Twitter Not Working For Your Business? Get The Format Right
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Wed, Jan 25, 2012
Twitter is a platform that a lot of business owners feel pressured to conquer, and it’s likely that you yourself have given in to that pressure in recent months and have made a stab at it. And why not? Everyone seems to be using it these days, and you can’t go 5 minutes on the news without a Twitter conversation being mentioned or public opinion trends being fished out of the Twitter machine. It’s an interesting platform to have a presence on- that much is true. But a lot of people start to notice that their hard work on Twitter does not seem to be paying off. Maybe the engagement isn’t as they had hoped or the followers are not building as expected. Traffic isn’t increasing to their site. So what’s wrong? Here are a few reasons Twitter might not be working for some businesses:
Stick to the 80/20 rule
The 80/20 rule is a guideline that helps keep followers interested while building more followers. It equates to having 80% related and relevant content within the feed and 20% to do with promoting the business. By keeping to this formula, users will be interested in your content and won’t get fed up of constant promotions. Reverse the rule to 20/80 and imagine how you would feel as a view of that twitter feed. You’d probably click “unfollow” pretty fast.
Links and Hashtags
It is vital to add links and hashtags to tweets because a) it makes them interactive, c) it makes them interesting and c) it’s a way to drive traffic to your other content- be it a blog, webinar, special offer, or landing page. Adding links means adding perceived value to a tweet, and Twitter users will remember that the feed is useful in the future.
It’s also a good idea for feed managers to add relevant hashtags to tweets. Hashtags mean that users can get involved in an ongoing conversation, or even make up a conversation of their own.
Don’t put up a wall
All Twitter users are created equal, and if using Twitter for a business, it’s a great idea to apply the same rules as you would apply to customer service, for example, don’t ignore any tweets, and always say thank you if someone retweets one of yours. Treat it like you would a customer service line.
Remember, Twitter is a fun place to have conversations and carry out marketing strategies. These tips may seem simple but they’ve been proven to work. Get that strategy fixed today!