After a period of skepticism, B2B marketers have finally embraced Twitter, with 85% reportedly tweeting in 2014. However, despite this high level of adoption, only about half are convinced of the social network’s effectiveness.
If you’re in the uncertain half, here are 2 key tactics to incorporate, and 2 to eliminate from your Twitter marketing strategy so you can tweet with confidence.
DO Make it Easy to Share Your Twitter Marketing Message
Limit the number of characters that you use in your tweets (yes, even less than 140), tag appropriate people/businesses, and use hashtags wisely so that the content of each tweet is working as hard as possible.
When someone retweets something that you’ve posted on Twitter, the service automatically adds “RT” and your Twitter handle, so be sure you’re allowing enough room for that to happen with your tweets.
Generally limiting your tweets to 120 characters, rather than the maximum 140 allowed, will allow for easy retweeting.
Tagging other Twitter users is another sharing opportunity that many people using Twitter for business often overlook. If you mentioned someone’s white paper, or responded to a customer’s review, make sure you find their Twitter handle and tag them with the “@” sign.
They’ll get a note that you mentioned them, and you can almost guarantee they’ll retweet it, and maybe start following you as well.
Finally, make sure you’re incorporating hashtags. These search-friendly terms are how many people find new content on Twitter; aim for 1-3 per tweet, but make sure they’re relevant (see “Don’t Tweet Everything” below) and not overly long. #everybodyhatestryingtodeciphersuperlonghashtags
DO Use Twitter to Keep Older Content in Rotation
Twitter moves very, very fast, and it’s easy for your followers to miss things that you’ve tweeted. It’s also easy for them to intend to read your fascinating content but to simply forget.
That’s where the #ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) hashtag comes in.
This hashtag is a clear sign to your followers that you know you’ve posted this content before, but you want to bring it to their attention again.
Reserve repeated tweets for really crucial content that you think will continue to add value and be of interest to your followers. If you use #ICYMI in every other tweet, it becomes clear very quickly that you don’t have much original to say.
Also, even if you’re reposting something, revise the text of your tweet; don’t just reuse an old one verbatim.
DON’T Tweet Everything
Although there’s a very diverse audience in the Twitterverse, when you’re using Twitter for business messaging you can’t be all things to all people. The best way to ensure you’ve got quality followers (and to keep them following you) is to be clear about the purpose of your account and keep it consistent with every tweet.
If people follow your company because they liked your clever comments about a current news story but then all you post for the next two weeks are recycled white papers, they will be disappointed and probably un-follow you.
Basically, decide what your social media marketing plan is for Twitter, and stick to it. This will make it clear what kind of content your followers can expect and keep your attrition rates low.
If you want to engage in heated political debate or try to get your hilarious cat comment retweeted by Jimmy Fallon, maybe take that on to your personal account.
Or maybe you want your company Twitter account so show your business’ lighter side. That’s generally a fine use of the network too, but if that’s the case you should avoid tweeting exclusively about “stuffy” business news for days on end.
DON’T Jump on Every Trending Hashtag
Yes, Twitter is geared toward up-to-the-second news and responses. But that doesn’t mean you need to use every single popular hashtag in every one of your tweets.
Marketers around the world looked on enviously as Oreo deftly took advantage of the power outage at the Super Bowl a few years ago, and we long to replicate that kind of success in our own Twitter marketing efforts.
But let’s be realistic: that was a unicorn if ever there was one. Mangling your marketing message to try and shove the most recent trending hashtag into every tweet doesn’t serve your brand, and it doesn’t serve your followers.
Instead aim for a good mix of your own timeless content and thoughtful responses to current popular topics that are relevant to both your brand message and your Twitter voice.
Conclusion
By adding just a few healthy Do’s and eliminating some unhealthy Don’ts you can serve up a healthy diet of valuable tweets to an ever-growing audience.
