It’s reported that the prime lifespan (i.e when people RT or engage with a tweet) is just 18 minutes – so businesses have a limited window to reach their potential customers

With the majority of small businesses using Twitter to market themselves, how do you break through the noise?

For us Twitter has always been about one thing (yes, even in 2009 when Twitter was a lot quieter) and that is “Add Value – Not Noise”

Below we present the DO’s and DON’TS Of Twitter In 2015 so that you break through the noise, add value and win customers

DO

USE IMAGES IN YOUR TWEETS
Twitter report that tweets with images generate twice the level of engagement than tweets with just text

It makes sense – simply have a scroll down your twitter stream for 1 minute and see which tweets stand out (especially on mobile)

For those using Hootsuite as a scheduling tool we recently did some A/B testing on posting via ow.ly on hootsuite and posting natively via pic.twitter.com on Hootsuite pro and found out that the tweets posted in Twitters native form generated 4 x the amount of impressions

Images on Tweets are a must for Twitter in 2015

STRATEGISE YOUR CONTENT DISTRIBUTION
For Twitter to work it needs to be linked in to your overarching online marketing strategy

The secret to our success at Altrincham HQ is that we are present every day on Social Media, we have 100+ LinkedIn Recommendations and we blog every single week on our website

The latter is not to be underestimated and we actually spend as much time working out our Social Media distribution plan of said blogs as we do writing them

Before we’ve even written a blog we have a clear idea of who the audience is, which hashtags we can utilise, how we can jump into twitter chats (not twitter hours) and have the structure of how often, which lead in tweets and when to post them

In the last 12 months Twitter has driven 60% of our Social Media Traffic and it’s all because we have a plan from the outset

Shareable content is absolutely key

USE THE LOCAL TOWN SOCIAL MEDIA HASHTAG
For the majority of small businesses we meet in Trafford the local business is their bread and butter, so hyper local social media is their playing field

However despite the local town hashtag being our key mantra since 2009 many B2B businesses have still not cottoned on to how valuable using #altrincham #saletown #urmston etc can be

The local town hashtag is at the centre of everything on twitter and is 1 of the most viewed areas of twitter – it’s just as key for B2B as B2C!

Your customers and potential referrers are all using it for search even if they’re not including it in their tweets – so why not drop into the conversations rather than being a silent observer

BENCHMARK YOUR TWITTER ANALYTICS
Twitter analytics only used to be available to those paying for Twitter Ads, but now they’re open to every user

Just as you use Google Analytics to track the success of your website, Twitter analytics offer insights as to how you have performed on twitter over the past 3 months in terms of impressions, engagement rate, link clicks, retweets, favourites and replies

Why would you spend 30 minutes to an hour on Twitter every day without measuring it, benchmarking and trying to improve month on month?

Small increments of 10% improvement month on month will bring huge dividends by the end of the year

THINK OF YOUR COLLECTIVE NETWORK
If you’ve witnesses the regeneration of Altrincham you will have noticed that Altrincham Market features prominently in all coverage

When you see how Altrincham Market work on twitter it’s clear that all traders and stakeholders involved come together as one voice for the collective success of Altrincham Market

How does this compare to your local business networking group?

Just imagine if the 30-50 people attending each group helped and supported others in the group with Retweets, shares and general support outside of the networking meeting itself

The success of individual B2B businesses comes from working together as a collective and showing that same intense level of support as market traders give each other

DON’T

EXPECT RESULTS WITHOUT HARD WORK
Social Media has always been cost effective in comparison to traditional marketing, but don’t mistake this with being easy.

Results won’t come through Twitter without putting the time and effort in and we recommend that companies spend 4 hours per week (about 30 minutes a day) really working their social media and engaging with their target audience as well as broadcasting

It’s the engagement where the true value of Social Media comes in and having those 2 way conversations that strengthen relationships

GO STRAIGHT FOR THE SALE
Do you know what the biggest turn off on twitter for business is?

The hard sell

That moment where you follow a twitter account because you have a genuine interest in and their 1st tweet or DM to you is a hard sell of “if you need XYZ, give us a call”

Say hello, talk about their interests and let the relationship develop before you try and sell – just like traditional networking!

OVERUSE TWITTER HOURS
On twitter there are 3 buttons that you need to think about when tweeting – Unfollow, Mute and Block

Whilst there are many helpful topic based twitter chats available – #bufferchat and #bloghour being just 2 – there are a number of location based twitter hours that appear to be the twitter equivalent of that person that runs around networking groups thrusting business cards into each person’s hands without caring who and then moving onto the next person

If you do the hard sell tweets during these hours too frequently then you can be sure the unfollow, mute and block buttons will be used by your followers

BE TOO FORMAL
Twitter is naturally informal and often compared to a dinner party or halfway between the office and the pub

Even in “serious” business areas such as finance and law it’s acceptable to loosen the tie, be a little more informal while still being informative

Steve Kuncewicz is allegedly Manchester’s “Most Followed Lawyer” on twitter – have a look @SteveKuncewicz to see how he blends super serious legal tweets with tweets about his passions (Batman and superheroes in the main)

DON’T TREAT SOCIAL MEDIA LIKE A NEWSLETTER, BUSINESS CARD OR FLYER
Social Media should not be treated like a newsletter that you jump into once a week

Social Media isn’t just a business card – an opportunity to broadcast your job title or service you offer and a phone number – people want and they definitely deserve more than that!

Social Media is not a flyer – Twitter followers need to be treated with respect and treated as individuals rather than as a passer-by that you hand exactly the same leaflet to

NOW YOU HAVE THE DO’S AND DON’TS PLEASE TWEET US @ALTRINCHAMHQ AND LET US KNOW HOW YOU’RE GETTING ON

NEED MORE HELP?
Love facebook – but struggle with Twitter

We offer training courses on both Facebook and Twitter

Social Media Training – Facebook
Social Media Training – Twitter

Any questions just call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Altrincham Hq

“With over 12 years experience of Social Media and 17 years experience of online marketing in other companies, clients come to myself when they want a veteran rather than a rookie” Alex McCann