Almost since the new millennium hit, social media’s been all the rage. One of the channels with the most Klout is (no surprise) Twitter.
Once you’ve become active on Twitter, you’ve chosen to expose yourself to millions. Your posts becomes searchable and your content, more discoverable. For businesses like yours, this HOPEFULLY is a big plus.
But what can you do to optimize your content?
With a user count in the millions, it’s doubtful your daily tweets will consistently rank top priority to Twitter servers and searchers. However, catching onto current trends or creating your own, all via hashtags could make all the difference for your marketing.
a new day, a new topic
The term “15 minutes of fame” exists for a reason. Every hour, every day, every week, every month there will be some new topic, story or character catching your target audience’s main attention. To stay on their minds, you’ve got to stay on topic – or at least create your own that’s so provocative and enticing that they cannot stray away to competitor conversation streams. Using hashtags or a hashtag campaign is a great way to do this. Get to know the who, what, when, where, why and how of hashtags and you’re only an action step away from the forefront of your customers’ consciousness.
the re-emergence of the 5 “w”s and that one “h”
Any great marketer worth their salt knows the five “w”s and one “h” of journalism: who, what, when, where, why and how.
To be effective on Twitter, you’ve got to understand how each applies to your business and the end marketing results you are hoping to achieve:
- Who? – Your company, or someone that understands your brand very well, needs to be on Twitter constantly keeping abreast of trends and predicting ones to come. Stay on top of conversation and know how or if that conversation is relevant to your brand. With a strong core foundation of knowledge your Twitter monitor can direct you toward the right time to tweet the right hashtags and at whom.
- What? – What is a hashtag? Only a phrase, with no spaces in between and with a “#” sign in front. For example, #esdresults or #writing. What should you tweet about? Those topics that contribute to the construction of your overall brand culture. Look for what’s trending and catch onto the conversation. Either that or create your own trend movement through an integrated marketing effort structured to drive customer potentials through your Twitter funnel, straight to your brand’s website or other action path.
- When? – Whenever you can is the answer to this question. Twitter conversation is ongoing. Tweets refresh themselves multiple times a day and new personalities and businesses enter and reenter the conversation
- Where? – On Twitter. Of course.
- Why? – Millions are already tweeting. Many look to the social media network for deals, world news or great ideas. Why should you miss out on what so many already know? Twitter gets leads to look at your brand and gains visibility for your brand name and services.
- How? – Research what trends within your target market. What trends with who you want to reach? Informative articles? Humor? Photographs? Figure out what message will resonate with your audience and deliver it in a way they will connect with, enjoy and retweet without reluctance.
get the concept and get results
Once you understand how to use, monitor and interact on Twitter you can get the best results from it for YOUR business. Study the network carefully and ensure you can fully answer the basic questions of your brand’s social media personality. Only then can you get the followers you want, the followers you need and the individuals who will further your brand from this moment on and into the future.