5 Tips For More Effective Twitter Marketing

A business's social media strategy typically includes a Twitter marketing element, which helps the company connect further with customers and build brand awareness. However, simply being on Twitter isn't enough to create engagement and generate new customers; a brand must pay attention to its Twitter strategy in order to use the social media engine as an effective marketing tool. Here are five tips that will help your brand enhance its Twitter marketing:

1) Establish Measurable Objectives. Before you begin tweeting, set clear objectives as to what you are looking to gain through your Twitter marketing strategy. Is it more Twitter followers? More mentions and retweets? Increased number of referrals back to your website? While measuring increases in revenue and customers gained through Twitter marketing is significantly more difficult, tracking any of the above components can help you determine whether your brand has been successful at least in creating awareness of a product or promotion via Twitter.

2) Tweet With Purpose. Ask the question, "Why would people on Twitter want to follow you?" and create tweets based on this answer. For example, you might set up a Twitter account to give people more information about your brand and products, to update customers on special deals and promotions, to entertain your followers, or to provide an insider's perspective on your brand and its operations. It's possible to pursue more than one (or all) of these purposes on Twitter, and if you do, make sure you do it in an organized way, such as by setting up multiple Twitter accounts dedicated to each purpose.

3) Create a Personable Account. Often, brands mistakenly set up accounts that seem to come from an 'entity' (i.e. the company) rather than an individual. Typically, this translates to informative but monotonous tweets that are devoid of human personality. Online consumers, however, prefer more personable approaches and thus respond better to organizations that showcase their unique brand personalities. Ensure your brand has a personality on Twitter by assigning the right person(s) to create your tweets -- this person should have a good online personality and be able to reflect the voice of the brand in his or her updates.

4) Mix Up Your Tweets. A Twitter account that always tweets the same kind of thing -- for example, links to a brand's product page -- will quickly be ignored by followers. Vary your tweets by creating a mix of content: conversational, promotional, informational, inspirational and more. The more varied your tweets are, the more engaging and interesting they will be, which elevates the likelihood of a Twitter user clicking on your link or following your account.

5) Pay Attention to Time & Number of Tweets. No Twitter user wants his or her account flooded with tweets from a single brand, so organizations must be careful to not over-tweet. Instead of publishing content in large bursts, spread your tweets out over the course of the day. Also pay attention to the periods your referral traffic from Twitter is highest; this may indicate the best time of day to publish your tweets.

For more information on Twitter marketing strategies and how brands today are using the social media network to create brand awareness, download Trend Hunter's Twitter Trend Report. Further, you can uncover more Twitter-related developments in business by accessing our PRO trends database, which includes trends like The Tweet Life and Tweetonomics.