How to Squeeze All You Can From Twitter

Img Credit: Dr.Sharon Pruitt

Twitter is humongous and is still growing. At its last count, Irfan Ahmed of Social Media Today pointed out that there are now 231.7 million active users on Twitter and at least 100 million of them log into Twitter daily. Only 52.7 million of these users are in the U.S. Every second, we have about 5000 tweets and at least 3 million websites integrate with Twitter.

According to Hollis Thomases (@hollisthomases) who also wrote the book Twitter Marketing: An hour a Day, we now have everyone on Twitter: from celebrities to experts; evangelists to content producers; businesses to non-profits; and moms to power users.

Yet, all is not well for thousands of small businesses trying to make their presence count on Twitter. So, here’s exactly what you should be doing to make sure that your presence — apart from the time, effort, and resources that you’ll spend – really works for you:

Appease others

Everyone loves attention. We are human, after all. So, why not give it to them? We did learn that it’s always nice to make someone else’s day, and if all it takes is a Tweet, why not do it? Dig into your list of followers and give out praise.

Just like that.

Don’t bother if you don’t get any reactions, thanks, or if no one reciprocates. Just do it for the sake of doing it. Here’s how you can shower praise or maybe just make mentions about your followers:

Exciting: @nawazcharania is launching @appath_ — an app that changes the way you do #ecommerce. Please RT^

— Ash (@fetchprofits) December 19, 2013

Dang, it just gets better : New discovery: Use @SocedoApp to help you find #leads from #socialmedia

— Ash (@fetchprofits) December 19, 2013

Give insights

With all that content stretching into reams of text, sometimes little 140-character insights are a welcome addition to the rushed and tight space in your followers’ twitter streams.

Cut down on the words and give insights, one tweet at a time. Of course, keep it relevant to your niche and make every “#twinsight” count. Further, be sure to give credits when due.

Here are a few examples:

Over 60% of #smallbusinesses declared that they see ROI from #emailmarketing via @MarketingSherpa

— Ash (@fetchprofits) January 1, 2014

There are no tricks and magic unicorns for #marketing. Either hustle to survive or drown. #twinsights

— Ash (@fetchprofits) December 30, 2013

Go visual

Use visuals, vectors, graphics, and photos for at least 40% of your Tweets. It’s not going to be easy, it’d demand a change in the way you update your Twitter account, and it’ll call for extra effort on your part.

This would probably bring down the volume of your Tweets, and that’s a good thing because you’ll be forced to focus on the quality of your Tweets rather than the quantity. The folks at Twitter recommend you do this.

Belle Beth Cooper of Buffer reports that using images in Tweets boosted their engagement rates by 18%.

Fire up your graphics solution (Adobe Photoshop, Gimp, or Sumo Paint) and create graphics quickly that are relevant to your Tweets.

When you do, they’ll look like this:

#marketingquotes with thanks from @businessinsider #inboundmarketing pic.twitter.com/Ct3Ndo4sN8

— Ash (@fetchprofits) December 26, 2013

Conversations last longer than just Tweets

Frederic Lardinois of Readwrite.com notes that after analyzing billions of tweets, a team from Sysomos found that only 29% of tweets ever get a reaction. Only 6% of these tweets are Retweeted within the first hour of the tweet going live.

If you’ve been spending an hour everyday on Twitter just sharing your content, others’ content, and re-tweeting others’ content, plan to spend another hour for getting into conversations. The best way to make your tweets live for more their designated lifetime is to get into conversations.

Get into conversations, nimble and smooth. Leave your comments, post your reaction, contribute with your insights, and give away your valuable suggestions. Don’t be afraid to say what you want to. Most conversations start with (#) hash tags and here are a few resources to help you delve into the world of hashtag-triggered conversations on Twitter:

Hashtags.org

Tagdef

WhatTheTrend

Make use of Twitter’s ecosystem

Twitter, thankfully, has its own ecosystem of tools and directories for you to make use of. From Twitter analytics to Twitter directories, you have everything you need to automate, semi-automate, or just make your job easier. Start with any of the directories below:

Twitterholic

FollowerWonk

Connect.Me

LocalTweeps

TweetFind

ExecTweets

Wefollow

Twellow

If you love content curation, you may also curate content and semi-automate updates using Tweeted Times and Paper.li. Other platforms such as Scoop.it also allow for Twitter sharing.

Many other tools are available for social analytics, social trends, and social signals. If you’d like to manage your Twitter account (along with other social media accounts), you could use HootSuite, Social Oomph, SendSocialMedia, Sendible, and Buffer for Business.

How are you using your Twitter account? Share some of your tips with us.

Img Credit: Dr. Sharon Pruitt

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/twitter/squeeze-can-twitter-0728484?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=squeeze-can-twitter