Using Twitter Effectively

Your organization may have been considering using Twitter as a social media platform, or perhaps you are already doing so. We want to help you use it right.

Twitter is one of the premier “real-time” online social networking sites, that connects users via microblogs, or Tweets – text messages limited to 140 characters. When you participate on Twitter, you will be able to send messages instantly to potentially millions of people (your followers) and to read the messages of those you follow.

Twitter users see the Tweets of those whom they follow as they are posted to the internet. Additionally, users can select a particular account they follow and read all of the Tweets from that account in time order, from most to least recent. They can also search the “Twitter-sphere” by selecting keywords or hashtags (see more below) in order to focus on a specific topic or stream of messages.

If your organization is using Twitter now, or if you are just trying to evaluate Twitter as a tool in your social media/marketing toolbox, here are a few good tips that you should try to follow.

1. Choose a good Twitter name/handle: Sure, it’s great to use your organization name, but you can also be creative when you set up your organizational Twitter account. BrownCountyChildrensHome will tie your Twitter account to your business name, but you might get more people to find and follow you if you pick WeCareAboutKids instead.
2. Follow a lot of people: By choosing to follow many accounts, you can accomplish several goals. First, you will gain a lot of information by reading the Tweets that come into your Twitter board. Second, you will begin to develop a feel for what type or format of Tweets are most interesting, and emulate the experts. Third, you will find that a fair number of accounts that you choose to follow will follow you back, increasing the possibility of exposure for your messages once you begin Tweeting.
3. Pay attention to the character limitations: As noted, a Tweet is limited to 140 characters, including spaces. For reference, the previous sentence has 65 characters. Most experts recommend that you keep your Tweets even shorter, perhaps 120 – 125 characters, in case someone decides to “Re-Tweet” your comment. That way your Tweet will not be cut off prematurely.
4. Re-Tweet Shamelessly: Speaking of re-Tweeting – the process of passing a good Tweet from someone else via your account – consider doing this liberally. Sharing information is what the Internet and Twitter is all about. It’s karmic to re-Tweet. When possible, add your own brief comment to make the re-Tweet consistent with your brand and mission. Similarly, choosing to “favorite” a Tweet also brings it to the attention of your own network. Both re-Tweets and favorites are also reported back to the original poster, bringing your user account to their attention.
5. Be professional: A business Twitter account should be reserved for business Tweets. If you want to talk about your kids, or your lunch, or your political or religious beliefs, create a personal account. (Obviously this does not apply if your organization has a political or religious mission)
6. Follow this TIP: Teach, Inform, Promote, but in the proper proportions. Tweets that Teach the reader something new should comprise about 60 percent of your content. Your followers want to feel they are learning from following you. Informing followers of events, activities or other specifics about your organization should take up another 30 percent, and active Promotion of your services or products should be limited to no more that 10 percent of all of your Tweets. No one wants to read sales pitches over and over, and engaging in the practice too often will get you a lot of follower dropout.
7. Use Hashtags wisely: The hashtag is a valuable feature of Twitter, allowing you to use the pound or hash sign to draw attention to a term (e.g. #TwitterTips) in your message. Hashtags are often also used when you are involved in a real-time online Twitter discussion (#SuperBowl2014). The Twitter search feature has become strong enough that hashtags are not as important as they once were, and excessive use of hashtags will brand you as uninformed and non-professional.
8. Tweet often, but not in bunches: Your messages will be noticed more often and have more impact, if you Tweet frequently. Your own resources and availability may have a bearing on frequency, but less than once every couple of days is probably too little, and more than 6 or 8 Tweets a day might be excessive. Similarly – unless you are participating in a Tweetathon or other type of real-time discussion over Twitter – spread your messages out over time.
9. Pick the right times: Speaking of timing, the time of day can be crucial to readership. If most of your followers are local, tweeting at 2 AM is probably not a good idea. Generally you will get the most readership if you Tweet in the mid-day (of your readers’ time zones) between 10 AM and 2 PM, and in the middle of the evening (7 to 10 PM). As your reach increases, you may find your audience stretches across the world, this factor may be less relevant.
10. Respond to followers: When someone favorites or re-tweets a message you have posted, be sure to send them a thank you note. This will strengthen your online network, and improve the chances for future favoring or re-tweeting.
11. Integrate your Twitter activity into your Social Media Strategy: When appropriate, link your Tweets to your company web page, particularly to specific landing points on your pages that are relevant to a given Tweet. Make sure that your other Social Media, including your web page, has an easy link (“follow us on Twitter”) to your Twitter account. Consider putting a Twitter link in the “signature” section of your corporate emails.
12. Monitor your organization’s presence in the Twittersphere: Use the search feature on Twitter to look for mentions, both favorable or not, on Twitter. Know what people are saying about you on this powerful platform.

Certainly, we could go on and on with tips about using Twitter well; hopefully these dozen ideas will be helpful as you begin or strengthen your company’s Twitter presence. There are a lot of additional resources available on the Internet, and we recommend doing additional research. Twitter can be an extremely valuable tool for brand awareness, loyalty, and even marketing, when it is used effectively.

Innovaision, LLC  is able to help organizations develop all phases of Social Media Strategy. Please Contact Us if you would like more information of how we can help your business succeed.