Marketing is all about communicating with others, making industry connections, and identifying when and where you can help to improve people’s lives. Sure, it also involves a little bit of sneaky selling, but for the most part, you’re spending time engaging in meaningful relationships.
That’s where Twitter comes in. As a social channel so perfectly designed to help with your marketing and communications efforts, there’s a ton of cool ways you can use the platform. We asked Marshall Kirkpatrick, VP of analyst and influencer relations at Sprinklr, to share some insights on using Twitter for marketing. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Marshall Kirkpatrick
Topic: Understanding Twitter as a Marketing Platform
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
Most of us had no idea what to expect when we signed up for Twitter. It seemed like a basic way to text with people across the world, but aside from that, few had any specific plans for it.
For instance, our guest, Marshall, was a journalist back then and was hoping to find trending news and conversations on Twitter. Even today, it’s the ideal platform to find out what’s happening around you. And of course, perhaps you too thought you’d pop in for a while and delete your account to avoid being distracted. But Twitter doesn’t let you go that easily, does it?
When I signed up for Twitter 14 years ago, I was working as a journalist & thought I could use it to find breaking news tips at SXSW (and I did) but then, I thought I’d cancel my account to avoid distraction. Hah! #twittersmarter https://t.co/5skr4rMq29
— Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 23, 2020
Lisa, on the other hand, was more sneaky. She got to Twitter to see what her children were up to. In fact, social media was once popular amongst parents for this exact reason. Now, though, Lisa knows the power of real-time engagement.
A1. I signed up in 2009 to keep track of what my children were doing. It evolved quickly for me after that.
I loved getting news on the spot and then I learned the real power of connections. #TwitterSmarter— Lisa Sicard ???? (@Lisapatb) January 23, 2020
Most of our chat members said that they’ve stuck to Twitter because they found community. Even though they were unsure at first, like Gene was, over time, people have experienced the positive and welcoming nature of conversations on this platform.
A1. I was pretty late to Twitter. I didn’t know what exactly to expect. There had been a lot of negativity around trolls, hate speech, & abuse. But that has NOT been my experience at all! The people I have met here have been polite, friendly, helpful, & positive. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/8pMfT4Q6Vv
— Gene Petrov – LDRBRND (@LDRBRND) January 23, 2020
Some others, like our friends on Sked Social, hoped for ground-breaking success, overnight. It’s natural reaction, too. One of the reasons people fail to make Twitter work for them is because they have unrealistic expectations.
A1: I guess I expected faster growth than other social channels. It definitely seemed the quantity over quality game. #twittersmarter
— Sked Social (@getskedsocial) January 23, 2020
This is an important point to think about. Many of us would’ve started off just the way Rachel from Express Writers did: by sharing random, even irrelevant updates like everyday life incidents, thoughts we consider epiphanies, and jokes and memes that make sense to no one but ourselves.
A2: There's definitely more purpose behind how I use Twitter now. For many of us, we shared all sorts of random updates when we first joined. And it wasn't necessarily about targeting a specific audience or providing the content they were looking for. #TwitterSmarter
— Express Writers | Your Content Writing Team (@ExpWriters) January 23, 2020
Like she said, it takes time and persistent effort to understand who our audience is, what they want, and how best to target them.
Marshall told us about his evolution as well. As a journalist, he started off by trying to connect with people he wanted to interview. He then moved on to sharing articles he resonated with as a marketer, slowly introducing topics that he personally cared about. Now he’s mostly an advocate for the company he works for, posting customer stories and how they found success with Sprinklr, his employer.
A2. I've shifted from Twittering to connect w/ interview sources as a journalist to sharing blog posts as a marketer, to tweeting about #climatechange, & lately sharing customer stories from my employer #twittersmarter https://t.co/hJtJZC2SU3
— Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 23, 2020
So many others in our community talked about consuming content in the beginning, for quite a while, before they started creating and sharing their own content. And once they did, they’ve grown from text-based tweets to more visual copy, including images, videos, and GIFs. The underline here is, you have to continuously evolve on a platform like Twitter.
Everything, right?
Until recently, brands used Twitter primarily as a way to manage crises like customer complaints and support. Now, though, people are using it more—as a listening tool, to identify audience emotion, and target them better.
A3: The most exciting thing about Twitter these days? Organizations are really listening to it, learning from it, and incorporating its wealth of insights into their work! It's not just for brand crisis monitoring anymore! #twittersmarter https://t.co/p8EojxkWEF
— Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 23, 2020
This has given rise to community and mutual learning. That’s what most of our members were excited about—Twitter chats and the sense of being involved and welcomed into an ongoing conversation.
One of Marshall’s favourite features of Twitter is Lists and the ability to curate great content from people in various industries and countries. He also shared a great tip on using IFTTT (If This Then That). You can set it up so that whenever you like a tweet, it automatically saves the link in that tweet to Pocket, so that you can look it up afterwards, when you have the time.
A3: I also love Twitter's new engagement with Lists, and this recipe from @IFTTT #TwitterSmarter. I love to Like tweets and send the links to Pocket, which then reads the linked articles to me out loud! pic.twitter.com/HEGlSCb13v
— Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 23, 2020
Emily told us that being able to connect with influential people like politicians and global leaders excites her the most. Not only does Twitter make it possible for you to directly communicate with public figures but it’s also transparent and gives people a better way to create content.
A3: As someone in public affairs, I really love the ability Twitter has to better connect political figures and their constituents. It allows more for more transparency, visibility, and when used correctly, gives their staff the opportunity to craft better content #TwitterSmarter
— Emily Sexauer Official (@EmilySOfficial1) January 23, 2020
The best way to deal with abusive and offensive content on Twitter is to avoid feeding the other person. Marshall suggested responding with dignity so that people can still see how you responded, without it affecting your reputation.
A4. My approach to abusive people on Twitter: respond publicly to them with dignity, not for their benefit but for the benefit of others who see the interaction. Reflects well on me & poorly on abusers. But I'm a very privileged man so I don't get the worst of it #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/zRGnVfX1di
— Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 23, 2020
Be wary, though, some spam accounts only want to provoke you. When you come across such a situation, use Twitter’s features to block or report them. Twitter is highly responsive to any complaints and will take immediate action against abuse. And as Chris said, rise above such pettiness. Know that you’re better off without them.
A4: Adapt similar principles to spam and abuse which you would offline. Rise above, block, remember you have meaningful friends in life and thank god you've ended up the way you are instead! #TwitterSmarter #justsaying
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) January 23, 2020
We all love chats, don’t we? It’s such a versatile capability and people all over the world use chats to bring critical questions to the table. Aside from that, Brianne’s favorite is polls. It’s amazing how you can run polls for particular durations and close them whenever you want. They’re also a great way to get people’s ideas and opinions about your campaigns, content, and basically anything. Since they appear different to the regular tweet, they also stand out quite well on a busy feed.
A5: I've gotten really into Twitter polls! They're a fun way to engage AND they stand out in everyone's feed. #TwitterSmarter
— Brianne Fleming (@brianne2k) January 23, 2020
Marshall likes the API. If you’re a techie, you’ll know how much you can extend Twitter’s capabilities by using its API to integrate with other products you use. For example, you can use it to search and analyze through data so minute and beyond the default analytics that Twitter provides.
My favorite feature of Twitter is the API. It's an opportunity of historic proportions to be able to analyze public discourse at scale. After that, my favorite features are Lists, Search, and Search of Lists 🙂 A5 #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/UNSqLcquPV
— Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 23, 2020
Of course, we all bicker constantly about the lack of an edit button on Twitter. However, like our friends from Twenty Two Kittens demonstrated, that’s the beauty and also the curse of Twitter.
there… ??♀️??
— Twenty Two Kittens (@All22Kittens) January 23, 2020
So much of Twitter is about relationship building and networking. Unless you’re genuinely interested in someone and what they do, it’s hard for you to sustain on Twitter. Like our guest said, focus on developing conversations with individuals. That’s your first step to generating and converting proper leads on Twitter.
A6: Lead gen on Twitter is best thought of as biz contact cultivation, IMHO. 1 person at a time, over time, through generosity & proving your value. Relationship building, bringing value to the network, then being visible when people have a business need arise. #twittersmarter
— Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 23, 2020
Vítor suggested sharing a webpage with gated content can help you keep track of the leads you generate through Twitter.
A6: One of the ones I like the most is to create PDFs with good content, and take people to my page to give me their email in exchange for the content, #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/qO6EqPapIE
— Vítor de Oliveira – VitorPro (@VitorProDev) January 23, 2020
Here’re a few more ideas our community members shared:
Let’s face it: Twitter is time and energy consuming. It’s only too easy to feel drained and burned out. When that happens, consider doing what Marshall does.
Take a step back from everything that’s clouding your mind, and look at Twitter as if for the first time. Browse through your feed and see what stands out to you. Then respond to that tweet from a beginner’s perspective and you’ll notice your conversations broadening.
A7. I like to re-visit Twitter w/ a "beginner's mind" when I'm feeling burnt out. I practice opening my timeline, looking at the top tweet or two, imagining I was at a party & someone said that tweet to my face, and I respond. It's hard but good things happen #twittersmarter
— Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 23, 2020
Like Hannah pointed out, it’s essential to take a break. Don’t feel guilty for taking the weekend off and spending time with your family. That downtime can give you all the energy you need to come back into the game stronger than before.
A7: I like to do the 2 days off rule. If I am feeling burnt out, I schedule content for 2 days and allow myself to take a break and answer tweet responses after those two days. #TwitterSmarter
— Hannah Richards (@actPRHannah) January 23, 2020
You can also block off time in your day for social media. That way, you’ll have a healthy mix of things to do and not overwork yourself.
Twitter has had a lot of ups and downs lately. However, with countless, useful features coming out every year, it seems like the company is on the right track.
Like Jim pointed out, there’re no shortage of challenges for Twitter. If they can continue to observe competition, listen to users, and concisely offer value, they’ll have a bright future.
A8: I think it will continue to be challenged by new platforms.
For success, it needs to listen to the power users for a roadmap@MadalynSklar @jeffsheehan @Tweetinggoddess @drjoyce_knudsen #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/ZZFhxDPgD6
— Jim Fuhs Digital Marketing Consultant #SMMW20 (@FuhsionMktg) January 23, 2020
Jonni made an excellent point. For a long time now, one of the biggest problems for Twitter has been the sheer volume of fake profiles and spam bots. They’ve started taking stricter measures to curb these behaviours, but there’s still a long way for them to go to make it a truly trustworthy source for activities and news from the world over.
A8: The future of TW needs to see the elimination of fake accounts, bots/trolls. More media friendly platform and a place where people can come and not worry about fake news, fake info or scared that they might get abused by other bad accounts … a safer twitter #TwitterSmarter
— Jonni Martinez (@iJonniM) January 23, 2020
Well folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts about these questions, feel free to tweet out to Madalyn or myself. And if you’ve got some time to spare on Thursday, join us at 1pm ET for our next #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.
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