We’ve all seen brands that get so much love and attention on social media. We’ve even praised and vouched for our favorite brands. Why do we do that? And how can we get other people to do that for our brand? This week on the chat, we invited freelance B2B writer, Masooma Memon to talk about generating positive word of mouth on Twitter. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Masooma Memon
Topic: Generating positive word of mouth on Twitter
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
People sort of expect you to be on Twitter. To meet your audience’s expectations, not only do you have to be on Twitter, but you have to be active, too. Along the way, you’ll realize that there’re countless opportunities on Twitter to improve your word of mouth (WOM) reach.
A1. Your audience expects you to be on Twitter.
Which makes meeting your target audience’s expectations the BIGGEST reason why Twitter is an imp channel for growing word of mouth.
There are lots of opportunities to share value too, making it easy to grow WOM #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) September 29, 2022
Besides, as Darcy pointed out, Twitter’s unique selling point is that it forces people to be concise. It’s not a place for rambling on randomly. By design, Twitter is conversational—you have to be authentic and relatable if you want to make connections.
A1: Twitter is a great channel for brands to grow their word of mouth because tweets are concise and conversational.
So it encourages people to be real – and, hopefully, helpful.
— Darcy De Leon, blog editor (still wearing a 😷) (@darcydeleon) September 29, 2022
Do the basics, and do them well. Share useful content consistently, be there for your customers when they need support, and actively engage with your target audience. Don’t just broadcast and stand back. If you want to drive WOM, you have to put yourself out there and start engaging with others.
A2. Easy ways to drive word of mouth:
• Share valuable content consistently
• Provide proactive customer support
• Engage with ur target audienceMost brands share links for tweets & don’t engage, giving you ample opportunity to stand out & drive WOM. #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) September 29, 2022
Maria gave us an excellent example from her work managing a Twitter handle for a pickleball business. Instead of promoting the brand’s products, she made inroads into communities that play the sport and enjoy discussing it. That’s how she drove awareness for the brand—not by being overly sales-y.
A2: By not overtly selling their product. I ran a pickleball brand’s acct. and I focused on joining & starting conversations with their target audience rather than promote their products. By doing this, I drove awareness & increased sales. #twittersmarter
— Maria Marchewka (@_MariaMarchewka) September 29, 2022
There’s a lot you can do to be thoughtful when engaging with your audience. Our guest highlighted three: 1. track all brand mentions and respond to those who reply to your tweets or ask questions, 2. respond to notifications as soon as possible—this includes those who explicitly tag your account, whether it’s for an issue they’re facing or a topic they want you to weigh in on, and 3. spotlight your social media team—this puts a human element into your account, which is essential for building a community that resonates with you and your brand.
A3. Engage with ur audience by:
• Tracking brand mentions and responding to tweets + questions
• Quickly getting back to folks commenting on your tweets and tagging you
• Bringing your social team to the front. This brings out the human element #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) September 29, 2022
Don made a great point, too. Make sure that whoever runs your Twitter account knows and understands the nuances of the platform—or at least someone who’s actively learning about the way Twitter works. This is important for building a strong presence on Twitter. You don’t want to post something and disappear until you have something else to promote.
A3: make sure the person running their Twitter account is somebody that knows Twitter and understands Twitter. Don’t tweet and run. Don’t repost from other platforms. #TwitterSmarter
— Don Covin 🇨🇦 (@don_covin) September 29, 2022
When you think about it, there are only about a handful of reasons for negative word of mouth. Be wary of those and avoid them as much as you can. Don’t create insensitive or alienating marketing campaigns, avoid relying too much on bots and automated responses for customer support, and don’t hide away after posting content.
A4. Negative word of mouth is a result of brands being:
• Offensive or insensitive in their marketing
• Poor customer support that’s mainly operating by bots
• Unresponsive. Setting tweets but forgetting about them
Make sure you avoid all of this #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) September 29, 2022
Julia from NOW Marketing Group added another great point—be responsible. Before you make a post, stop and think critically about what you’re about to share. Don’t be someone you’re not—respect yourself enough to be true to yourself.
A4: Act with integrity, always think critically before posting anything and show up to CARE. Be human, be authentic and responsive, and you shouldn’t see a ton of negative word of mouth! – JJS #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/eR9R4xHq2n
— NOW Marketing Group #SMWL22 (@NOWMG) September 29, 2022
Generally speaking, any useful content will help you generate buzz. That said, there are a few types of content that stand out more from the others, such as GIFS and videos that explain your product or service, Twitter threads that share important and educational material, Spaces conversations discussing key topics and trends in your industry, and upcoming trends that are most relevant to your brand.
A5. Create the following content types:
• Useful, value-packed Twitter threads
• GIFs that educate about your product
• Hosting Spaces on topics important to your audience
• Trending content that’s aligned with your brand + audience #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) September 29, 2022
Pavel shared some other strategies that’ll help you generate word of mouth, including loyalty programs, contests and giveaways, customer testimonials and reviews, and product recognition and awards.
A5: Type of content that can generate word of mouth:
-Customer reviews/testimonials
-Product ratings/services rating
-Incentives
-Online Contests
-Loyalty programs#TwitterSmarter— Pavel Stepanov (@pavelStepanov77) September 29, 2022
Masooma shared her top three ways to improve positive WOM quickly. One, showcase your personality. People want to see and get to know the real you—so show them. Next, don’t slip away from your brand. Don’t say or do things that your brand wouldn’t normally do—when you steer away from your branding, it stands out like a sore thumb. People will notice and it will draw the kind of negative attention you don’t want. Finally, be there and be consistent. Show up on Twitter regularly, even if you don’t have much to say on any given day. Engage with others and show your audience that you’re present and listening.
A6.
• Show your brand personality
• Stay on brand. Stick to your brand voice and don’t share memes or jump on trends not aligned with ur brand
• Be consistent (in showing up on Twitter, sharing valuable content, and engaging with your audience) #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) September 29, 2022
Thiam also shared some great tips. Always ask questions. It shows people that you’re curious to learn about them and their interests. Start conversations on topics that others can contribute to—that way, you’re giving people an opportunity to have a multi-directional discussion. If you see something that no one else has pointed out, then talk about it. That’s how thought leaders are born—not by putting it on their bio, but by sharing unique ideas and perspectives in everyday conversations.
A6
Ask provocative questions. Choose topics others can contribute to by offering their own experiences, advice, and answers.
Become a thought leader. Have an angle everyone's missing? Get everyone talking about it.#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/3FcvapbIRg— THIAM MÉKÀ de GOGUENHEIM (@ThiamMeka2Gogue) September 29, 2022
Our guest gave a shout-out to Emirates and ConvertKit for their great customer support; ClickUp and Semrush for sharing valuable content; and McDonald’s and Duolingo for leveraging trends successfully and showcasing their personality.
A7. Brand examples + what makes them winners:
• Fast customer support: @EmiratesSupport & @ConvertKit
• Valuable content: @clickup & @semrush
• Following trends & showing personality: @McDonalds & @duolingo #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) September 29, 2022
Our friends from Social Media Pulse told us about Chewy and how the brand goes out of its way to provide great customer experiences.
A7.@chewy seems to come up in every conversation about positive brand experiences.
This comes from genuinely going out of their way to create great experiences their customers want to talk about.#TwitterSmarter 🚀— Social Media Pulse (@SMP_Community) September 29, 2022
The three big no-nos are related to all the do’s we’ve talked about so far. Don’t be inconsistent, don’t forget to create a content and engagement strategy, and above all, don’t be self-centered—it’s the quickest way to ensure that people stop caring about you. Instead, focus your content and engagement on what your audience needs.
A8. Avoid the following mistakes:
❌ Inconsistency in showing up and using your brand voice
❌ Lack of a Twitter content and engagement strategy
❌ Taking a self-centred approach instead of a customer-centric one #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) September 29, 2022
Madalyn shared some invaluable advice as well. Don’t ignore or avoid direct engagements. This includes replies people post to your content, tags, mentions, and direct messages. Not responding to people will turn them off, and no one wants that.
A8: If you want to leave a good impression on your audience, make sure you’re responding to their messages. Ignoring the comments and DMs you receive is a huge turn-off. #TwitterSmarter
— Madalyn Sklar Digital Marketing since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) September 29, 2022
Well folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading through and for more great insights from our chat with Masooma have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together for us. If you like this summary, you’ll love the real-time chat. Join us next Thursday at 1 pm ET for #TwitterSmarter. We also have an after-chat on Twitter Spaces at 5 pm ET. See you there!
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the things—marketing stuff to pay the bills; haiku and short stories so I feel wholesome. A social media enthusiast, I hang out with the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and am always happy to take on writing gigs.
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