What is it about that little blue bird that has everyone so chirpy? Like it or not, Twitter has become a powerful communication tool that marketers cannot afford to ignore. To fully leverage this platform, however, requires some planning and attention to detail. The following steps will help you get started.

Get your information into the right hands

The fact that you have 10,000 followers doesn’t mean much. It’s not about quantity here, it’s about quality. Taking on the identity of your target market will help attract the right followers who are more likely to retweet pertinent information and draw others to your website.

Define your Twitter strategy

Refining your strategy will allow for a more effective allocation of resources. Twitter can serve many functions, so you have to be clear how you want to focus your efforts. It can be useful for customer service purposes, connecting with others (including customers, PR specialists, or the media), driving sales, and promoting other communication links such as your website or Facebook page, etc. Adding these links can also help with search engine optimization.

Learn the Lingo

You must learn Twitter speak to get the most out of your marketing strategy. Here’s how:

• Provide fresh links every morning to a few relevant sites and use #hashtags to call attention to your company
• Host regular blog chats where team members relay helpful, interesting information for your customers (make sure these are hashtagged also so they come up in a search query). The goal is to draw influential people who will retweet your info and call attention back to your page.
• Tie your Twitter handle (username) to your website –any opportunity to promote your website should be accompanied by links to your Twitter account and vice versa
• Call attention to others who retweet and further your brand with the #Follow Fridays (#FF) designation. It’s a good way to reciprocate exposure.

Measure Results

A key part of any marketing strategy is measuring results. A few ways of measuring success are:

• Exposure from tweets and retweets
• New followers of the brand and new tweeters you are following
• Click through rates from the Twitter account to the brand’s website
• How often your brand is being mentioned or receiving recognition from others via lists, discussions, etc.

Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions understands how to maximize social media marketing. If you want to take advantage of this powerful tool but aren’t sure how, contact us today