Over the past month, I
have been spending an enormous amount of time on Twitter. Through this
experience, I have observed several tips and tricks to optimize a person or digital business presence on Twitter.
1. It's You Scratch My Back; I'll Scratch Your Back Kind Of World:
In the world that we live in, nothing comes for free. In other words, to gain a following you must be willing to engage in a two-way communication process. As a business or persona, one must be willing to engage with others content on Twitter. Doing so follows the principals of reciprocity, and while it may not always work, it is worth a shot. In the perfect world, by engaging with a persona or business’ content, they might, in turn, retweet or like your content, which can go a long way. However, while any brand exposure one can get is positive, there are ways in which a persona/ business can get more out of retweeting or liking content, through strategic engagement.
2. Executing A Strategic Engagement Plan :
No matter the industry, there is always people and or organization within it that have a
prominent voice in social media. These
thought leaders can lend a helpful hand in spreading your message. The question
is how do we find these people or organizations?
Start by making a list of all the keywords that are
important to the message you are trying to communicate. For example, say you
are a car dealership. Some important words related to your industry include automotive, dealership, fuel economy, car safety. Once you list down these words,
put them into hashtags, and begin to take note of not only the conversations
that are taking place but who is leading them.
One might be tempted
to go on to assume that the person or organization that have the most engagements on their posts is the brand to
follow. While this might be the case, you’ll need to do some research first.
Through research, you may discover that
even though this person might be popular,
doesn’t mean that they know the right people. How then do you determine the quality of a potential thought leader?
Look at who is following that brand. If it is a business are
the key trade journals or publications following them? If not, what about other
people who are partaking in the conversations on
a regular basis, are they following that
business? If neither of these is the case, this business might not be the most
useful in the long run. However, don’t count them out entirely. The same
mindset goes for personas.
Now that you have gained a
general understanding of the background of your respective industry it is time
to start setting up your account to widen your audience.
3. Gaining Exposure Through Your Account:
Remember how earlier when you listed down the keywords
that were related to your industry? Narrow that list down to your top 5-7
keywords and include these keywords in the form of hashtags in your profile
description. Why is this?
When searching for hashtags, Twitter acts much like any
search engine and pulls up results that contain keywords. One of the tabs you can choose says, people,
click on this tab and you will find people who either have these hashtags in
their profile description or have the keyword(s) within their Twitter handle.
If I were to take an educated guess, I’d say that the
order and or ranking of these results work like the Google search engine, in
that based on how many times that profile was viewed, the keyword frequency
within that page, and how often they post determines ones ranking. The ultimate
goal would be to move up on that list.
As of now, you have accomplished three main components
that go into optimizing your Twitter account. First, you started by recognizing
that engagement with other content on Twitter can be valuable for both parties involved.
Secondly, you complied research identifying keywords, conversations, and
thought leaders. Thirdly, you set up your profile to be searchable through
keywords that you utilize within your description. The final step is putting it
all together.
4. Success Is Around The Corner:
Now that you have compiled all this research and other
background info you can start tweeting out content. The type of content that
you post should be reflective of what you have learned from your research. At
the same time, there needs to be a twist to the content. A unique quality that’ll make you stand out from all the others who are discussing the topical
areas in your industry. Not sure where to start?
Start by joining in the conversation in your industry.
Share what you are most passionate about, and what you want others to know
about your brand. Converse and engage with thought leaders within the industry,
and in time you will begin to understand where you can fit into the mix.
What strategies have you implemented in optimizing your
Twitter presence? What advice do you have for others looking to grow? Comment
below.
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