At this point, you probably need no convincing that Twitter is an effective marketing tool for business.
You can use Twitter to gain exposure, drive site traffic, assist in conversions and improve overall brand reputation.
If you’re ready to up your investment in Twitter, but don’t know where to start or what to tweet, we’re here to help.
Read on for 21 things to tweet from a business or brand account.
1. Promote Your Blog Posts and Content
Whenever you publish a new blog post, case study, white paper or any other piece of content, push it out to Twitter!
And not just on the first day – make sure you schedule out follow-up tweets, especially if it’s a piece of evergreen content that’s performing well.
For example, let’s say REI publishes a blog post on supplies you need to bring when backpacking – that’s the kind of article that will be perpetually relevant.
REI could schedule out weekly tweets promoting that single blog post (with slightly different messaging each time) throughout an entire year.
2. Promote Your Sales and Specials
Whether you’re having a sale in a store or a special online, let your Twitter followers know!
For an in-store sale, include the details of where and when, and highlight some of the best deals.
For an online sale, include your promo code and let customers know how long it’s good for.
In either case, include a lively picture or GIF to attract more attention.
(Looking for a source for license-free photos? Check out 41 Places to Find Free Images Online That You Will Actually Want to Use.)
3. Share Helpful Tips or On-Brand Messages
Tweets don’t only have to link back to a specific blog post.
Use Twitter to share one-off tips and tricks that your audience will find useful.
If, for example, you sell skincare products, you could tweet general skincare tips.
A yoga studio, on the other hand, could tweet out positive mantras.
What can your business share that would benefit your audience?
4. Respond to Complaints, Comments and Questions
Customers expect responses from brands and businesses on Twitter.
According to research, 72% of Twitter users expect a brand to respond within an hour when they tweet a complaint.
To maintain your brand’s reputation, it’s essential to respond politely and promptly to complaints.
Never argue with the user, but thank them for sharing their experience and do everything to address their concerns (and move the conversation off Twitter to email or a phone call when it’s above and beyond the scope of 280 characters!)
Make sure to actively monitor your Twitter for complaints (and questions) so that concerns are addressed quickly and don’t escalate.
6. Give Answers to FAQ
Your FAQ is a great place to find content for Twitter.
What questions come up again and again?
Repurpose those questions and answers into bite-size Twitter content.
This is an easy way to anticipate and address needs before your audience even brings it up!
7. Conduct Polls
Polls are a quick and easy way to garner engagement on Twitter.
You can:
- Ask for general feedback.
- Discover product preferences.
- Learn more about your customers.
And it certainly doesn’t have to be all serious – you can ask lighthearted questions solely to boost engagement.
8. Highlight Reviews & Recommendations
It comes as no surprise that 97% of shoppers say reviews influence buying decisions.
In addition to review sites and your actual website, post positive reviews to Twitter.
If you get a glowing review on Yelp, Google, or anywhere else, don’t hesitate to hit copy and paste.
Share the quote directly to Twitter with a link to the actual review page.
9. Ask for Reviews & Recommendations
You can use Twitter not only to highlight reviews but also ask for them.
Sometimes your customers need that extra push to make a review.
A restaurant could tweet something as simple:
Reviews are so important for our business! If you love our restaurant, would you mind leaving us a review on Yelp? It’d mean so much to us! Take 60 seconds and leave us a review!
Include a link leading them directly to where they can lead a review.
This kind of request is something you could work into your Twitter calendar once a week.
10. Share Articles & Content that Are Relevant to Your Readers
Your Twitter account shouldn’t be a bullhorn announcing only your own accomplishments.
There should be a healthy mix of content that is relevant to your audience – and sometimes that means tweeting things that have nothing to do with your company itself.
For example, let’s say you’re a digital marketing agency specializing in SEO and a major algorithm update takes place.
Sharing a news story on the subject would be relevant to your clients, and it would also show that your agency is on top of the latest news.
Or maybe you’re a local business, and you have a neighboring store who is holding a charity event – chances are that the people who frequent your business would also be familiar with your neighbors so it would make total sense to help promote it.
11. Announce Job Openings
Looking for new talent?
Take to Twitter to announce your need.
Anyone following you is already interested in your brand, and who knows who’s out there that would jump on the opportunity to work with you!
Always tweet out job openings with a link to where people can apply.
12. Highlight Standout Employees
Speaking of employees, use Twitter to highlight your standout staff.
Share noteworthy accomplishments, whether it’s earning employee of the month, completing a major project, celebrating a major work anniversary or generally going above and beyond.
Not only will this boost staff morale, but it will also attract potential customers, employees, and customers.
Who wouldn’t want to work with a company not only has exemplary workers but takes the time to acknowledge and thank them?
13. Link to Any Press Coverage, Mentions or Recognition of Your Business
Whenever your business earns press coverage, an award or recognition of any kind, make sure to tweet it out.
Press mentions are one of my favorite things to tweet.
They’re Twitter gold, and belongs on all your social media channels, as well as a page dedicated to press mentions on your website.
Set up Google Alerts for your business’ name so you’re always on top of any news that comes out.
14. Recognize Holidays and Events
Holidays are excellent fodder for Twitter content.
Show the human side of your brand with thoughtful well wishes for the holidays, expressions of gratitude on Thanksgiving, national pride on the Fourth of July, etc.
Not sure what to post, exactly?
It can be as simple as a kind tweet with a relevant picture, or as elaborate as a three-minute video of your office singing a Christmas carol.
Get creative!
15. Retweet Any Positive or Useful Tweets Mentioning Your Brand
Make use of other people’s tweets!
Whenever someone mentions your business or employees, respond to the tweet and take the extra step to retweet it.
Note: when people mention you, they might not necessarily use your Twitter handle.
For that reason, it’s key to set up a column in your TweetDeck that monitors any mention of your brand’s name, the CEO and executives’ names, or any other important terminology associated with your business.
16. Find Ways to Be Transparent & Go Behind the Scenes of Your Business
Studies have shown that consumers are more likely to buy from transparent companies and more willing to give transparent companies second chances after a bad experience.
One way to be transparent is to go behind the scenes of your business.
You can:
- Share goals and objectives.
- Share videos or pictures of day-to-day operations.
- Admit to mistakes you’ve made and how they’ve shaped (or will shape) your future actions.
17. Get in On Trending Conversations
Take advantage of trending hashtags when appropriate.
For example, if #FridayFeeling is trending, a store could offer a 10% TGIF discount with and use #FridayFeeling in its hashtags.
Or, if you’re a B2B, maybe it’s just a funny TGIF picture, video, or meme celebrating the end of the week.
18. Have a Sense of Humor and a Heart
Just because you’re a business, your tweets don’t need to all be business-driven.
People love to see the human side of brands, so don’t hesitate to occasionally share a funny meme or joke, or a heartwarming video.
When you post things like this, try to keep it relevant to your brand.
For example, a shoe company could post a video of a charity giving out shoes to poor in third world countries – while it has nothing to do with their actual business, it’s still on brand.
19. Hold Contests
Use Twitter as a platform for a social media contest.
This will increase your engagement, boost your following, and lead to conversions.
You can also use your contest to capture emails and leads. Software like Studies and Rafflecopter make it simple to run a contest.
20. Strategically Interact with Influencers
Is building relationships with social media influencers one of your goals?
It doesn’t happen by magic.
Influencers are far more likely to partner with a brand they’ve formed a relationship with.
Make a list of influencers that your brand would benefit from working with, and begin regularly interacting with them: thoughtfully comment on their comment and retweet it when appropriate.
Then, when you’re ready to ask for something from them (whether you’re offering to pay or not), your request is much more likely to get attention – your business won’t be a stranger, but someone the influencer has begun to form a relationship with.
21. Participate in Twitter Chats
Twitter chats are a great way to earn more engagement and followers.
A Twitter chat is much like any other online chat, in which online users gather at a specified time to discuss certain topics or issues.
The great thing about Twitter chat is it brings users together from all over the world to a platform where they can interact in real time rather than communicate in a delayed manner through traditional social media postings.
To join a Twitter chat, you just need to know the hashtag being used (every Twitter chat has its own hashtag).
The best way to follow Twitter chats is with a site like TweetChat or TweetDeck.
There are Twitter chats on virtually every topic you can think of. SEMrush, for example, hosts a Twitter chat (#SEMrushChat) every Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET that focuses on digital marketing topics.
Find Twitter chats that are relevant to your business or industry, and make a point to join in when you can.
Image Credits
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita
