In my last two years of blogging I have mostly been focusing on Google and Facebook ads. However Twitter marketing is a topic which is very interesting for marketers and I would definitely like to write more about it.
What is so unique about Twitter Marketing?
Comparing Twitter to other online social media and marketing tools, it is a very different beast. One of the best features of the platform is that you can easily spot the people talking precisely about the topics you want to make a name for yourself in. With a quick hashtag search you will easily find all the latest posts about your topic of interest and connect with people.
How Twitter is different from Instagram?
You may think: ‘Well, it is the same on Instagram – you can on getting discovered by commenting on posts and tagging your own content.’ The difference is only the fact that on Twitter conversations tend to be much more meaningful. The true master of Twitter marketing must know how to write and express themselves with few characters (280 at the moment). The Instagrammer is someone who is good with visual expression, however from my experience not so visually compelling Instagram posts with a valuable message and long description tend to do very well, too. On Twitter, you must be prepared to have a meaningful dialogue. Commenting via an automation with the same message is spammy and easy to spot. You must have real things to say and an interesting opinion to share.
Where to start with your brand on Twitter?
One of the most valuable feature of Twitter is the retweet button. If you are using Instagram one of the problems is that you cannot reshare a post. On Twitter this is one of the main ways of engagement. A good content on Twitter can easily be retweeted multiple times and gain quickly popularity. This can be a great way to promote your content on other channels like blogs, YouTube and Instagram posts. Cross-sharing and cross-marketing can be a great way to attract attention and build following to your other platform. Whenever you retweet the original author gets a notification, so by retweeting interesting information you can also have conversations with authorities in the field.
How frequently should you tweet?
Whereas on other social media you might easily become repetitive and get less attention after certain amount of posts per day. In his book Crushing It, Gary Vaynerchuk states that he easily tweets forty-seven times a day. There is also flexibility to post images, videos and text, so that your content has a good variety and allows you to increase the volume of your storytelling.
Researching trending topics on Twitter
You can start by tapping on the search icon on the mobile app. This will allow you to view all the trending topics in your location. Find the trending stories related to your field of expertise. If you write about technology, see what is trending. Then focus your content around these important events. You can easily record a video of you talking on the topic, or write is in a text post. Once you have done that, you can start researching other posts on your subject of interest and participating in these conversations. Replying to famous people, creating content in response to opinion-makers in the sphere are all tactics of getting the right attention for yourself.
Should I promote Twitter posts?
Investing in your brand by promoting posts is a good idea. Available only in the UK, USA and Japan the promoting post feature is similar to the Facebook “boost a post” which became really popular early 2016 and opened an avalanche of ad spending there. You can easily start by checking your post statistics. Then you see a big button “Reach a bigger audience” – from there you can easily set up monthly fixed price for promoting each of your posts. You can select whether to target by location or interests.
You can select up to five different interests which are quite generic and then for a flat fee, Twitter will boost all your tweets to the people interested in the topics you have chosen.
Twitter Ad Campaigns
If you would like to create a more specific campaign beyond pure awareness, Twitter has a variety of features which you can exploit. You can focus on particular Twitter account results you would like to achieve – followers, post engagements, general awareness. If you are promoting an app you can focus on app installs or app re-engagements(encouraging people who have installed the app to re-engage with it). For video content you can create promoted video posts which focus on just getting in front of as many people as possible in the feed.
Twitter video ads
Video advertising is one of my favourite topics, this is why I devoted multiple articles on it. Similar to YouTube and Facebook Watch ads you can have a pre-roll ad at premium Twitter video content. This means your ad will load before a popular video a user wants to watch on Twitter. The ad can be 15 or 30 seconds and users can skip it immediately. You are charged per view, where a view is counted only after 3 seconds.
Should you automate your Twitter activity?
If by far Twitter marketing sounds like a lot of work for you, you are not mistaken. The platform requires a lot of constant effort, but the effect could be quite rewarding. Being noticed on Twitter by a key figure in your field could be a career changer. Many times you would see automated profiles which simply repost every new post, regardless of the subject. These are spammy users which are trying to get attention to their profiles(often porn), but eventually this is not a sustainable strategy. You want to be seen as a curator and smart person who really knows her field inside out and automated posts and comments will make you look irrelevant and… spammer. This is why I would suggest utilising automation to get the right trends on your radar on time. In my next article I will show you a nerdy automation my boyfriend is working on which finds trendy topics and the conversations which are most worth your attention.
About me: I am an experienced digital marketing professional and a Googler. I have taught over 3000 people in online marketing, sales and PPC. Get my new book. I blog weekly and teach on Udemy with more than 2,700 students enrolled in my online course. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. Follow on Instagram and Twitter @odolena