7 rules to effectively grow your Twitter followers
Submitted By:
Melinda Smith
Digital Whiskers Inc
Melinda Smith
Digital Whiskers Inc
To build an engaging social media account, you need to know who you are talking to. Take some time to identify who your audience is and how they consume social media. For instance, people aged 15 - 25 years old and people between 35 - 50 years old don’t use Twitter the same way. Similarly, the occupation of your audience will also play a role in the way they consume social content. For instance, professionals will be on Twitter during the day while Gen Z consumes content during lunch breaks and in the evening. Therefore, identifying your audience’s interests and digital consumption will help you target them effectively.
1. Define your brand identity
Knowing your brand identity is essential. These are the values you want to communicate through your Twitter accounts. For instance, Lush is built around a natural, hand-made and sustainable brand identity. You can see that in their products, stores and channels of communication. Select two or three values and build your social content around them.
2. Post every day and consistently
If there’s one word to keep in mind, it's consistency. By posting every day at the same time, you will create a loyal audience that will wait every day for your amazing posts to come out. Brand loyalty is exactly what any marketer should aim for and social media is a great tool with which to achieve it. Build a posting schedule so that you are sure to have at least one prepared and engaging post every day. Of course, the more, the better.
3. Use relevant hashtags
This goes hand-in-hand in with the previous point. Every day of the week, there is a particular hashtag: Monday is #MondayMotivation; Tuesday is #TuesdayTips etc. Match your brand values with those trendy hashtags to broaden your audience and optimize your posts.
You could also create your own hashtag(s) – especially during social media campaigns - so that people have other ways to recognize your brand.
4.Social Media competitions
Everyone likes winning free items from their favorite brands. Social media competitions are a great way to retain your audience's attention by offering them free items in exchange for a Tweet including your brand's hashtag and Twitter handle, like in the gaming provider PokerStars' competition or like travel website Expedia are regularly doing. Usually, those competition ask followers to tweet a set hashtag and/or the Twitter handle in exchange for a prize. The winner is randomly selected. It’s great to engage with your audience (as it encourages them to stay alert to your tweets) and it moves optimise your account on Twitter because many users use your hashtag/handle.
5. Post visual content
Tweets without visuals never perform well. When scrolling down your Twitter feed, your post will compete with thousands of other brands, media and users. Therefore, a visual post is the best way to grab your consumers’ attention. Visuals can be videos, photos, GIFs, motivational quotes or even infographics. Make sure your posts are relevant to your audience and communicate the key values behind your brand.
1. Define your brand identity
Knowing your brand identity is essential. These are the values you want to communicate through your Twitter accounts. For instance, Lush is built around a natural, hand-made and sustainable brand identity. You can see that in their products, stores and channels of communication. Select two or three values and build your social content around them.
2. Post every day and consistently
If there’s one word to keep in mind, it's consistency. By posting every day at the same time, you will create a loyal audience that will wait every day for your amazing posts to come out. Brand loyalty is exactly what any marketer should aim for and social media is a great tool with which to achieve it. Build a posting schedule so that you are sure to have at least one prepared and engaging post every day. Of course, the more, the better.
3. Use relevant hashtags
This goes hand-in-hand in with the previous point. Every day of the week, there is a particular hashtag: Monday is #MondayMotivation; Tuesday is #TuesdayTips etc. Match your brand values with those trendy hashtags to broaden your audience and optimize your posts.
You could also create your own hashtag(s) – especially during social media campaigns - so that people have other ways to recognize your brand.
4.Social Media competitions
Everyone likes winning free items from their favorite brands. Social media competitions are a great way to retain your audience's attention by offering them free items in exchange for a Tweet including your brand's hashtag and Twitter handle, like in the gaming provider PokerStars' competition or like travel website Expedia are regularly doing. Usually, those competition ask followers to tweet a set hashtag and/or the Twitter handle in exchange for a prize. The winner is randomly selected. It’s great to engage with your audience (as it encourages them to stay alert to your tweets) and it moves optimise your account on Twitter because many users use your hashtag/handle.
5. Post visual content
Tweets without visuals never perform well. When scrolling down your Twitter feed, your post will compete with thousands of other brands, media and users. Therefore, a visual post is the best way to grab your consumers’ attention. Visuals can be videos, photos, GIFs, motivational quotes or even infographics. Make sure your posts are relevant to your audience and communicate the key values behind your brand.
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6. Look at your statistics If you are trying to widen your audience, you are probably managing other social media channels too. Social media management platforms like Hootsuite or SproutSocial will help you plan your posts throughout the week. They will also provide you with analytics to know which one of your posts did great and which ones did not. If you are looking for a free and Twitter-specific management tool, you can use Tweetdeck. By doing weekly and monthly analyses of your posts (and by adapting your strategy accordingly), you will build more relevant content for your audience. 7. Engage with your Twitter-users That obviously applies to your followers. Your customers will comment, like and retweet your post, so don’t hesitate to message them directly to thank them or answer their comments. If you can, install an automatic reply for your new followers. On social media, it’s easy to feel lost in the crowd of users, so receiving a private message is a great strategy to make them feel special. Plus, they will remember your brand. You could also talk to influencers and brands that share similar values; brand partnerships are great to boost your audience and expand your networks in the retail industry. |
With time and practice, you will learn what works and doesn’t work for your audience and your brand. Being truthful to your audience and consistent posting will give a great reputation to your Twitter account and significantly grow your audience.
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