Today we are taking a look at #2 on the list of The Big 6 of social media - Twitter. While this can be an extensive topic, below are some highlights. If you have any questions or how it relates to you specifically, please don't hesitate to contact your marketing specialist.
A brief overview: Twitter was founded 11 years ago, in March of 2006. As of January there are 317 million active users monthly, and 500 million tweets sent per day. Pros vs Cons: Pros: 1. Twitter doesn't require engagement for posts to be seen, so 100% of your followers will have your message on their wall. 2. Twitter only allows 140 characters per post so creating content shouldn't take a long time. 3. It's a great way to target younger demographics. 4. It is easier to extend your reach (compared to Facebook) if people retweet your posts. Cons: 1. With no algorithm in place, if a follower is also following hundreds of other people/businesses, your post is more likely to get buried. 2. The expectations are often set too high when using this platform. The goal for a new business should be to build a niche community with personal expertise and then use that as a foundation to keep building. Typical Users: - 37% of Twitter users are between 18 - 29 and 25% are 30-49 years old. - On average, Twitter users are more likely to be male than female. - 80% of Twitter users are on mobile devices. Strategies: - If your account looks fake or your content seems insincere, then your brand reputation could be quickly destroyed. Tell your own story in an authentic way and avoid trying sell things all the time. - Use hashtags and images with your tweets, and post no more than 4 tweets per day. - If you have time, interacting with your followers will lead to making your business successful on Twitter. Misconceptions: - Hashtags are just some weird trend for teens. Hashtags are here to stay folks. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a hashtag does - they are words and phrases used to identify the topic of main keywords of a message. An example for this blog could be #Marketing101 or #TwitterDiscussion. These then create links that, when clicked, will bring up every public post tagged with the same hashtag. By using these, you can follow current trends, connect with people who share interest in the topic, and even create a unique hashtag to track and analyze your followers and people talking about your business. Measuring Results: - Twitter offers a business analytics dashboard which offers a breakdown of statistics and engagement of each of your posts. Metrics included are; impressions, likes, link clicks, profile clicks, retweets, hashtag clicks, replies, and more. Using these metrics, you can find out what are your followers' favorite topics and spend more time on them.