Twitter Marketing Tips: Tweets you Should and Shouldn’t Share

Twitter marketing is increasing in popularity, and for a good reason.  With 11 Twitter accounts being created every single second and over 465 million Twitter accounts currently being in existence (The Social Skinny, 2012), the time to learn some Twitter marketing tips get your campaign up and running is NOW.

A lot of our clients come to us and say, “But I have a Twitter account and it’s getting me nowhere!”  There’s a good chance that you’re one of the many companies out there who just aren’t sharing the right tweets. A MarketingProfs study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Tech and MIT which involved 1443 Twitter users pouring over tweets for 19 days revealed the following:

• They found only 36% of the tweets to be worth reading

• 39% are ranked as being “mediocre”

• 25% aren’t even worth reading at all

Here’s a break down of which types of messages were most worth reading down to those of the least importance:

• Random Thoughts and Self-Promotion (36%)

• Questions to followers (35%)

• Information sharing (33%)

• Opinions and Complaints (30%)

• “Me Now” (28%)

• Conversations (24%)

• Presence Maintenance (20%)

This isn’t to say that, for example, you shouldn’t be having conversations on Twitter – you should and need to be, as we talk about in our free download “Social Media Tune Up”. But if that’s all that you’re doing, then you have to change up your Twitter marketing game plan.

The good news is that even though Twitter topics like “Me Now” and conversations are ranked pretty low, you can still spin these to work to your advantage. Here’s how:

Include Links to Your Content

Here’s an example of a “bad” tweet:

Work’s dragging today, wish I had a way to make it go faster!

To which most people will shrug and say, “Who cares?”  Sure, maybe they can relate to you, but you’re not really offering them anything.  So… why not offer them a solution too?

Work’s dragging today, fortunately I think I found the right tool to make it easier @ (put link here)

Ask the Right Questions…

Where Twitter marketing will really become an asset to you and your company is when it comes to soliciting feedback.  Asking questions on Twitter means that:

1. You’re interacting with your followers; and

1. You’re obtaining valuable, FREE advice

Asking your followers questions will engage them, make them care about your company, and give you some invaluable insight into your company.

…And Answer Questions Too

Whether a question is directed at you specifically or not, you need to take the time to answer questions.  Regularly monitor your social media accounts so you can see who’s talking about you and who may be waiting for an answer.  Answering question is not only polite, but it will help cement your position as an industry leader and professional.  The more helpful you are, the more people will keep tabs on your Twitter account and your other online sites (i.e. website, blogs, etc.).

Promote your Offers

You saw the poll results.  Contrary to what a lot of company owners believe, people on Twitter really don’t mind self promotion.  In fact, they prefer it to most other types of communication!  People like being kept “in the know” about your company, so by all means keep everyone in the loop.  You should be promoting things like:

• Events

• Offers

• Coupons

• New content

Change up your promotions and content that you offer frequently so as to continually nurture current leads and gain new ones.  This may mean pumping out a new white paper or Ebook every week or month, but it’ll be well worth it when it comes to increasing traffic and leads.

Share Data

One of the most frequently retweeted “topics” out there is any that involve the inclusion of some sort of data or research.  Saying that “50% of women do THIS” or “only 3% of people realize that…” will get a lot of attention and will more likely be shared than simply saying, “Most women do THIS” or “Hardly anyone knows that”.  Using real data and research that you can cite and somehow link back to a blog post or article you’ve written will definitely work in your favor.

Key Takeaways:

If you want to get the most out of your account, you should:

• Always include links to your content

• Ask and answer questions

• Promote any events, offers, or deals

• Share statistical information

Need More Twitter Marketing Tips?

Interested in learning more about optimizing your Twitter marketing? Give us a call at IMPACT and learn how we can help!