In December last year, the Twitter business blog carried a good post about promoting your brand on Twitter.
They picked 5 brands that effectively use Twitter to share their tricks of the trade.
The businesses in question are Rothy’s, InVision, custom sticker outlet Sticker Mule, meal kit delivery service HelloFresh and Simon Books.
And the tips? Well, they’re as simple – but as effective – as you need.
- Original creative is key
- Focus on targeting
- Experiment and optimize
- Be data-driven
- Make it part of your daily routine
You can read their take here, but of the same five points, here’s mine – and it’s all positive.
1. Original creative is key, when it’s done right
Twitter is such a minefield these days for content – good and bad. Engagement levels text-only tweets is dropping, while the opposite can be said of images and video-based Tweets.
To make that extra impact, hit your followers with good copy, good creative imagery, or something that cuts right to the chase. Tell the story in the image. Better still, tell the story and hold their time and attention in a shorter video. Can your 45 second video story be told in 30 seconds? Can it be told more effectively in 15?
We scan, scan, scan, all day long. What are you doing that makes someone pause and take notice?
2. Focus on targeting – mix things up and learn on the job
If you’re advertising on Twitter i.e. using Twitter Ads, then you’re right to experiment with your targeting. The same applies to Facebook Ad Manager – the more time you invest in the targeting, the more focused your message can get and the more genuine your return can be.
I’m a stickler for location-based targeting, device-based targeting (within a location) and avoiding generalisations. Why target people who love sport, when you’re really trying to reach martial arts fans within the world of sport?
It will cost you to learn, that’s the commercial side of the experiment. But, a little now goes a long way in the future.
3. Experiment & Optimize – Not just for ads
This one goes hand in hand with managing your social advertising, but also to your Twitter content in general.
Are you pitching too hard? Do you come across too friendly and artificial? You need to know the tone that’s going to resonate with your audience. Take the time and experiment with your content, then watch your engagement.
You will see very quickly what’s working for you and what’s not. More importantly, when you see what’s working for you, the opportunity is there to create more of that content and build your audience.
4. Be Data-Driven
This is a great tip, and it applies across the board – Twitter, Facebook, Analytics etc.
For the 12 months of 2017, January through December, I compiled a weekly spreadsheet – 53 workbooks in total, tracking every meaningful detail around my web and social activity.
For an hour or so on a Tuesday morning I would manually extract figures from Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, Google Analytics and break down what was working, what wasn’t, where people were coming from etc.
The work paid off. Social engagement increased and web traffic jumped from 2.5m page-views in 2016 to 10m in 2017.
Why? I was driven by data. It takes time, but the payoff can be huge. And no, I’m afraid I won’t be sharing the spreadsheets as examples, you’ll just have to trust that they worked out.
5. Make it a part of your daily routine
Even if you’re only working the social media side of things on a part-time basis (in the grand scheme of things), it’s a full time role.
You don’t need to sit on it every hour of every day, but you do need to keep the regular flow of content coming, particular from your branded account (whatever about your personal one).
As your engagement starts to pick up, you’ll enjoy the back and forth, getting to know those interested in your brand and content and working out where to go next.
You can follow me (quietly) on Twitter, it’s @kenmcguire. If you’ve got a simple tip for branded accounts on Twitter that you’d like to share, leave it in the comments below.