Twitter is an incredibly effective tool in marketing—if it’s used correctly, anyway. Twitter is meant to be a communication tool, but if you haven’t been using it for very long, it’s simple to utilize it incorrectly. The first question you need to ask yourself after you decide to market yourself on Twitter is: What message am I trying to send? To ensure you don’t make any mistakes, here are a few tips to lead you in the right direction.
1. Don’t protect your Tweets. Privacy is a huge issue lately, but when marketing a business you should be open to everyone. Private communication systems are meant for communicating within your company or with a group of friends. People aren’t going to want to connect with you if your tweets are protected—it makes it seem as though you are closed off to any more connections.
2. Have a captivating profile. Yes, it may be difficult to get your message across in the 160 characters that are available to you, but this gives you the opportunity to be innovative! Your bio should be short, sweet, and to the point; don’t ramble on about every little thing you think people should know about you.
3. Don’t use direct messaging to market. People like checking out the links on your page, they aren’t going to get excited about your product when you send them a direct message with a link attached. Think about it: would you want someone to market to you that way?
4. Watch your photos! I cannot stress this enough, especially with the younger crowd. If you’re in job search mode or trying to promote your business, having a suggestive photo on your page certainly isn’t going to look good. Choosing the right profile picture is also extremely important, check out these tips to help you. For someone to take you seriously, you need to come across as a professional—a picture of you at a bar drinking with your buddies won’t send a good message.
5. Use Twitter to build relationships. Don’t you hate when you get blasted with tweets from a business trying to broadcast their message? When people do this, it comes off as spam; you also risk losing potential contacts this way.
Utilizing Twitter to market yourself or your business can be very effective if done correctly. Just stick to these basic tips to ensure that you are building lasting relationships through your marketing strategies.
