The new president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump has pinned his Twitter following as one of the main reasons he won the election.
Donald Trump has over 15 million Twitter followers and there is no doubt that social media helped him to win one of the most powerful positions in the world.
But politics aside, how can you use the power of Twitter to grow your brand?
Twitter is often overlooked as a marketing strategy because most people feel limited by it.
It can be difficult to get your point across in just 140 characters or less and it can be even more difficult to work out how to market your tweet so it is seen by the right audience.
Even though Twitter is not as popular as some of the other social networks out there, it still has over 310 million active users. This is a huge number of people and chances are that some of those active users are going to be your future customers or clients.
Furthermore, Twitter adoption has grown by 1.6 percent from 2015 to 2016. And another 500 million people visit Twitter monthly without creating an account.
With so many people using Twitter and so many people curious about the information shared on the social network, your business can really use it in an advantageous way. This is especially true if your goal is to help build your brand.
Twitter can offer your brand exposure and help you to build a rapport with your audience. It can also provide you a way of communicating information to your audience quickly and efficiently.
To go even further, here is a snapshot of statistics to consider when it comes to using Twitter to grow your brand-
- 85 percent of followers feel more connected to businesses after following them on Twitter
- 84 percent of followers who interact with a brand on Twitter share positive experiences
- 77 percent of Twitter users feel better about a brand when it replies to their tweet
- Companies using Twitter for customer service experience a 19 percent increase in customer satisfaction
- 72 percent of Twitter followers are likely to buy from that brand
As you can see from these statistics, there are so many amazing benefits that building your brand on Twitter can provide.
If you want to use Twitter to grow your brand, here is all you need to know-
The Basics of Twitter
Most of us know the ins and outs of using Twitter so we are not going to waste too much time going into that. The most important thing to remember however, is to set up an excellent profile with an image and engaging bio about your brand and what you do.
Aside from making sure your profile is on point, we are going to share with you important statistics from Twitter about who uses the platform and how people engage with the platform.
These statistics will help you to get an idea of how to use the platform in the best way for your business-
- 40 percent of those who use Twitter are aged between 18-34 years old
- Twitter is consistently more popular amongst men than women
- Twitter users send an average of 6,000 tweets per second
- 80 percent of Twitter users use their mobile to access the platform
These statistics can tell us a few things. Firstly, if your business is targeting millennials or people aged between 18-34 years of age, it may be crucial to start thinking about building up a strong presence on Twitter.
If you are not marketing to people in that age bracket, it may also be important to note that 36 percent of Twitter users are aged between 35 and 54.
It is also interesting that over 80 percent of users access the platform on their phone, indicating that Twitter is the place to go in order to get information quickly and effectively.
This makes Twitter a great place to share quick updates about your brand and provide the latest information as to what is going on. Twitter is also a great place to share quick facts or inspirational tidbits of information that your followers can quickly read on the go.
You can also use Twitter to quickly reply to customers or clients or to point them in the right direction of where they need to go to schedule a consult or purchase a product.
Know What Your Twitter is Worth
We all know that we should be taking the time to build a stunning Twitter profile and engage with fans and followers, but is it all worth it?
According to statistics, each visitor that comes to your site from Twitter is worth 62 cents. While this number seems small, over time this is likely to sprout huge potential for your business.
The current market value also states that each Twitter user is worth around $110, which means that the more followers you have, the more valuable your platform becomes and the more potential your brand has to create an impact.
Customers from Twitter also spend an average of $46.29 and 81 percent of Twitter users say that the platform impacts their purchasing decisions more than seeing an ad on television.
To take advantage of this, your brand needs to use Twitter in engaging ways and be consistent with posting and replying to tweets. Even though this can be time consuming think of it this way- every tweet could potentially be earning you big dollars.
Along with posting and replying to tweets, it is also important to follow new people regularly as well. This will help your following to keep growing and will strengthen your brand’s reach.
Generally, we recommend following at least two new people in your niche every day, as this will help to radically boost your following in a short period of time.
The only exception to this rule is if you are following more people that are following you. Ideally, you want to have more followers than the number of people you are following.
Discover How to Maximise Engagement Quickly
If you want to build your brand using Twitter you need to have an active following that you can connect with.
As previously mentioned, this does take time but here are some quick, fail-proof suggestions that will help to boost your engagement levels overnight-
- Follow leaders in your industry
- Follow people who your industry leaders follow
- Discover and retweet two top tweets that are aligned with your brand image
- Tweet using trending hashtags that are relevant to your business
- Check your notifications and take the time to reply to any comments
- Follow back people who follow you
- Favourite any retweets from your followers
- Tweet at least once per day but not more than two tweets in a row
These eight simple tips will help you to maximise your engagement on Twitter and will help you to start growing an active following that you can use to build your brand.
Learn How to Build Prospects
This is where we get a little more advanced with how to use Twitter to grow your brand.
Twitter is a great place to build relationships and is also a great place to network. Twitter also allows you to directly message your followers, so you can send personalised messages.
Another way to build relationships on Twitter is to use the Advanced Search method. This requires you to search for terms relating to your business in order to find prospects or score new customers.
For example, let’s say if your business is selling wine online. In the search field you can search for keywords relating to your business such as “wine” or “wine delivery”.
By searching these key terms, it will allow you to see who is tweeting about wine and what type of questions or queries people are making in regards to wine.
From here you can either reach out to followers directly by answering their questions or following them. This is a great way to build your brand up and a great way to find new prospects.
In fact, the brand @TeusnerWine used this very same strategy to grow their brand on Twitter and noticed an increase in website traffic, in people touring their winery and in the number of people enquiring about their different wines.
Use Twitter for Customer Service
The airline Jet Blue was one of the first companies that started using Twitter for customer service purposes. They realized that people were asking for help and making comments about the airline using their Twitter feed, so they decided to do something about it.
Today, Jet Blue has over 1.6 million Twitter followers and have been able to reply to customers in real time whenever they have a question, query or complaint.
By using your Twitter account to either offer a solution or direct customers to finding a solution can be a powerful way to grow your brand and can also help to put your company on the map.
Potential customers and clients are also more likely to do business with you when they can see that there is someone on the other side responding to comments and queries.
Showcase Your Products and Services
Your bio should paint a clear picture as to what your brand offers and what your brand is all about, but you also want to use your feed to showcase your products and services.
This does not mean that you want every tweet to be about your products and services, but you definitely want to include a few in there that allow your followers to see what you have to offer.
When it comes to promoting your products and services on Twitter, you need to be tactful. Don’t just regurgitate the same information that they can find on your website, instead find new and interesting ways to present your information.
You may even want to experiment with showcasing your products or services in a different light or offering alternate view points to what you are promoting.
One brand that did this really well is Oreo Cookies. They ran an ad on Twitter promoting their chocolate biscuits in a different way during the Super Bowl game. This tweet went on to receive over 15 thousand retweets and was liked by thousands.
Twitter is definitely a place to be creative, so think about how you can promote your products and services in a different and unique way.
Use in Combination With Other Platforms
Like with any brand building strategy, you need to think bigger. This means that you can’t expect to do all your brand building from just one platform. Instead, you need to cross promote and Twitter is the perfect place to do this.
A great example of this comes from the car manufacturer, Mercedes Benz. They used both Twitter and a TV commercial to create a buzz. Here is how they did it-
Mercedes showed a 30 second TV commercial where a couple is in the middle of a car chase. The TV ad then prompted users to tweet how they wanted the TV commercial to end. They could either tweet back using the hashtag #hide or the hashtag #evade.
The commercial ended up increasing engagement levels and followers for Mercedes in a big way. In fact, thanks to this promotional campaign, Mercedes is now sitting on nearly 2 million followers.
This is just one example of how you can use Twitter to build your brand and engage your audience. While we may not all have the same budget as Mercedes, you can do this in a smaller scale as well, no matter what your budget levels are.
By cross promoting on other social media platforms, it also helps to cement the message of your brand and makes your brand more memorable in the long run.
Reward Your Followers
The fastest way to grow your brand on Twitter is to make your followers happy. When your followers are happy they are more likely to recommend your brand and do business with your brand.
Happy followers are very valuable and the more of them that you can secure, the faster it is going to be for you to grow your brand.
Followers are happy when your provide something of value. They are also happy when they feel that they are being listened to and that you are taking the time to respond to their questions and concerns.
Another way to make your customers feel happy is by offering them special discounts that only they have access too. This is the best way to make your audience feel valued and it is also a great way to ensure that your followers keep checking in with your brand.
In fact, one study found that offering exclusive coupons on Twitter could be as effective as running a PPC campaign. It can also be an effective way for small businesses to gain more followers.
Along with sharing coupons, other valuable tweets that perform well when it comes to brand building include-
- Tweeting images: images with tweets generally earn 18 percent more clicks, 89 percent more likes, 150 percent more retweets and result in 5 times more engagement.
- Tweeting videos: videos on Twitter earn 1.9 times more favourites, 2.5 times more replies and 2.8 times more retweets.
- Sharing tweets with links to valuable content or free downloads: these have a two times better chance of being retweeted.
- Sharing tweets with just one hashtag: using just one hashtag was shown to increase engagement rates by 29 percent, however using more than one hashtag decreased engagement rates by 17 percent.
Get creative with your tweets and experiment with a few different content styles and types to see what your audience resonates with the most.
Twitter offers a fairly comprehensive analytical breakdown so you can easily see what your audience is resonating with and what they are not resonating with.
The Best Times to Tweet
As you may have started to realise, the more engagement you can earn on Twitter the better your chances are of promoting and building your brand.
While building engagement on Twitter can take time, there is a way to maximize your efforts. This involves posting tweets at the best times of day.
While there are some universal times that are believed to be the best when it comes to engagement rates, it is really going to depend on your niche and when your audience is most active.
Twitter’s Analytical tool can help you to determine this, but if you are just getting started, here are the some of the best times to tweet according to Twitter-
- B2B performs 16 percent better during business hours
- B2C performs 17 percent better on weekends compared to weekdays
- The best times to tweet include 12pm, 3pm, 5pm and 6pm
- Wednesday around noon and 5 to 6pm is when activity generally peaks on Twitter
- Twitter users are 181 percent more likely to be on the platform during their commute, compared to any other platform
- 2-3am was also found to be a particularly active time
- Clickthrough rates were found to be highest on Wednesday for B2B audiences whereas weekends were found to be highest for B2C audiences
The best way to find out when your audience is going to respond to your tweets is trial and error. Consider using a social media scheduling tool like Hootsuite or Buffer and schedule tweets at some chosen times of the day and week.
Monitor the activity level of these tweets and see when your audience is most active and most interested in hearing from your brand.
Generate User Content
User generated content is particularly powerful on social media. One example of this comes from the yoghurt company, Chobani who used Twitter to increase sales by 225 percent.
To do this, Chobani asked their customers to share their comments and videos or photos of them eating Chobani yoghurt. The company then took the comments and images and plastered some of them up on on billboards around the country.
This helped the brand to get on the map and increased engagement rates dramatically.
More and more customers are responding positively to user generated content as it helps to make the product more appealing and helps to tap into the psychological fear of missing out.
When people see someone with something, like a tub of Chobani yoghurt, they are more likley to want that product as well.
Another company that used this strategy was McDonalds. Using their slogan “I’m lovin’ it” they offered free items to anyone who showed love to a family member friend. They then shared these videos and images on Twitter, where it went viral and earned the fast food companies more sales.
Use Twitter to Grow Your Email List and Website Traffic
Another great way to use Twitter is to grow your email list. This way your followers can get updates straight to their inbox.
One way to do this is to offer a promotional item such as a coupon code or ebook that requires an email to access. Twitter is a great platform to do this on and it is also easy to track where your audience is coming from.
A similar strategy is using Twitter to grow your website traffic by sharing links to your blog posts and articles.
Even though it seems like an obvious thing to do, sharing your blog content on Twitter can have amazing potential as long as you know how to use it effectively.
A great example comes from content marketing influencer, Jeff Bullas. He has over 400k Twitter followers and earns around 40,000 referrals from Twitter each month.
He did this by sharing awesome content, reaching out to influencers and learning what his audience really wants.
Conclusion
There are so many ways to grow your brand using Twitter but the bottom line comes down to engagement. The more you can get your audience engaged on Twitter, the easier it is going to be for you to promote and showcase your brand in the best light.
Twitter is a great place to grow your brand as it offers your customers and quick snapshot into what your company is all about. It also offers a way for your audience to learn about your brand in a more personalised way.
Are you ready to grow your brand using Twitter?
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