Success on social media is never overnight. Thatโs why you never read headlines like, โbroke man made $2 million off of his new Twitter account in one day.โ But you do gather exciting news such as Bufferโs Product Marketer, Alfred Lua, having secured his job via Twitter.
So why is the first headline a title from la-la land, but Alfredโs job news a reality?
The real factor that differentiates between the two is the time invested in the social network.
In fact, active presence and time invested are the two most important factors that determine your success on Twitter, a platform of 300 million users.
The three tips that this post shares for helping you maximize your ROI from Twitter are based on these two factors.
So letโs get started. Drum rolls, please! ๐ฅ
Table of Contents
1. Engage with your audience in the best way possible
Your Twitter is up and running for a few days. Or letโs make another assumption here, itโs been up for years but itโs only gathering dust.
What now?
File yourself under the I-hate-Twitter-category and pronounce it dead. Simple.
Not so fast, there.
Your Twitter profile isnโt sparking any interest for a simple reason โ you arenโt actively engaging with your target audience.
Thereโs always a right way to use a social media scheduler.
But simply adding generic posts in a social media scheduler and letting it publish on your profile isnโt the key. In fact, this is the very recipe for failure on Twitter or any other social network for that matter.
To get the most from Twitter, you need to try a different approach starting with:
Show up daily or, at least, regularly
Showing up once in a blue moon is no way to make friends. Would your friends like it if you didnโt show up for a drink? Theyโll call you once, twice, thrice. Until one day, theyโll stop.
Or, in a parallel universe, you wouldnโt have any friends if you remained absent for days on end.
The solution? Show up.
The research concludes that your prospects need to interact with you at least 7 times before they purchase from you.
Thatโs SEVEN, not once or twice or even thrice.
Naturally, such interactions are only possible when you use the app regularly, engaging and sharing valuable content (more on that in a bit).
Leave comments on othersโ content
This could be your followersโ content or anyone elseโs. The point is to leave a thoughtful comment or strike up a conversation.
To this end, pay attention to what others are saying.
Listen. Listen very carefully. Because listening is what is going to help you leave a comment that leaves a memorable impression on the readers.
And, remember, a plain, boring comment wonโt cut it, even if itโs a compliment. This is because viewers can instantly tell youโre leaving template-based comments, which isnโt very heart-winning, to be honest.
Try something like this instead:
The complete thread from Suhail can be found below:
Note what Bryce does here:
โ He first asks a question, which gets the tweeter to reply
โ Next, he leaves his opinion
And BOOM โ the attention is all his (60 people liking his response).
As you engage with your readers, your replies will leave more impressions.
Think of it like this, when Bryce shows up regularly in peopleโs feed โ twitter folks will not only start to know him but also view him as an authoritative person.
Participate in Twitter chats
When I first joined Twitter, I came across pretty mediocre tips for using Twitter for my business.
Most pieces out there chanted the same mantra, โengage, engage, engage.โ But thatโs all. No solid explanation. Common sense told me to make friends and talk to them.
An essential element that was missing though was Twitter chats โ the frank online communities by the water cooler. In fact, these chats bring together wonderful communities without borders. Or, CWB as I like to call it.
โA Twitter chat is a conversation between people who gather around a specific time, to talk about a specific topic, using a specific hashtag,โ as Sharanya defines them.
For example, G2 hosts a #G2Firesidechat on Thursdays every fortnight at 10 a.m. CST.
Jump in and youโll make lots of friends if youโre in the marketing industry. Or, look for other chats relevant to your line of work if you arenโt a marketer.
Some golden tips to engage in Twitter chats:
โ Answer questions with insightful answers, sharing your experience and what youโve learned.
โ Read othersโ answers and respond to them.
โ Interact will people you talked to after the chat too.
Hereโs an example:
2. Only share what is valuable to your audience
The content you share on Twitter plays a critical role in driving your engagement levels further.
You canโt expect people to visit your profile if thereโs anything of value on your account.
Itโs like building a mall with no to a limited number of shops in it. No one will come to such a place.
Therefore, what you share counts. But thereโs a second part to this too โ only share whatโs relevant to your brand and audience.
For instance, you canโt share a sales eBook if youโre selling baked goods. But you can definitely share a recipe for baking the best Napoleon chocolate cake.
So, letโs get this straight, you need to share content that is:
- Relevant to your business
- Offers value to your audience
- Presents some unique takeaways
Now that you get the idea, know that youโve two ways moving forward:
โ Create relevant content and
โ Curate valuable content
But hereโs the thing, both the steps go hand-in-hand.
If you share your content only, you risk appearing as a self-centered tweeter.
Letโs assume youโre offering awesome value in each of these original tweets (the how part of this is addressed in the next section) and getting good engagement.
But do you think youโll always have enough time to create all this original content?
Enter curated content.
This type of content not only helps you save time but assists you in building relationships across your industry (hint: hey, thanks for sharing my content and adding your thoughts to it. Now Iโll share yours โ as the rule of reciprocity works).
Plus, you learn a lot as curation keeps your reading list warm.
However, make sure you donโt just copy the headline of the article youโre going to share. Instead, read it thoroughly so you can caption it adequately.
Note how to exhibit A and B differ from each other:
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
In Exhibit A, the person behind the Twitter handle shares the news in a pretty boring manner. Thatโs all.
Exhibit B, however, shows that thereโs real work that has gone behind the scenes. The one behind the handle has read, shared his opinion, and credited (by tagging) the relevant person too.
No wonder, itโs getting more hits than the other example.
In addition to adding your opinion, you can share curated content (content that you share from others) in the following ways:
- Share key takeaways
- Use the subheading of the post as pointers in your caption
- Pick a quote from the article and tweet it
Now that curation is out of the way, letโs talk about creating content specifically for your Twitter account.
3. Write attention-grabbing, engaging tweets
Sharing too much-curated content shows you off as a lazy person even if youโre captioning the content properly.
All your efforts will only send viewers to other sites.
So didnโt you just lose sight of your chief marketing goal here? Spreading awareness about your business and so on…
To attain a balance, start creating content.
You donโt necessarily need to share long-form blog posts. Instead, write engaging tweets.
These could be:
๐ A backstage look at your business
๐ Your achievements for the day/week/month
๐ Valuable lessons youโve learned from your business or a new book youโve just finished
๐ Plans for the next year (considering weโre only a month shy of 2020. Where did time go? ๐ฑ)
๐ A life or business update
๐ Social proof
๐ A fun insider joke
๐ A poll
Be sure you share each of these without fluff, redundancy (repetition), and in the most engaging manner. Wondering how to write the perfect tweet?
Let me share what Iโve learned below:
Be relatable
The more your audience can relate with you, the more theyโll/โd engage with you. Itโs as simple as that.
A case in point is Gareth over at That Content Shed with a follower pool of freelance writers:
Ask a question or add a CTA
The goal is to tell the reader what you expect from him/her.
For instance, if you ask your viewer a question, heโs more bound to comment on your tweet than otherwise.
You can go about asking a question for a questionโs sake or a question after some context. Hereโs an example:
Share a little bit of vulnerability/Itโs okay to be vulnerable
Keeps you authentic. It truly does since running a business isnโt a bed of roses. But be sure to not overdo it.
And, donโt use this emoji ๐ง with it specifically (and no, thereโs no study claiming that โ Itโs just plain aversive).
Add visuals
Bufferโs investigation on adding images to tweets confirms that tweets with images show a 35% spike in retweets and 18% more clicks than those without images.
Before you go about adding any image though, make sure itโs high-quality and relevant.
In addition to pictures, you can share memes, GIFs, and even a plain graphic such as this:
Or, tap into the video:
Donโt focus on โIโ but โweโ
The point is to talk to your audience, which is the golden rule for success on any social media network.
Therefore, your message should be intended toward making conversation and sharing the โweโre in it togetherโ message.
Besides, emphasizing on โIโ instead of โweโ shows you off as self-centered, which isnโt a very likable trait.
Get straight to the point (donโt aim for novels)
While Twitterโs 280 character limit doesnโt leave you with any other choice, itโs imperative to point out that interesting tweets are punchy by nature.
Get straight to the meat of the matter. If your message is important and needs more words, then make some space by shortening the link youโre adding using Bit.ly or Replug as shown below:
Need more space? Write a thread like Alex here:
Wrapping it up
Initially, it can be hard to attract the right audience to your Twitter profile. However, sticking by/with these tips, engaging, sharing valuable content, and putting the time in writing interesting tweets is sure to help you ace your Twitter game.
Which of these tips did you find the most helpful? Have more tips? Share below.
Featured image source: Freepik
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