Have you ever wondered if your business needs Twitter? It’s a new year and a good time for a fresh look at your marketing approach. Perhaps now is the time to take on a new social media platform!
In our experience, Twitter tends to be something that folks either love or hate. Interestingly, it is one of the least favorite and least used platforms among our own social media clients. Yet, the numbers cannot be ignored. With 356 active monthly users and a 9% year over year increase in daily users, this is not a decision to take lightly.
On that note, and as with all social media opportunities, you must reflect and research carefully before deciding if a Twitter account will prove lucrative for your business. It could (and should) be a great opportunity to take your business marketing to the next level when the following is taken into consideration.
Important Questions
Careful consideration about using Twitter will make the decision to use it much easier. Ask yourself these questions:
- Does my business get a lot of customer service requests? If the answer is yes, Twitter can be an easy way to respond to them quickly.
- Is my business local? Twitter advanced search helps you track conversations related to your products and services, including those that are happening close to you. With this feature, you can enhance your interaction with potential local customers.
- Am I struggling to connect with my customers? Reach out to your customers in a simple way with Twitter. You can join conversations and share relevant content with only a few clicks.
- Do I know my audience? If your target market includes millennials, I have great news for you. 40% of Twitter users are in this age range.
- What is my approach to customer interactions?
Twitter use benefits from a light-hearted approach since its audience likes this kind of interaction.
How Twitter Proves Useful
Let’s get a little more specific about proven ways Twitter can be useful to your marketing efforts.
- Viral promotions and special offers. Because of its engaged user base, Twitter is a fantastic platform to run these kinds of campaigns. It doesn’t cost anything and can generate serious traffic to your website.
- Build a relationship with influencers. Be closer to those people that influence buying decisions. You only have to engage with them to generate exposure to your brand.
- Expand your customer base. You can start conversations, share valuable content with, and follow people who could potentially be your customer. You can easily attract attention and grow your reach.
- Curate user-generated content. You can curate user-generated content by promoting hashtags and competitions. Get your audience posting for you and Twitter will really start working for your business.
When to Avoid Twitter
Though Twitter is an effective tool for business, there are times when you really should stay away.
- Your tweets aren’t interesting or authentic. Creating tweets that are worth sharing – ones that truly reflect your brand and offer value to the Twitter community – are critical to an effective Twitter presence. If you are not committed, it’s best to revisit at another time.
- Your posts are all about you. Of course, you can promote your business. However, you should not talk only about yourself or your business. Think about the kind of content you enjoy seeing from other profiles. You’ll need to be willing to mix it up and be creative.
- You don’t tweet frequently. Consistency and frequency is key when it comes to Twitter. The platform flow moves quickly and in order to garner attention, you’ll need to tweet regularly – sometimes up to twenty times per day.
- You do not have time to reply to on-line inquiries. Twitter is definitely not for you if you are not able to respond quickly to on-line inquiries and comments. Twitter users have high expectations for fast responses.
- You prefer not to take part in on-line conversations. Sometimes Twitter threads can be quite extensive. It’s important to be prepared to join in and see it through. Your interactions will be a reflection of your brand, so it will be important to provide careful attention to comments and reactions.
Twitter Wrap Up
As you can see, there are a good number of reasons for your business to begin using Twitter. And, there are a few reasons not to get started. (Still need help deciding? Check out our blog about which social media platforms are right for you.) The bottom line is that no matter what you do, you should feel confident you will do it well. It’s better to avoid a social media account all together than to have a profile that doesn’t look professional or up to date.
What do you think? Are you you on board with Twitter? Drop a line in the comment section and let’s connect!
~Jenny Green, Co-Owners @ Fisher Green Creative, jenny@fishergreencreative.com
