ID3AS Blog
Twitter Best Practices
From inception in 2006, Twitter has grown their consumer base to include an excess of 317 million young and educated users that collectively tweet over 500 million times a day. For businesses especially, this provides a great opportunity to reach an extremely large global audience. In the corporate world, Twitter has evolved into a multi-faceted customer service tool that allows authentic business-to-consumer conversation with real time help and assistance making the buyers journey a more seamless one.
Direct Response to Customer Service
The use of Twitter makes direct response marketing easier for both the brand and consumer. For better or for worse, a simple @Wendys allows customers to tweet out their negative and positive thoughts along with reviews and reactions about the fast food giant. We use Wendy’s as an example because their responsiveness goes above and beyond consumer expectations in a way that they maintain a helpful and professional tone while incorporating their added sense of witty humor. However, their message never defers from heavy focus on the brand. See the below examples of how they do so:
Wendy’s uses current terminology like “DM” to connect with a younger audience.
They even reply to less serious inquiries and anticsBuilding Brand Advocates
It is easy for brands to go into “triage mode” when replying to consumers who have made their issue with their product and/or performance. However, keep in mind that it is important to also reward consumers who are interested in having a neutral and positive conversation with you company. This is an extremely easy but viable way to build customer rapport and in turn create long-term brand advocates. See how Wendy’s does this below:
Emojis are an easy way to respond to comments that don’t necessarily need one.
Replying with a question generates user engagement which in turn, shows your audience that you care about what they have to say.Real-Time Marketing
Twitter is regarded as an active hub for breaking news stories along with coverage of real-time events, both big and small. Brands that keep an active pulse on trending topics through searching relevant hashtags and weighing in on the conversation seem to have great success.
During the 2013 SuperBowl, a power outage left for an unexpected 40+ minute break in the 3rd quarter. Oreo made their way into the conversation with a memorable tweet by “newsjacking” and getting their brand involved with an active, trending story. See how below:
When a company weighs in on situations happening in real time, it humanizes their brand even further.
Real-time marketing is a beneficial as it is risky and should be carefully vetted before posting. Delta Airlines made the mistake of using the Statue of Liberty to represent the United States and a giraffe to represent Ghana in their score tweet when congratulating the U.S. for their match win against Ghana at the work cup. Their tweet (see below) was met with severe backlash when Twitter users pointed out that there are no giraffes in Ghana.
Real-time coverage does not eliminate the need for set processes; instead they should have their own!
How to Have Successful Promoted Tweets
Promotion and advertisements are seamlessly integrated into your audience’s Twitter feed. Studies show that 67% of users are more likely to purchase from a brand they follow, therefore targeting your promoted tweets to your followers and their friends makes a big impact. According to AdWeek, promoted Tweets with hashtags benefit from a 122% boost in engagement. Using Twitter analytics to track your paid and organic tweets will give your business insights. Twitter analytics also provides you with data for brand best practices and shows where you can improve. Key metrics to look for include tweet impressions and total tweet engagements.
Incorporating Interactive Media
Including interactive media elements into your tweets like gifs, videos, photos and emojis drastically increase user engagement. Tweets with images get 150% more retweets than those without. To put it simply, the more retweets (or engagement) the more visibility (or impressions) your tweets get. More impressions lead to more followers which in turn grows a wider audience for your brand. Now that’s a win.
To put it simply, Twitter is a social platform that humanizes your brand and helps build B2C and B2B relationships. With a combination of direct-response customer service, real-time marketing, and live tweets you are bound to be successful on this global communication network!
So what are you waiting for? Let D3 show you what 140-characters can do!