Twitter is a fun and engaging social network site that was launched in 2006 and has since earned its way into the top ten most visited sites. With Twitter, you can post short text messages called tweets. As of 2012 Twitter has over 500 million users and several million tweets are posted per day. When used properly Twitter can be an effective marketing tool for your business.
However, we've all seen such tweets as "Watching Shrek tonight with the kids and having popcorn." Tweets like these are not effective in building a business network. Learning to write more effective tweets will help you expand your networking circle and in doing so, help you build a more successful business.
1. Keep it Short and Simple - Although Twitter allows you 140 characters per post studies have shown that smaller posts are more effective. Tweets with less than 100 characters are more successful with 80 character tweets being the optimum length. Shorter posts have a greater chance of being retweeted as well.
2. Use Hashtags Carefully - Using hashtags will help categorize your tweets to help them show up in searches. This will allow your tweet to work much more efficiently. Simply use the pound sign in front of your targeted word or phrase like so: #ebooks. Using hashtags sparingly can be effective but overusing them is more like spam and will likely do more harm than good. Studies have shown that using more than two hashtags per tweet decreased the tweet's effectiveness.
3. Maximum Punch for More Clicks - You only have so much space and time for your tweets so you have to write them like attention-grabbing headlines. They must have punch to get people to notice and then click your link. Use the most powerful words that will pull readers in. Take note of which tweets get your attention and how they are written. Take a little time to practice writing your tweets before posting.
4. Don't Always Be Selling - Social networking is for making connections and building relationships, not just selling. If all you do is try to sell your products through your tweets, you will not get much response. Offer resources, helpful information, interesting tidbits, etc. Useful content will get attention, not just ads.
5. Tweet When the Time is Right - Certain days and certain times of the day can be more effective for tweeting. You need to find out the best time for your followers. Tweriod is a free Twitter tool that can give you a detailed report of the best time of days and what days you should tweet for maximum results.
6. Where to Place Your Link - A detail as small as where you place your link within your tweet can make a difference on the impact the tweet makes. Most people tend to put their link at the end of the post but reports have shown this is not the most effective placement. Research shows that your link will get the highest CTR (click-thru rate) when placed ¼ of the way into your tweet. Links will work at the end of the tweet but not as much as when placed at the first quarter. The second most effective placement would be in the 98% area of the tweet. You can read more details in the report by Dan Zarella. He did this study based on 200,000 random tweets with links.
7. Twitter Specials - Offer your followers something they can only get on Twitter. People like to feel appreciated and offering them an exclusive deal can sometimes do the trick.
8. Be Consistent - Just as with your blog, you need to provide fresh content for your readers. Don't just tweet once and not come back for weeks. This will not help build trust or reliability. Update your account on a regular schedule and be consistent.
9. Add Personality - The purpose of social networking is to get to know people, make connections and build relationships so you need to let people know you by allowing your personality to show through in your tweets. Get to know your followers and post information they will be interested in. Add some appropriate fun and humor along with helpful resources and pertinent information. Be helpful, positive, professional, fun and appreciative!
10. As Always, Use Proper Grammar and Spelling - Use correctly spelled complete words when tweeting for your business. Do not use u for you or ur for your or you're. Be sure to use proper grammar as well. Always write professionally and correctly.
Twitter and other social networking sites can do a lot for your business but you need to utilize them correctly and completely to get the maximum benefits.
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