Twitter is one of the longstanding O.G.s of social media, known for its short-form posts and for being the original platform for hashtags. However, Twitter isn’t just limited to individual users: brands can use Twitter to engage with their customers and prospects, build brand awareness by accessing a global network of 330 million users, and boost conversions through the platform’s ad options.
Why Your Brand Should Use Twitter in 2021
Twitter is great for community management
Twitter is an effective social listening tool
Ad options on Twitter allow for selective targeting
1. Twitter is great for community management and engagement
Twitter has quickly become a go-to platform for community management and community engagement, due to its quick and direct access to follower comments. This gives brands the opportunity to build personal relationships with customers while simultaneously promoting products and services.
Brands often use Twitter as a channel to view positive and negative customer feedback. By engaging with customers either through comments, Tweets, or direct messages, brands can provide quick customer service and support through Twitter. This can help with reputation management and make brands feel more personal to customers, which can ultimately lead to improved brand loyalty.
For instance, users often take to Twitter to comment directly about a brand—this can include reviews, questions, complaints, and customer service experiences—by tagging brands directly in their Tweets or sending them a direct message. Brands can respond directly to a Tweet by commenting, retweeting, or quote tweeting. Note that “quote tweet” denotes when you want to retweet with your own comment added, and “replies” denote the Tweet’s comments. As well, keep in mind that retweeting will showcase the Tweet directly on your brand page, so be mindful of this when using this option: retweeting is optimal if you think your followers will gain valuable information from a Tweet, whereas replies allow you to interact more one-on-one.
If dealing with a negative review, brands have the ability to deescalate a situation or potentially resolve the issue on the spot. Whether dealing with a negative or positive comment, brands who have an effective community management process can garner meaningful engagement with their followers.
Additionally, interactive features like Twitter Polls can be used to ask questions to customers and gain valuable feedback, while simultaneously fostering a sense of community amongst followers. Brands can also humanize themselves by injecting a sense of humor into their interactions with followers: this can be done through the usage of memes, GIFs, or emojis.
What your brand should do on Twitter in 2021:
- Consider how your brand can use Twitter as a customer service and community management platform.
- Create a community management plan and delegate team members to monitor and respond to customer feedback.
2. Twitter is an effective social listening tool
Social listening is a process of monitoring social media channels for mentions of your brand, competitors, industry’s news, products, and much more.
Platforms like Twitter are built for social listening, including categorized feeds on users’ accounts like “For You,” “Trending,” “News,” “Entertainment,” and more. Many users rely Twitter to find relevant news for a variety of topics, made possible by Twitter’s search engine allowing users to search for specific hashtags, accounts, and general topics.
Brands can use these features to monitor competitors, stay up to date with pop culture and online trends, and research industry news. Ultimately, all of these factors can be used to improve your brand’s content strategy and approach on Twitter. For example, use relevant hashtags in your Twitter content to improve discoverability. Another option is to reshare any media mentions or user-generated content that includes your brand (e.g. an interview you were featured in or a user who has included your company’s branded hashtag) to garner brand awareness and build credibility.
Taking part in social listening helps show your brand is attentive and aware of social trends and customer feedback, and will also help to optimize your social media strategy.
What your brand should do on Twitter in 2021:
- Review your brand’s current activities on Twitter to see if you are properly taking advantage of its social listening tools. If you’re new to the platform, research how you can build a complete and optimized profile.
3. Ad options on Twitter allow for selective targeting
Lastly, you can drive traffic to your brand’s website and boost conversions by utilizing Twitter’s ad options.
First, Promoted Tweets allow your Tweets to appear in specific users’ Twitter streams or search results. This is an effective option for brands who are aiming to drive traffic on a specific webpage. Promoted Tweets can be liked, retweeted, and commented on, but places these Tweets on users’ feeds who are not already following your account. There are also options to choose Promoted Accounts, which will allow your brand’s page to show up in a targeted user’s “Who to Follow” suggestions, and Promoted Trends, which will allow your posts to show up in a targeted user’s “For You” tab.
Next are Twitter Ads. This is an effective option for brands that are looking to use different types of Tweets to achieve a goal for their business. For instance, this option is ideal if a company wants to build brand awareness or grow their follower base. Brands can choose from different objectives such as Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion. Sub-categories including app installs, video views, website conversions, and audience targeting. Audiences can also be chosen very selectively on Twitter Ads, from broad details like gender and locations to more specific ones like technology type (eg. device, OS version, or carrier). Twitter Ads also provide detailed analytics for campaign results, which can help brands determine what type of campaigns are working most effectively. There is also no minimum budget to advertise on Twitter, which means that brands can adjust their budget according to what’s best for them.
What your brand should do on Twitter in 2021:
- To target specific audiences and increase your brand’s reach, review which paid ad formats are the best option for your brand. Consider your campaign objectives, audience details, and budget when doing so.
If you missed our previous article, click here to learn why your brand needs to be on LinkedIn in 2021. We’ll also continue to highlight other social media platforms in this mini-series, so be sure to check back every other Monday for our articles!
Additionally, if you’ve finished reading this article and the thought of community management, social listening, and social media ads is making you feel overwhelmed, we can help.
Click the button below to talk with one of our social media marketing experts and learn about setting up a digital marketing program that best uses Twitter’s opportunities to achieve your business goals.
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