Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms for businesses because it enables them to focus on public conversation and exposure. Businesses use Twitter to engage their customers and update them on various business activities and news. Follow these tips on how to make the most out of Twitter for your business.

Build a profile that stands out

If you’re just starting out on Twitter, you want to make your Twitter handle relevant to your company. If your brand name is already used by somebody else, you can add a CTA or an attractive description at the beginning of your company name.

For example, your company name is “LuckyABC”, but another company has the same name and is already using it as their Twitter handle, all you need to do is get creative and pick a handle like “ChooseLuckyABC” or “GetLuckyABC”. Don’t forget to refine your description, website link, and location so that your followers will get an immediate idea of what your business is.

Build your Twitter followers

You can do this by carefully selecting keywords to target. If your Twitter followers are well-defined, increasing their numbers by engaging them will benefit your business. Additionally, if your followers increase, you’ll also get more engagement and clicks through your website.

Tweet regularly

Consistent tweeting indicates an active, healthy profile. If you tweet only once a week, or worse, once a month, most of your followers will forget about you. You’ve worked hard to get them to follow you, so make an effort to keep them engaged by interacting with them on a regular basis. Make sure you tweet relevant, useful, and interesting information — content your followers will read, retweet, and like. Come up with a tweet schedule and refer to it when you’re running out of ideas.

Follow influencers and trends

It pays to stay on top of the latest happenings in your industry. Try to put your business in the light by following relevant influencers, hashtags, and trending topics. This way you’ll always have something new to share with your followers.

Following industry leaders gives your audience another perspective of your brand. It gives soul to your profile, so that you don’t appear like a cold, lifeless company to your audience. Also consider adding trending hashtags to your tweets in order to reach new users that have similar interests.

Use visuals

People tend to understand visual content more than text. Try to create a dynamic experience for your Twitter audience by adding different types of media to your tweets, such as images and videos, which are proven to gain more views, clicks, and shares than plain text tweets.

Retweet great content

Don’t be afraid to retweet when you see something worth sharing with your followers. Retweeting somebody else’s Twitter content has its own benefits — you create a good relationship with other influencers on Twitter, and it shows your followers that you’re an active member of your online community.

Track mentions

Know what’s being said about you by tracking brand mentions and keywords. This is a great way to provide distinctive customer service or to reach out to new customers. For instance, when someone is tweeting feedback on your products or services, take the opportunity to respond politely. When you see someone tweet about their needs for a specific service, you can jump into the conversation and introduce your company.

Integrate with other marketing efforts

Twitter is much more effective when integrated with your other marketing activities, such as email subscriptions. For example, if you’re running a promotion or contest via Twitter, let your email subscribers know about it. Since they signed up, they expect to receive notifications and the latest news about your business.

If you want to integrate Twitter into your business’s social media marketing campaigns, get in touch with us today.

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Current trends show that personalized interactions help establish a business’s persona or identity with prospective customers. This makes the business more relatable and therefore more attractive to more consumers. To use this opportunity properly, social media managers should know how to keep their wits together, especially in the face of negativity online. Read on to learn more.

Online reputation management mistakes

As long as you have a successful business or brand, people will always have something to say about it. And when it comes to online reputation management, the goal is to create positive engagement with your customers. So if the discussion about your brand swings negative, here are a few online reputation blunders to avoid.

• Reacting to negative commentary – Negative commentary is generally any commentary that constitutes a verbal attack. As a rule, if it isn’t constructive criticism, it’s probably negative commentary. Feel free to ignore these comments because engaging with them will escalate the conversation further, and fueling those flames are never good for business. It is one thing to stand up for values and principles in a diplomatic manner, and it is a completely different thing to engage in a word war with online commenters who will likely not endure any adverse effects to their negative commentary.
• Reacting emotionally – If your reaction to negative comments is to fire back with negative comments, you’ll appear unprofessional. Customers want to do business with a brand that is professional. If you react emotionally or negatively to a customer online, who’s to say you wouldn’t do the same in real life to the person reading it? As a social media manager, you are the voice of the business. If your voice is abrasive, immature, and easy to bait into a pissing contest, best believe that your customers will see your business in the same light.

How to resolve negative commentary

While a negative comment about your brand may upset you, don’t let your emotions get the better of you and post something you’ll later regret. Instead, calm down, compose yourself, and follow these guidelines.

• Figure out what the customer really wants – Every customer wants their problem to be resolved, but how they want their issue fixed will vary. Some customers want an apology, others want a refund, and some may simply want the product they ordered but did not receive. Just because the customer’s comments are poorly phrased doesn’t mean that they don’t have a legitimate grievance. Learn to ignore the personal attack and carefully draw out the true cause for concern.
• Stick to the facts – When engaging with a customer online, the initial comment can quickly turn into a back-and-forth discussion. If this happens, don’t get off topic when addressing the problem. The customer may try to engage you in a he-said-she-said battle, but avoid taking the bait. Respond with facts, stick to the matter at hand, and don’t get caught up in personal accusations.
• Turn the negative into a positive – Negative feedback is an opportunity to improve your business. So be honest with yourself and, if there’s truth in the comment, take a good hard look at your company. Did the commenter point out a glaring problem you can improve upon? Remember, a business is nothing without its customers, so it makes sense to do your best to please them.

To learn more about how to best manage your online reputation, or for assistance with any of your IT needs, get in touch with our experts today.

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