It’s no surprise that small businesses are following suit by marketing their products and services on Twitter. Twitter makes it so easy for small businesses to update their customers on upcoming events, sales, promotions, and new merchandise. However, there’s a huge difference between simply having a presence on Twitter and using to effectively market your business. Twitter has already been flooded with a lot of noise, so it’s tougher and tougher to stand out be heard amongst all of the noise and bull crap that is on Twitter. Here are a few strategies to help you market effectlvely on Twitter.
Make use of hash tags
When running a giveaway or a contest on Twitter as part of a marketing strategy for a client, I almost always incorporate a hash tag that I made up. First of all, it’s much easier to track participants of the contest/giveaway, and it easily allows Twitter users filter out the noise from what they want to read. For instance, I ran a contest on the popular Mac blog, Cult of Mac, and to enter the giveaway the readers had to tweet or re-tweet a certain phrase with the hash tag #cultofmac.
Prompt customers to participate
Don’t just give something away on Twitter to the first person that responds to you. Make them for it a little bit. If it’s a giveaway, make followers post a photo on Twitter or answer a question as their entry. If it’s a contest, make it somethig that could go viral like a short video or photo contest.
Host a Twitter Chat
A great way to make use of hash tags on Twitter is to host a Twitter chat. A great example of this is #greenchat and #bp. I started Green Chat for RezHub.comfor people to join in on green living and travel discussion on Twitter. Craig Kessler from Budget Pulse knew that the personal finance community was huge on Twitter, so he stated a Twitter chat about personal finance. So, on Wednesday nights at 7pm if you follow the hash tag #bp, you’ll see a running conversation from people around Twitter talking about personal finance. It’s great for spreading brand awareness and becoming an authority in your industry.
Don’t spam followers
Use the 4 to 1 rule. For every 1 marketing tweet you send out, make sure you send out 4 more tweets that are relational or conversational. If your Twitter account looks just like a billboard or newsletter about what’s going on at your business with no conversation or interaction happening, followers will get annoyed and bored by your Twitter account.
If you have questions about Twitter Marketing and wonder if it’s right for your business, please visit my company’s website, Presence Media Group. You can check out our portfolio and contact us with your company’s info and your marketing needs.
