Marketers use Twitter to promote their brand/event, take customer feedback and suggestions and naturally converse with their followers. The goal of your business could be to drive sales, increase awareness about your brand or a social cause, subscription etc. Twitter helps you to achieve everything what you desire, provided you follow a thought-out Twitter strategy.
Random tweets here and there are harmful for your brand & your customers are unlikely to take you seriously. To sustain your Twitter image for a long time, you need to work consistently towards it. There are a number of simple techniques that simplify your Twitter agenda. This article will highlight the ten most common techniques used by businesses to drive more clicks.
1. Offer something compelling
Users get curious if a brand offers them something unique. The tweet does not have to mention the details of the reward. Phrases like participate to win, click here for your gift, goodie inside etc. are some tactics used by brands to generate clicks. Users come across hundreds of tweets on a daily basis.
Once you start offering something interesting periodically, users will start keeping a track of your tweets. Keep your offers timely. A timely offer is the one that is well-suited and moves ahead of your competitors. If you are planning to offer something entirely different, create excitement around it.
2. Use image and videos
The option of posting images and video links has been available for a long time. The problem with it was that users had to click the link to see the image or the video behind. The click-through rates were less as it depended on whether the user is driven by the short description to click on the link; but last year, with the introduction of inline image with Buffer’s browser extension, Twitter users are capable of seeing the image with the tweet itself. This has greatly influenced brand engagement by increasing click-through rates and retweets. A link to your store or website can be embedded in the image to increase the respective visits. Likewise, you can also use videos to drive more clicks.
3. Create a sense of urgency
The best thing about tweets is they are short and function in real-time. A short message can be used to show a sense of urgency. So, when you are tweeting something to get instant clicks, mention the validity of your offer. If you are offering a special discount for first 10 buyers, mention it explicitly to thrill the audience.
If your offer is valid for a day only, tell your followers not to miss it and share the link of your store. Besides that, you can also use Twitter for urgent public causes like blood donation, organ donation and other similar causes. Tying up with a hospital to spread the message through your tweet will help your brand build a strong image.
4. Engaging people with well-written tweets
Tweets have to be informative and need to relate with target audience. Try to figure out what your followers want. Would they be interested in retweeting? Use witty one-liners to draw more attention. The tone of your business needs to match with customers’ expectations. There is no room for making a marketing pitch with your tweets.
Your tweets need to sound like a regular conversation with your customers and not be very formal. Be receptive to both positive and negative feedback. Reply to all your feedbacks by using a personal “@” symbol to express a genuine regard and consideration for their valuable feedback.
5. Using viral words and phrases
You would always want your tweet to be original and resonate with your brand’s voice unless you are quoting someone; and if you incorporate viral words that instantly grab viewers’ attention, you will definitely get retweets. It is astonishing to note that 78% of user engagement with a brand’s tweets is the form of retweets.
Using words like here, like, see, look etc. attract readers’ attention and phrases like click here, know more, make you, amaze you, the best, the most etc. are all used frequently to engage their attention & get clicks. Use of “how to” phrase to educate or teach a skill is another interesting way to engage your Twitter followers.
6. Powerful hashtags
Hashtags are an interesting way to generate clicks from Twitter. They act as powerful motivators for consumers to explore more content. Big events and brands use their own hashtags to begin their campaigns; and they do turn out to be successful, provided they are created with a strategy in mind. If you are tweeting about a social cause, find the most relevant hashtag being used for that cause.
You can tie your hashtag with a contest as well. It can be a hashtag with an actionable language. Don’t try to use your brand or product hashtag until you have a huge list of followers as it will reflect your desperation to start your own movement. Look for viral hashtags around your idea.
7. Optimum length of a tweet
Twitter provides you a space of 140 characters for writing your twee; but it is observed that using every single space to express an idea does not increase engagement. The best length for tweeting is 70-100 characters. These medium length tweets add a lot of value to your tweets, especially, if you are tweeting frequently.
The probability of retweet increases and the readers are likely to add commentary to your tweet. Thus, it is generating more clicks. Furthermore, short and crisp tweets take less time to read & have an instant impact on the reader.
8. Are you tweeting at the right frequency?
Higher frequency does get a higher exposure but your tweeting frequency, actually, needs to depend upon the content of your tweets. As a business user, if you are publishing 10 tweets a day, it is considered to be reasonable. Followers do like to hear you when you are sharing interesting content with them.
A combination of tweets, comprising of links, retweets and conversations, is the ideal tweeting strategy. With such a combination, you can even surpass 20 tweets a day without annoying Twitter users. Use a tool called TweetStats to measure the frequency of your tool to keep a mathematical check; but you need to remember, it is the quality of content that matters ultimately and not higher frequency.
9. Enticing the mobile customers
A huge number of people use Twitter through their mobiles. After all, a tweet is just like a message that can be easily read on a phone. Many organizations offer special offers for customers who purchase through their mobile applications. Dunkin’ Donuts started a similar campaign called “We Win, You Win” during National Football League Season 2013-14.
The deal was to offer a free medium-sized hot or iced coffee on the day after Eagles victory to the customers who participate using their mobile application DD Perks. Customers started rushing to the DD stores to claim their free gift. It was accompanied by rise in the sale of other products. Such offers can be promoted through tweets to generate a large number of clicks.
10. Website cards
It is a very interesting product rolled out by Twitter for mobile and desktop advertisers. It helps the advertisers to surface website content within a tweet and drive relevant traffic back to a specific page on their website. Consumers can preview image, related context and a call-to-action on their timelines before they actually click on it.
It can also be used in tracking conversions. Lead generation cards allow users to express interest in your brand by sharing their contact information on the Twitter itself. Similarly, product cards help you to feature retail items and drive sales. It is used to display product image, product description, price and availability with a call-to-action.
Conclusion
There are many social media platforms used by businesses to interact with their customers. Twitter is the simplest and the most powerful platform that has a rippling effect across the medium. Its real-time nature makes it relevant for businesses with time-bound offers. There are a number of tools available to track and measure the effectiveness of your campaign.
Define your audience, set a budget, select the right set of advertising tools and most importantly focus on your content. To lead by examples, explore success stories across Twitter and find out what others are doing to generate more clicks.
