Twitter: A How-To Guide For Brands

jolene.siow

With myriad social media platforms available to brands, how should marketers choose which ones to be a part of?

More importantly, how do you differentiate what you share on the different platforms?

Today’s post shares 10 essential, practical tips that you can use to get the most out of Twitter, and explains the dos and don’ts of Twitter best practice for brands.

Twitter For Brands
With 271 million global monthly active users, and 500 million tweets sent everyday, Twitter has the potential to elevate your brand and bridge the gap between you and your consumers:

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However, Twitter is a unique platform that focuses on conversation. It offers marketers a tool that they can use to engage people in direct, valuable, real-time conversations. It can be a compelling means to bringing your brand closer to people — if used wisely.

What is Twitter Success?
How would you define being successful on Twitter?

We feel that this success isn’t quantified by having a large following, but rather, the quality and level of engagement your brand has with your audience.

Just like in a real world context, the depth of your relationship matters more than the number of friends or acquaintances you have.

How To Use Twitter: 10 Dos & A Don’t
Our comprehensive new ‘How To’ guide to Twitter – embedded above as a complete SlideShare, but also available for free download here – offers a one-stop reference for making the best use of Twitter for brands.

The guide centres on We Are Social’s 10 Twitter Dos & A Don’t that bring you closer to the goal of creating genuine engagement and lasting relationships with your audiences.

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1: Know What You Want To Achieve
Instead of getting your brand on Twitter just because it seems like everyone else is on there, it’s best to determine why you feel your brand should use Twitter.

Do you want to use it to sell more products, to provide customer service by responding to queries and complaints, to foster relationships with your consumers, or to build your brand?

Defining and knowing your purpose is step one in planning your strategy.

Having that strategy in place enables you to make better and consistent decisions for future content, presenting a more cohesive brand to your audience.

It also prevents your Twitter account from becoming a dumping ground for random content pieces that only serve to confuse your audience.

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2: Get Your Basics Down Pat
Nothing screams noob like being an egg on Twitter. Complete your profile with an appropriate profile picture and cover photo.

It’s also important to have a snappy bio filled out; while these things may all seem small, they have a large impact on potential followers.

They also help people figure out who you are, what your brand stands for, and offer a peek into your brand personality – all at a glance.

Similarly, understanding how Twitter works is essential to knowing how to plan for content on it, and what better way to learn than to spend time on the platform?

Twitter has its own ecosystem of words and actions – learn the vocabulary and grammar that is commonly used on it.

When you are familiar with the inner workings of the platform, the content that you strategise for it then becomes more powerful and more likely to achieve your aims.

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3: Actively Listen To Your Audiences
A common mistake brands make is to speak without listening to their audiences.

With more brands making their presence felt on social media, actively listening to your audience puts you in a better position to speak to them in a way that makes them care and want to engage with you.

When you listen, it shouldn’t be merely about what people are saying about your brand though; listen to what they care about, because when you truly understand them, you can then better fulfil their needs, wants, and desires.

Listening is a powerful tool in its own right as well ­­– it will enable you to make more informed decisions when planning your broader brand strategy, and give you insight into your overall role in your audience’s life.

With data gathered from listening tools, keep in mind that relationships are built with people, not numbers on a spreadsheet. Focus on the human side of things, and aim for deeper bonds between your brand and the people you care about consumers.

Encourage loyalty and build brand love, instead of focusing on follows and retweets alone.

Read the Full Report
You’ll find the remaining 7 Dos and the critical Don’ts in the full report – continue reading it here.

Or, if you’d prefer to download a copy for yourself or your colleagues, simply click here.