For better or worse, social media marketing is here to stay. The good news is that social media is like word of mouth marketing on steroids – every single follow, like or retweet is a customer (or potential customer) telling their friends that they value your business. And we’re not just talking about one or two friends either as the average twitter user has 208 followers which is a far cry from chatting about a business around the water cooler at the office.
So how can you increase your Twitter followers & engagement?
- Create a great profile
Make sure your Twitter account page is fun, looks great and is consistent with your branding. You want visitors to know at first glance who they are following, so incorporate your brand graphics into the header, background and profile picture.
- Connect with your current contacts
This might seem a little stalker-y but Twitter allows you connect with current contacts by matching your database of emails with their database of emails and showing you the ones that match. When you add a contact they’ll get a notification and will most likely look at your profile to see if they want to add you back.
- Promote your Twitter
Twitter is not one of those Field of Dreams things where you can just build it and they will come. You’ll need to add a follow button on your website, include it in your blog posts and emails, and print your twitter username on marketing collateral. The more people who know about the twitter account, the more followers you’ll get.
- Engage your followers
Be prepared to talk to your followers. Ask them open questions and respond to their comments about your brand or business. Engage in their lives by responding (appropriately) to their tweets. Be approachable and professional but don’t forget to have a little fun with it too.
- Search your industry
Use hashtags to search for other Twitter users in your industry, or to find inspiration from other small business owners. If you’re not sure where to begin simply checkout hashtags such as – #smallbiz and #marketingtips to get things started. You see just about any word you can think of can be turned into a hashtag – in fact – why not create one of your own?
