Twitter can be a powerful tool to support business messaging — but only if that messaging is optimized for the service and released along a strategic timetable. Brent S. Gambill of Martin-Wilbourn Partners, a social media marketing expert, spoke Tuesday at the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce on the subject of Twitter fundamentals. Read on to learn about how to get the most out of your Twitter messaging by utilizing proven strategies.
2. Twitter
• Twitter has more than 500 million users
• 60% Female, 40% Male
• 120,000 tweets are posted every second
• 340 Million tweets are posted per day
• Every day, 1 million new accounts are
created
• 43% of Americans are exposed to tweets
from traditional media
3. Twitter
• 64% of Twitter users are more likely to buy
products of brands they follow
• 53% of users have recommend
companies and products on Twitter
• 50% of shoppers have made a purchase
based on a recommendation posted on
social media
• Engagement levels among Twitter users
rose from 69% in 2011 to 76% in 2012
4. Twitter: Super Bowl
• 26 Super Bowl commercials included
Twitter references.
– Four referenced Facebook
– One referenced Instagram
– One referenced YouTube
– Zero referenced Google+
• Twitter increased its hashtag mentions
by 300% over the course of 2011
6. Twitter Glossary
• Blocking – Action used to keep someone on Twitter from
following you or adding you to their lists, resulting in no
mentions of them being delivered to your Mentions tab.
• Deactivation – A way to remove a profile from Twitter.
Information from deactivated profiles remains in Twitter’s
system for 30 days.
• Direct Message (DM) – Private, 140-character message
between two people. You may only DM a user who follows
you.
• Favorite – To mark a tweet by clicking the yellow star next to a
message. Marked posts are housed in your personal
“Favorites” section.
7. Twitter Glossary
• Follow – Subscribing to someone’s tweets or
updates.
• Follow Count – Quantity of people or accounts
you follow, and how many people or
accounts follow you.
• Follower – Twitter user who has followed you.
• Following – Reflects the quantity of other
Twitter users you have chosen to follow.
8. Twitter Glossary
• Handle – Username selected by a user and its
accompanying URL (i.e. @BrentSGambill and
Twitter.com/BrentSGambill).
• Hashtag (#) – The # symbol is used to denote a
topic of conversation, allowing users to
participate in a larger linked discussion (i.e.
#Braves, #MadMen). A hashtag is a discovery tool
that allows others to find your tweets, based on
topics. You can also click on a hashtag to see all
the tweets that mention it in real time – even from
people you do not follow.
9. Twitter Glossary
• Listed – To be included in another Twitter user’s list. Listed
numbers and details appear in the statistics section of your
profile.
• Lists – Curated groups of other users. Used to tie specific
individuals into a group on your Twitter account.
• Mention (@) – Referencing another user by including the @ sign
followed directly by their username (i.e. @LRChamber) in a
tweet. Users are notified when mentioned. It is also a way to
conduct discussions with other users in a public realm.
• Modified Tweet (MT) – Placed before the retweeted text when
users manually retweet a message with modifications, for
example shortening a tweet.
10. Twitter Glossary
• Name – A listing separate from your handle. It can be different
from your username and is used to locate you on Twitter. Must
be 20 characters or fewer.
• Profile Picture – Personal image uploaded to your Twitter
profile via the Settings tab of your account.
• Promoted Tweets – Tweets that businesses have paid to
promote. They appear at the top of search results on Twitter.
• Protected/Private Accounts – Twitter accounts are public by
default. Choosing to protect your account means your tweets
will only be seen by approved followers and will not appear in
search results.
11. Twitter Glossary
• Reply – Tweet posted in reply to another user’s
post, usually posted by clicking the “reply” button
next to their tweet in your timeline. Always begins
with @username.
• Retweet (RT) - Re-posting or giving credit to
someone else’s tweet. The retweet button allows
instant sharing of another’s full embedded post.
• Retweet with Comment - Re-posting or giving
credit to someone else’s tweet by manually
cutting and pasting content into a post.
12. Twitter Glossary
• Timeline – Real-time stream of tweets you see on your
homepage. It’s comprised of updates from users you
follow.
• Trends – Subject algorithmically determined to be one of
the most popular topics at the moment on Twitter.
• Tweet – 140-character message.
• Unfollow – To cease following another Twitter user. Their
tweets no longer show up in your timeline.
13. Twitter Glossary
• URL – Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a web address that
points to a unique page on the Internet.
• URL Shortener – Turns a long URL into a shorter URL. Shortening
services can be found online (i.e. Bitly, TinyURL).
• Username – Also known as a Twitter handle. Must be unique
and contain fewer than 15 characters. Is used to identify you
on Twitter for replies and mentions.
• Verification – Process whereby a user’s Twitter account is
stamped to show that a legitimate source is authoring the
account’s tweets. Sometimes used for accounts who
experience identity confusion on Twitter.
15. Twitter Tips: Organization
• Social Media Directory
– Page Managers
• Monitoring
• Training
• Page managers should use separate
mobile twitter apps for personal and
company
20. Twitter Tips: Content
• Consistent posting
• Include links
– Tweets with links are three times more
likely to be RT’d
• Be timely
21. Twitter Tips: Content
• Specific words can lead to a higher rate
of retweets
• The most commonly retweeted words:
– You
– Twitter
– Please
– Retweet
– Post
– Check out
22. Twitter Tips: Content
• Posts with more than 118 characters on
Twitter have less engagement.
– Users do not want to read longer tweets, and
retweets with comments are more difficult to
retweet.
• Grammar matters. Use proper
punctuation.
– Colons and periods are the most commonly
used punctuation.
– Question marks and semicolons are not
commonly used.
23. Twitter Tips: Content
• How many tweets per day?
– Research indicates ten to twenty tweets is a
good daily average for brands.
– Infrequent posts can lead to unengaged
followers.
– Over-tweeting leads to engaged unfollows.
• Engagement is higher on posts with photos.
– Instagram no longer embeds photos on Twitter.
– Twitter has photo filters?
24. Twitter Tips: Content
• A common mistake is starting a tweet
with @someone for a post meant for
the public.
– When a tweet begins with @someone,
only the two accounts (one posting and
one mentioned) will see the post, along
with anyone who follows both.
25. Twitter Tips: Hashtags
• The hashtag was first used in August 2007.
• A hashtag is a ”tag” used to categorize tweets according to
topics.
• To add a hashtag, you preface the relevant term with pound
sign (#).
• It allows people who follow a topic to find your tweet and
hopefully follow you.
• You can create your own business hashtag.
• Be careful of using trending hashtags
– Example: #LRChamber #WPS #MWPartners
26. Twitter Tips: Hashtags
• Use sparingly & respectfully
• Search a hashtag before using it
• Hashtags provide useful context & cues for topics
• Excessive use causes annoyance, confusion or
frustration
• Use hashtags when it adds value, not on every word in a
post
• Create an official hashtag for your business
30. Twitter Tips: Engage
• Communicate with users who engage with
and mention your brand.
• Negative tweets will happen.
– Customer service is #1.
– Respond. Be personable. Be polite.
– Next step is to move to phone or email contact.
• Follow other users.
• Respond to new followers.
41. Twitter Tips: Policy
• Create a Social Media Standards &
Practices Guide
– Provides rules for employees
– Page managers need expectations for
their work on social media
– Involve public relations strategies
42. Martin-Wilbourn Partners
• Follow me at @BrentSGambill
• Follow us at @MWPartners
• Website: MWPartners.com
• Blog: MWPartners.com/Podium