-value posts, and tweet commentary “@” them whenever the chance comes up. Following others encourages them to follow you back, and by publically engaging users with an existing following, you help publicize your own profile to attract new followers of your own.
Tip 5: Create & Promote Share-Bait Content
Writing a post for your site? Consider including some positive information about a leader in your industry (who has a substantial social following). Better yet, consider trying to get a full interview with that person, then craft the post around them. When it’s finished, tweet that post at them, and it could lead to a powerful retweet that gets your profile in front of their entire audience.
Tip 6: Never Forget Twitter Users Are Real People, Just Like You
Remember: Your readers are real people, and they aren’t dumb. Most of them can tell when you’re providing helpful information and when you have an underlying agenda. Ask yourself what you would want to see if you were following this account.
Value your existing followers, and they will be more likely to share your posts and help you attract more followers.
Tip 7: Timing is Everything
When are most of your users online? Tweets can get buried in a person’s feed very quickly, making timing critical if you want anyone to actually see your tweets.
If your viewers are spread across time-zones, it’s a great idea to simply do multiple tweets to catch them all at their prime times.
Tip 8: Social Actions to Integrate Other Channels
Have visitors to your website? Followers on Facebook? Visitors to your LinkedIn page? Chances are, many of those people would also be interested in your Twitter updates, but you’ll never find out if you don’t ask. Even a small button to encourage others to follow you (or even a text request) can help build your following over time.
Tip 9: If It Sounds Too Good to Be True… Beware.
There are plenty of services these days that offer to “provide you with 10,000 followers overnight!” for a flat price. As you might imagine, it’s never quite that easy. You’ll likely receive those followers – but they are typically fake accounts, Twitter bots, or incentivized users who have no interest in your tweets. Either way, these “followers” are highly unlikely to add any value to your Twitter account.
Tip 10: Update Frequently
Once you have a few followers, don’t sign off for months at a time and hope to sustain growth. Tweets are short, so take a frequent moment to provide an update to your audience. Doing so keeps you fresh on their minds, and provides more content for others to retweet on your behalf.
Tip 11: Don’t Be Afraid to Personalize
People like feeling that they are connecting with a real person. Take a moment to fill out your bio, upload pictures, and don’t be afraid to tell a (short) personal story to your audience. Breaking the impression of a cold business-focused persona can go a long way towards building valuable relationships with your readers, and personalization only helps when you’re trying to connect with other influencers.
Business Success With Twitter Takes Experience
It’s one thing if you’re trying to build a personal following, but if your Twitter ambitions are business oriented, that’s a different story. When money is on the line, you don’t want to take any chances with promotional efforts unless you know exactly what you’re doing.
Leave it to the SEO Experts to get you the results you deserve. Drop us a line to get a free social marketing proposal. We’d love to hear more about your Twitter marketing goals.
