If your agency is using social media, it's likely using Facebook as its main platform probably because it's the most familiar to us. Facebook is the leader in social media with a reported 1.73 billion users daily. This means you're probably on it for personal reasons which means you're more likely to use it for business as well. However, Twitter reports it's estimated number of daily users at 1.86 million which means it can not be overlooked.
There's a lot of business to be won on Twitter and it's all right there waiting for you. If you and your agency aren't currently using Twitter to expand your reach, we've put together this cheat sheet on getting started so that you can start taking advantage of the value of the tweet.
One of the main features of Twitter is the use of the hashtag. Knowing how to use the hashtag properly is going to get you the best access to topics you want to follow and users that you want to reach. On the flip side, it's also a way to tag your own content so that other followers can find it, and you. This seems like it would be a good opportunity to cast a wide net with your use of the hashtag, but be careful. Too many hashtags in one post is considered spamming and can hurt your reach. You want to use very specific hashtags to get the most relevant engagement.
When you join Twitter for business, you're doing so for the reach. This means you might think you should just follow as many people as possible, but that's actually not the case. Accounts are looking at their followers and can tell when a follower is there for a legitimate reason or if the follower is just there for the follow-back so they can get their numbers up. This is also considered spamming and will get you in Twitter jail if you aren't careful. For a business account, make sure you're following relevant accounts who post high-value content for your industry. Following celebrities and trolling brands is for your personal account.
Twitter makes it easy for users to see and engage with what's trending in any topic you want to know about. meaning it can also be seen as a news site of sorts. This gives you the opportunity to stay on top of what's happening in your industry and interact with other accounts that are talking about it in real time. This doesn't mean you have to retweet or comment on every tweet you see regarding a trending topic, but it allows you to find what's most relevant for you to engage with.
One of the more intimidating features of Twitter is that it's fast paced and it's a lot of text. This means that sharing visual content is an attention grabber. Images, videos and infographics are a great way to stand out and break up people's feeds so that you get noticed. Be sure that what you're sharing is high quality and is up to Twitter's content standards so that it's more likely to be shared by other users. A low-res image with typos isn't going to go very far.
If you haven't started using Twitter yet, these are a few good basics for getting started. Remember that you don't need to be intimated by the sheer volume that shows up in your feed, just stay on trend and on topic and before you know it you'll be tweeting great content and engaging with a whole new slew of potential prospects.