Twitter Marketing Tips

This guide will help get you started by walking through some best practices for using Twitter for marketing, whether you’re building an audience from scratch or trying to boost engagement with the followers you already have.

Retweet relevant quotes

The other surefire way to gain retweets is to post a quote that’s relevant to your followers. For example, if you’re in the health and fitness industry, you could share the following:

  • “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” —Bertrand Russell
  • “A healthy outside starts from the inside.” —Robert Urich
  • “To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” —Buddha

Comments: I always add my own comments before or after the quote. If you don’t have enough characters left to do this, use Twitter’s quote tweet feature instead of retweeting someone directly.

Credit: Give credit to the person who wrote or said it directly below the quote. Use their Twitter handle if they have one; otherwise, just mention their name along with other pertinent information about them (e.g., title, job position).

Share infographics

Infographics are the next best thing after cats on the internet. People love them and share them three times more than regular posts. Not only that, but infographics can be used to teach your audience about a complex subject in a simple manner. They can also be a great way to promote your product if used correctly. The bottom line is if you want to make it big on Twitter with your business, start posting infographics!

Share your tweet with other social networks

Cross-posting can be a powerful addition to your marketing strategy. By sharing your tweet with other social networks, you can reach a larger audience, raise brand awareness, and ultimately drive more traffic to your website.

To cross-post successfully:

  • Share on the networks that are most relevant to your business. While many businesses will benefit from sharing their tweets on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, it’s likely that some of these networks won’t make sense for your business. A software company might use LinkedIn but not Instagram; a fashion company might share its tweets on Pinterest or Snapchat but not Facebook. Decide which networks are most appropriate based on the products or services you offer and where they’re most likely to resonate with your followers.
  • Optimize images for each network. There are slight differences between how each social network displays images in posts, so we recommend creating different versions of the same image for each network you cross-post to. You’ll want to be sure that all text is legible and that the images look great no matter where they’re displayed!

Ask for a retweet

Don’t be afraid to ask for a retweet.

There’s a common misconception that asking for a retweet is pushy and annoying, but it’s quite the opposite. Asking your followers to share your content with their followers gives them the chance to help you out in return, which makes them more likely to do so, since they’ll get something out of it as well. Plus, because Twitter allows only 140 characters per tweet (280 for non-promoted tweets), every one counts. Asking for a retweet at the end of your tweet can be an effective way to use those last few characters without making your message seem like it’s just trailing off into oblivion.

Think of what people would get out of sharing your tweet—and let them know about it! If you make clear why someone else would benefit from sharing your content, you’re giving them a reason to do so. Maybe you have an offer on your clothing line that’s also on sale right now; if you want people to spread the word about this limited-time deal, say “RT [retweet] if you want me to send you 10% off.”

Keep it short and sweet—that way they won’t lose interest before reaching the end of your tweet!

Add photos to your tweets

There’s an old saying about pictures and words, but you won’t need to remember it if you’re using Twitter for marketing. You shouldn’t just use pictures, you should use the right kind of picture.

Make sure your photo is relevant to the text in your tweet. If it isn’t, the effect will be jarring — and not in a good way. It might make sense to include images because they catch eyes and draw attention, but if they aren’t consistent with what your followers are expecting to see from your brand, they could attract the wrong kind of attention.

If including a photo makes sense to accompany your content on Twitter, make sure it’s visually appealing. Text-heavy photos tend to do poorly on social media (and can be hard to read without zooming), so opt for something that’s bright and has plenty of contrast or a compelling color scheme. Your images should also look professional—something that was shot with a smartphone or edited together in Photoshop will go much further than something slapped together in Microsoft Paint or Word Art.

Use hashtags, but not too many at once

Hashtags are a key part of the Twitter ecosystem. For example, if you’re posting about #socialmedia, you’ll want to be sure to include that hashtag in your post since it tells your audience what the tweet is about and makes it easier for people searching for information on #socialmedia to find your tweet. If you use more than one or two hashtags at once, though, people will be less likely to engage with your post.

We recommend using no more than two hashtags per tweet—and if you can just stick with one, even better! Make sure the hashtags you use are relevant to the topic at hand, since the point of this tactic is to reach audiences specifically interested in what you’re talking about.

Publish a Twitter newsletter on Fridays to promote your blog posts from the week

Twitter newsletters are a great way to send your best tweets right to people’s inboxes. Curating your top tweets is an excellent way to draw more attention to them, and Twitter’s newsletter tool will help you do just that.

For example, if someone doesn’t follow you on Twitter but receives your weekly newsletter, they’ll have the opportunity to learn about you in a different way. Each week when they open their email and see it there, it’ll help remind them of who you are and what you offer. This can lead them to check out your blog or other online content—and maybe even hit that “Follow” button!

Here’s how it works:

  • Go to twitter.com/newsletters/new_newsletter_content
  • Select “Choose a theme.” You can use one of their existing themes or upload something custom-made for you (a graphic designer can create one if you don’t already have something). You’ll want this page design to be attractive so readers click through and read your issues!
  • Add the URL of an existing tweet or write one out yourself as the text for your newsletter, then add any images or videos that might make it more interesting (it’s optional). You can also add buttons like “Reply” and “Retweet” so readers know how they should respond if they like what they see—these actions count toward engagement metrics!

Host a Twitter chat

One of the best ways to connect with your audience on Twitter is to host a Twitter chat, which is a public conversation around a specific topic. You can use them for several purposes:

  • To bring your audience together around a theme related to your business. Do you want to talk about the latest trends in industry?
  • To talk about one of your products or services. How can you make sure each event ends with actionable takeaways for your audience?
  • To share expert advice and resources from others in your network. What’s something that isn’t directly related to your business but helps people find success in their lives and careers?

This gives you an opportunity to involve other people in representing your brand, which will increase trust in and awareness of what you have to offer. It also allows you to position yourself as an authority on topics that matter most within your industry, rather than just as another seller among many others out there. Remember: People are more likely to buy from someone they know and trust, so the more authority you can build within the community, the better!

Cross-promote on other social channels, like Facebook and LinkedIn

To reach more people with your Twitter marketing, you could cross-promote your tweets on other social channels. This means posting the same messages on Facebook or LinkedIn that you post on Twitter. Of course, we’d suggest making some small changes to keep things interesting, but it’s a good idea to use similar wording and graphics so you don’t confuse your followers.

You can also use hashtags in ways other than campaigns (more on that soon). Hashtags are great because they make it easy for people to find content that interests them. Like any good digital marketer, we at HubSpot use the hashtag #HubSpotChat for our biweekly tweet chat about all things marketing and sales—and it helps increase engagement for both our tweets and our Twitter profile.

Don’t forget to also follow people who follow you on other channels as well as retweet their content. Doing these two nurturing tactics strengthens relationships and will help support the growth of your follower count over time.

Final words: Effective Twitter marketing takes work, but it can be simple and straightforward if you know what to do

Effective Twitter marketing takes work, but it can be simple and straightforward if you know what to do. The good news is that there are lots of things you can do to promote your business on Twitter. And because the platform’s default style is conversational, it’s not difficult to be creative and experiment with different approaches until you find what works for your brand.

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