Originally published on LeadUpMarketers.com on February 10, 2016 By Vladimir Nagin
Do you use Twitter for business? Hopefully the answer is yes because if you’re not then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Consumers and businesses go to Twitter to discover current news and trends, to share information instantly, and to connect with like-minded people and businesses. With more than half a billion active users, and nearly as many Tweets being sent each day, Twitter provides a great opportunity for any business to reach a global audience.
These charts on Twitter’s business page tell the rest of the story. And here is what you need to do to be a success on Twitter in 2016;
- Change your visual branding
With Twitter, it is possible to customize the colors and looks of your profile page. You already know how important it is to always use your branding colors. Brand colors allow people to easily identify your brand as soon as they land on your page.
Start by creating a custom Twitter background. Then, after creating the image file, upload it to your profile and while there, adjust the background and link colors to coordinate with the background image.
- Make the most of Twitter advertising
Anyone who is serious about making social media a key component of their marketing strategy will know that Twitter Ads can be an effective port of call. With millions of active daily users, Twitter Ads can help increase your brand reach and even help you generate leads. Something most people don’t know is that it is more cost efficient to advertise on Twitter than most other social media platforms, Facebook included.
- Win more lead conversions with a Twitter landing page
Most businesses use a link to drop off visitors to their web landing pages or to their blogs. There is no problem with that at all. However, you can now also create a special Twitter landing page that works exactly like a web landing page!
Twitter landing pages are special pages designed to introduce Twitter users to your business. A typical Twitter landing page includes; a personal message from you, details about your brand, products and services, how users can become customers, why they should follow you on Twitter, and the people behind your Twitter account.
- Connect with industry leaders
If you’re already following bloggers and press members, then you’re on the right track. Down the line, you will need them to cover your business products or services.
The next step is to connect with industry leaders. Industry leaders are individuals or groups of people with a strong reputation in the industry. These leaders typically have a lot of followers because they are the go-to persons in their industries. The goal should be to get them to share your content with their followers.
- Keep an eye on the competition with Twitter Analytics
Often, success in business is in part attributed to being in-the-know. If you know something that your competitor doesn’t, then you’re well ahead of the game. The same applies if you know everything about your competitor.
Using the Twitter Analytics tool, you can dig deep to learn more about not just your competition but also your consumers and prospects. Find out your competitor’s audience, their engagement rates, and what’s working for them. At the same time, find out find out what your prospects like by checking their connections.
- Use photos to add spark to your posts
People love pictures. If still don’t believe that, do a simple test. Post something with no picture (plain text) and then post the same thing and add a nice, relevant picture to match the post. Then wait and see how people respond. Most people won’t even recognize the picture-less post.
Pictures instantly create attention. The best part is that your pictures don’t have to be professional-quality. You can easily take a picture with your smartphone and use your Twitter app to upload. The trick is to post pictures that your audience can easily relate with.
- Be active; engage
It’s true that you cannot always be on Twitter; tweeting and retweeting. But something you can easily do is to respond and be part of the conversation. The best Twitter users know when to start conversations but are also comfortable when others start the conversations. They also know what to say, how to say it, and when to take conversations offline.
Summary
Ultimately, you need to give users a reason to follow you. Make yourself an authority on Twitter by breaking relevant industry news that matters to them. Then, respond promptly and get humorous from time to time. Twitter users will love you!
Written by
Vladimir Nagin
Entrepreneur | CEO | Inbound Marketing Expert | B2B Marketing