10 ways to improve your Twitter presence

Twitter hasn’t had an easy time of it over the past few years, with the company failing to make a profit or increase its market share.

When its numbers are compared with the likes of Facebook and Instagram, Twitter is tiny.

But there is some good news – the social network’s user numbers are growing once again, with the company adding six million new users in the first three months of 2018, proving that the network is still a force to be reckoned with, and somewhere businesses need to be present if they want to increase their brand awareness and find new customers.

Below, we’ve rounded up some of the simplest and most effective ways to improve your Twitter presence and get more people to follow you, interact with you, and click through to your website.

 

Update your biography

Your Twitter biography is your one chance to demonstrate who you are as a business owner and give potential followers an insight into what you do.

You’ve got to keep it short and sweet, as there’s a character count, but you should think about including hashtags, emoji, and other distinguishing features to help you stand out and put across your brand’s personality.

Your Twitter bio will also show up when people search for your business on Google, so consider it as a “meta description” of your social media account and incorporate necessary keywords to rank.

 

Use visual media

With hundreds of new tweets appearing on your followers’ timelines every minute, you need to do everything you can to stand out and attract attention.

Visual content is one of the best ways to do this, as research suggests that, on average, tweets with images attract up to 18 percent more clicks, 89 percent more favourites, and 150 percent more retweets, so get snapping and create some high-quality images and videos that you can share with your followers.

Or speak with a designer and have some attractive quotes and adverts created, featuring your branding.

 

Tweet often

As we’ve already mentioned, your followers probably have a very active timeline.

In fact, there are around 6,000 new tweets posted every second.

To make sure people see your brand appear on their timelines regularly, you need to get tweeting.

Unlike Facebook and Instagram, Twitter is an in-the-moment social network, so the more content you post, the better.

Think about using a scheduling tool to automatically post new material, even when you’re not on your computer, and use analytics to determine when you’re most likely to attract attention like replies and retweets.

 

Follow new people

Following new people on Twitter is a great way to boost brand awareness, put your business in front of potential customers, and grow your network.

Twitter’s new policy on account automation has made it more difficult to follow people in bulk, and then unfollow them, but it’s still possible to grow an audience of a couple of thousand in a month or two.

Just make sure you’re targeting the right people – potential customers who might be interested in your products and services.

 

Take part in Twitter hours

Twitter hours are a great way of networking with businesses and individuals; think of them as the equivalent to a real-life networking event, only more niche and streamlined.

There are hundreds of Twitter hours, centred around location-specific or industry-specific hashtags, and there are generic techniques like #UKBizLunch, which are suitable for all small businesses.

 

Respond to every tweet

Finding success on Twitter is all about engagement, so you should respond to every single reply that you receive.

Doing so will not only improve your customer service (more on that later), but it will also ensure that potential customers can build a relationship with your brand before they reach out and buy from you.

If you’re not active on Twitter, consider turning on push notifications for new @replies and direct messages to increase your response times. You’ll be glad you did.

 

Ask questions and run polls

Engagement can also be increased by running polls and asking your followers questions that relate to your products and services.

You can create a Twitter poll in just a couple of seconds, and they’re usually a pretty popular method of interaction.

You can use polls to guide content decisions, like new blog post ideas, or to involve your followers in important brand decisions.

 

Jump on trending topic bandwagons

Trending topics are a great way for you to get involved in wider discussions on Twitter, and have your brand show up when people search for those topics on their devices – even if they don’t follow you.

If you run a taxi company, for example, and one of the day’s trends is about poor service on trains, then you could capitalise on that by tweeting along and offering disgruntled train passengers discounted taxi fares in your town.

Experiment and see what works best.

 

Deliver customer service

Big businesses have been offering customer service on Twitter for years, but today’s consumers expect a first-class service on whatever network they’re active on.

Being responsive and offering customer service on Twitter not only helps you resolve customer complaints and keep patrons happy, but it also shows other followers that you’re proactive and care about user experience.

 

Encourage user-generated content

User-generated content is another great way to increase your brand’s presence online; but the hard work is getting your followers to interact and create content that you’d want to share.

For businesses that offer photogenic products, it’s often easier to persuade your customers to jump on the UGC bandwagon, promising to enter them into a prize draw if they share a snap and use a hashtag related to your brand.

For less glamorous products and services, consider running a competition, offering the best entrant a product or service. People will do anything for a freebie!

 

Wrapping up

Being active on Twitter is the best way to increase your brand presence, so head to the network and get tweeting!

Best of luck with your strategy, and remember that we offer affordable social media management for those that are too busy to work on their own social media campaigns.