Most marketers use Google, Facebook, and Bing for Ads, yet there are thousands of users on Twitter every day that you may be missing out on.
You may already know how to run an effective campaign for Google or Bing, but what does it take to run a great Twitter campaign?
This guide will show you where to start in planning your Twitter marketing strategy, what steps you can take to break down the process, tips for making your own retweet-worthy content, and what you have to do to get the results you are looking for!
Check out our 8 tips for building a competitive Twitter marketing campaign below!
1. Identify the goals of your Twitter campaign
Before you send out your first tweet or even begin writing your ad copy, you first need to identify what you want to get out of your Twitter ad campaign.
Do you want to increase your brand awareness? Do you want to gain more followers?
Maybe you want to increase engagement with your brand or send traffic to your website. No matter what your end goal is, identifying it is the key to creating a concise and productive Twitter ad campaign.
It is important to keep your brand message in mind during this step of the Twitter marketing plan. You should tie your message to the promotion you are creating and think about how this promotion will ultimately help the brand grow.
2. Find your voice
If you have been working with your company for a while, you have probably identified what kind of brand voice it has.
If you have not, this is a very exciting time! Every company is different and just like people, companies like to use words or phrases to differentiate themselves. Are you sassy and sarcastic, sophisticated and intelligent, or personable and relatable?
No matter what your approach is to talk with your audience, it is important to target your voice to that of your audience.
For instance, a company that sells popsicles probably uses a very different voice than a company that sells life insurance. Not only because of the nature of the products those companies sell, but also because of the audience they are targeting.
It is important to identify what tone your company uses when discussing the products or services your ad is selling in order to make it relatable to your target audience.
3. Define your budget
Defining your budget early on will limit surprises down the road.
Make sure everyone on your team is on the same page when it comes to creating the paid ad portion of your campaign. Twitter offers paid or sponsored ads on the platform. This can be a great way to get your content out there and really kick off your campaign.
These ads can be very targeted which helps you reach the right people for your campaign. Some of these capabilities include targeting —language, gender, interest, followers, device, behavior, keyword, and geography.
Twitter even allows you to integrate your own CRM system to target people you have identified!
4. Find your balance
Once you build your following, the Tweets you post will naturally be seen by many people. Until you build up a strong brand awareness however, sponsoring Tweets as paid ads or creating an awareness campaign can be some of the best ways to get your profile out there.
It is important in every Twitter strategy for businesses to find the right balance between paid and organic ads. Twitter Ads run in an auction-style, but you are able to determine the best bid costs for your budget.
Awareness campaigns allow your Tweet to be seen thousands of people and instead of paying for engagements, you pay by impressions. Any impressions or engagement you get can lead to new followers, website clicks, and conversions.
5. Create your content calendar
Now that you have identified your goals and have found your voice, it is time to begin planning this campaign!
Many agencies utilize a content calendar to keep track of when they will make posts. Thinking about making posts for an ongoing campaign can be daunting but breaking it down day by day or week by week can cut down that stress.
In a world where content is king, social media can be an intimidating thing. Constantly having to create and share things people want to see and more importantly, want to share with their followers, is no easy task. Or so you think!
Breaking down your content and planning ahead is the best way to keep this ever-present task at bay.
When planning your content calendar be sure to keep popular social media holidays and regular holidays in mind. National Best Friends Day on June 8th? This could be a great opportunity to share a thank you to your wonderful customers by providing a discount.
Independence Day on July 4th? You can bet your Stars and Stripes that your followers would like to see something patriotic from you.
Keeping your brand image in mind for this step is incredibly important. You want your followers to feel like a person is talking to them. You do this by creating original and interesting content.
Your followers are following your company for a reason— they like what you do.
Be sure to Tweet about your products or services. You can also Tweet about exciting things your company is doing. Sharing industry-related articles, information from a recent conference your team attended, what you are doing to help the community, or even highlighting fun things you are doing in the office is a great way to for people to think of you as a leader in the industry as well as a brand they can get behind.
6. Be active and engage with your followers
Once your scheduled posts being hitting the Twitter feed, your job isn’t done yet. The reason people use social media is to be social! You need to engage with your followers and be active in conversations on Twitter.
You can do this by answering questions posed by your followers, liking their replies to your Tweet, retweeting relevant content, and even joining in trending conversations. All of these actions are generating more exposed to your profile and will allow you to gain more followers. Not you mention, some of the best Tweets are replies to other Tweets.
7. Join the conversation
Jumping into trending conversations on Twitter is a great way to get your profile out there for people to see who would have never thought of searching for you otherwise.
If you are a well-known brand, jumping into these conversations is a great way to stay relevant and engage with users. One big brand that does this very well is Wendy’s. Wendy’s is a fast-food company whose quick comebacks on Twitter might be quicker than their service.
8. Don’t be afraid of the unplanned
As discussed above, replying to Tweets is a great way to engage with users, but another way is Tweeting something that you didn’t plan ahead for. This is often done when something happens spur of the moment or a trend that has just started.
For example, think of a popular event or TV moments that end up trending on Twitter. Standout Superbowl moments (aka Left Shark), long-awaited and over-hyped moments on reality TV shows, or even news and current events happening around the world.
These unplanned Tweets can be exactly what everyone on Twitter was thinking and then before you know it your Tweet has gone viral!
WebFX can help you create an effective, competitive Twitter marketing campaign
People follow you for a reason— they want to hear from you! Be social with your social network and you will reap the benefits! Launch a Twitter campaign today!
Need help getting started?
At WebFX, our team of innovative marketers will help you develop the Twitter marketing strategy for your business. If you’d like to learn more, contact us today!