The foundation of anything means everything. Business and social media aren’t any different. That’s why it’s important to revisit the basics every now and then. Not only is it a refresher for the brain, but also an opportunity to learn new tricks and stay updated.
And so, we invited Julia Jornsay-Silverberg, social media strategist, YouTuber, and speaker, to share some of the good old lessons of using Twitter for marketing. Along the way, we also learnt a ton of new marketing ideas and tactics, courtesy of our enthusiastic community.
Here’s a summary of the chat:
Topic: Back to Basics: Using Twitter for Marketing
Guest: Julia Jornsay-Silverberg
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
The spontaneity, of course.
If you’ve been on our #TwitterSmarter chat, you’ll know how quickly the hour goes. That’s the nature of Twitter. Spend a while observing your feed and you’ll notice hundreds of tweets every minute.
A1: #Twitter is different from other #socialmedia platforms because it moves SO quickly! It's one of the fastest-moving platforms on social media. #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
And what are these tweets about? Current events, hyper localized events, industry news, updates from celebrities, and everything that makes the world tick. That’s why Twitter is so special—as our guest pointed out, Twitter’s the go-to place for trends.
A1: #Twitter is also different because it's a platform that is dominated by folks in news, sports, and journalism. It's *the* #socialmedia platform that I go to for breaking news. #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
But that’s not all. No two people use Twitter the same way and it has something different for everyone. Here’re a few more ideas our community members shared:
Most of all, as VishnuPriya, a #TwitterSmarter newbie mentioned, Twitter is a public repository of knowledge. And because every tweet is limited to 280 characters, you don’t have to leaf through hundreds of pages to get the single piece of information you’re looking for.
A1 Twitter is different because it’s actually a knowledge repository where you can find relevant information curated in the most crisp manner. No click bait! Plus so much of real time interaction. A platform that is a great large community in itself #TwitterSmarter
— VishnuPriya Mishra (@vpmishra01) September 12, 2019
Twitter’s native feature, Lists, is a great way to curate accounts that you’re interested in. That way, every time you open the list, you’ll see all the tweets from the profiles you’ve collected. It’s like personal treasure. You can also make public lists that other Twitter users can subscribe to.
A2: I like to use #TwitterLists as a way of keeping up with conversations and people on #Twitter. It's a great tool that helps you stay organized on who, and what, you want to learn about! #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
Most of our community members use tools like Tweet Deck and Agorapulse to keep up with conversations. Most tools nowadays let you create columns for specific accounts, hashtags, trends, and search terms. This gives you a multi-view of what’s happening in different conversation threads.
Another good way to be in the know is building relationships with people you interact with on Twitter. Like Vraj suggested, consider adding them to your network on other social platforms. Friends from Twitter could be friends on Facebook, connections on LinkedIn, and followers on Instagram.
A2.
+ #TwitterSmarter – Hashtags
+ Through connecting with like minded peoples
+ List
+ Cross connection through social platforms— ⚡ Vraj Shah ? (@vrajshahspeaks) September 12, 2019
Our guest Julia also shared some important information about Twitter’s default algorithm. As you become more active you are on Twitter, it automatically suggests tweets from people you often engage with. These show up under the notifications tab and as mobile push notifications, if you’ve enabled them.
A2: I also engage with the people I really like on #Twitter to the best of my ability. By engaging with these folks, I send a signal to the #algorithm to show their content more in my feed. #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
Even if you do nothing else, always keep an eye on your notifications and mentions. That’s the easiest and basic way to keep up with what’s happening around you.
Twitter, like Julia said, is another avenue for your customers to reach you. It gives you a chance to develop a marketing strategy for social media alongside other activities.
A3: A presence on #Twitter helps develop a #marketing strategy by having another avenue to connect to your customers. #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
And when you use hashtags relevant to your industry and specialty, you boost your chances of being discovered on Twitter. Read more about how you can use hashtags for branding.
A3: Using the right hashtags on #Twitter can allow your business to be discovered by people who wouldn't have otherwise known about it! #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
Our community members pointed out some other ways Twitter can help build a marketing strategy. It lets you,
And as Sarah rightly pointed out, Twitter helps you observe your competition, see what they do best, and learn from their mistakes.
A3: Being aware of trends, seeing how others are implementing new strategies and learning lots! (You can also learn what NOT to do…) #TwitterSmarter
— Sarah Marks (@_ofwanderings) September 12, 2019
Not everyone was happy about it when Twitter increased its character limit. From being forced to being concise, people suddenly had the option to be verbose. I, for one, was appalled imagining all the unnecessary banter that’d go into a tweet.
But I was wrong. As were many others. Even though for the first few weeks, all I ever saw were chunky, clunky tweets, as time went on, the excitement abated. Which soon led way to coherent information sharing. No more click-bait-like headlines—brands started investing time to craft meaningful tweet copy.
Julia said it well: We can now share a complete message, along with an image, an additional link, and relevant hashtags, without having to clip our points or break into multiple tweets.
A4: With the character expansion on #Twitter, it's easier to share a valuable, media-rich tweet – with an image, link and hashtags! #TwitterSmarter – It lets us have more fun with our content without having to break it up into multiple tweets!
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
Besides, having more characters just gives us a better chance of addressing specific matters with more detail. I’m sure older Twitter users can relate to James’s illustration of rethinking and rewording every tweet to fit in the character limit. What a pain that was.
A4: It gives everyone more of a chance to be more specific. It also allows you to have a bit more time, rather than having to sit there, reword, restructure & read through everything again & again. #TwitterSmarter
— James (@BuzzcutDigital) September 12, 2019
Q5: Share some examples of using Twitter for customer service.
As I said before, Twitter is an ideal platform to learn by observing. Our guest and community shared a bunch of Twitter accounts that nail customer service.
Julia mentioned JetBlue Airways and how they use Twitter to update customers about flight details, answer frequently asked questions, respond to passenger concerns in real-time—all the while enjoying the process. That’s essential—if you’re not having fun on social media, you’re taking social too seriously.
A5: @jetblue uses #Twitter to answer questions about the aircraft, updates on flight delays, etc. PLUS, they have FUN with it! #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
AllState uses direct messages to effectively help out with customer needs. Often, direct messages can be the best way to deal with sharing email addresses and detailed explanations of issues and customer grievances on social media.
A5: @allstate is another company that uses #Twitter as a way to manage customer service by taking every mention to a direct message to get more information about the customer's claim. #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
Nike is another company that responds with a fun message every time a customer or fan mentions them. Their acknowledgement and interaction boosts their credibility as an approachable brand.
A5: Lastly, I love how @nike engages their customers through #Twitter by replying quirky and fun replies to people's tweets when they're tagged or mentioned. #TwitterSmarter
Can you tell that I like this question? hahah @MadalynSklar— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
John told us about the time he complained on Twitter when his cable went out, and Charter responded promptly. That’s how powerfully instant Twitter is.
A5: Easy one. I bitched that my cable was out, and Charter jumped on it on Twitter. I had not one but two techs at my home the next day. #TwitterSmarter
— John Cloonan (@johncloonan) September 12, 2019
Zappos and Target also do a great job of listening to their customers and letting them know they heard.
And remember, as Chaim put it, a brand’s power depends not on how many complains they receive on Twitter, but on how well they handle it and resolve those issues.
A5 NOT much value in judging a company by the complains they get on Twitter, BUT judging their responses is instructive #twittersmarter
— Chaim Shapiro? I'll Help You Maximize LinkedIn!? (@ChaimShapiro) September 12, 2019
We all know how much you can gain from having an active presence on Twitter. However, as Julia admitted, Twitter is so fast that it can sometimes be overwhelming. For small businesses, in particular, to generate proper returns on their investment, they need to consistently tweet throughout the day. They might even have to allocate individual people to be on Twitter full time.
A6: HUNDREDS of tweets are sent per minute, meaning that a #smallbusiness needs to be tweeting a LOT in order to get a decent ROI for their efforts on #Twitter. #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
When they do have a solid Twitter presence, though, a small business could capitalize on some of these features:
Boyd emphasized the importance of video. He referenced Dan as an example of sharing in-depth information just by replying with a video to a tweet or an article.
A6: The video feature. Hardly anyone that I see is using video on twitter.
As we can see with @MLLNNLmotivator's video responses, you can give/share more in depth answers and information via video. Companies, including mine, should take advantage of this. #twittersmarter
— Boyd Norwood – ⛏️ 15 Years in Digital Marketing (@boydnorwood) September 12, 2019
The most important thing you should remember is that Twitter moves fast and you need to be tweeting a lot to make an impact. And so as Julia said, know that you have enough time to tweet. Even once a day isn’t enough—think at least 10-15 a day.
A7: When allocating resources for #Twitter in your #marketingplan, you need to ensure you have ample TIME to tweet! Tweeting once a week isn't going to cut it. #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
It’s also worth considering how you’ll use Twitter differently from the way you use your other social platforms. Each has its own merits and demerits and having a clear strategy goes a long way in maintaining consistency.
A7: Thinking about how you'll use #Twitter differently from your other platforms like #Facebook and #Instagram is important! You want to give something different on each platform. #TwitterSmarter
— Julia Jornsay-Silverberg (@jbethjs) September 12, 2019
Here are some other thoughts our community offered:
Mike spoke about the value of knowing when and how to use Twitter. We know Twitter is a good way to raise awareness, establish your brand, offer customer support, etc. But based on your audience and their position in your sales funnel, you might have varied goals and targets on Twitter.
A7: For most companies Twitter works best at the top of the marketing funnel, so full-on conversions probably shouldn't be your dominant KPI. Instead, engagement that moves users to other channels should be noted. #TwitterSmarter
— Mike Lewis (@MaverickAdverts) September 12, 2019
Julia, like most of us, is a big fan of Madalyn’s Twitter tips, resources, and podcasts. She also recommends Social Media Examiner.
Here’re a few other resources that our community members shared:
Oh, and Dan is an excellent resource too. He does Twitter live video tutorials every day. Have a question? Hit him up!
A8 I am going live daily doing tutorials here on @Twitter. If you have questions on how to better user the platform for your #business just ask me here or tag me in a tweet and I will do my best to get you an answer! #Twittersmarter pic.twitter.com/b7Km0mJ8uW
— Dan Willis #DOYOLive ?? (@MLLNNLmotivator) September 12, 2019
Well folks, that’s all I have for this week’s summary. Feel free to tweet out to me or Madalyn if you have any comments or suggestions about our weekly chats. And if you can spare some time on Thursday, join us at 1 pm ET for our net #TwitterSmarter chat.
About me, Narmadhaa:
I’m a writer of all things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.
Say hello: Personal blog | LinkedIn | Twitter