What is it Twitter and who uses it?
Twitter is a great social media tool to have if you want to promote your brand. It is used by many companies and individuals for promotion and also as a site where potential consumers can contact you.
Twitter was created in 2006 and since then has racked up a large number of active users, which now stands at more than 330 million. Twitter works by allowing users to send tweets of 280 characters as often as you please. These tweets can contain photos or videos; however, some people like to just use words as that was the original purpose of this app.
Recent studies show that only a small percent (11.4% as of April 2020) of all Twitter users are between the age of 12-17. This is a huge difference compared to apps such as Instagram and TikTok that have a higher majority of users in the 12-17 age range.
There are a lot of people using Twitter to follow celebrities, influencers and popular businesses, this is because of how easy it is to set up Twitter, as well as how it allows users to keep up to date with a brand’s content, promotions, discounts and new stock.
How to get followers on Twitter
Firstly, an important thing to remember is that promoting an account on another platform where you may have more followers is a great way to start building up a following. However, if you don’t have any other platforms then there are other ways to gain followers.
Some ways of gaining a following are:
Tweet frequently:
Tweeting frequently helps to get your account noticed, the more you tweet the more chances they have to gain followers. Increasing brand awareness by posting lots is a great way to get promotional content out, without having to worry about when it will be seen most as you’ll be posting a lot throughout the day.
Some accounts tweet up to 15 posts a day. Another key thing to think about is tweeting relevant but not original content, for example sharing content and/or tweet or a tweet from another brand and/or celebrity could get some good publicity.
Use popular hashtags:
Twitter is a great place to really get into using great hashtags as there is a large chance of people following you after finding a post connected to a hashtag they were looking for. On Twitter, there is no ‘explore page’ or ‘foryoupage’ the only way for to see people’s posts is to follow them, search hashtags, or other people share their posts.
Utilizing hashtags that are trending and putting them on to your posts means a lot more people are going to see the post.
Post visual-content:
Tweets can be photos, videos or just text. The more visually appealing the post is the more likely people are to notice it. The benefit is that a lot of other posts on Twitter are just text, so this will help yours stand out even more. If you post great quality content that is funny to watch or bold to look at, the chances of gaining followers improves highly.
Videos are a great promotion tactic as they are more gripping, which is what is ideal when a user is scrolling down a feed. You need your posts to be shareable, what that means is the post has the ability to be shared by lots of people and not loose its context.
This is why videos are great as they explain themselves and they have the potential of being very interesting to watch. The more shares you get the wider scale your brand is covering and the more reach you will achieve, resulting in the potential of more followers, link-clicks and eventually customers.
Make sure you have an inviting profile:
When people click on the brands page it needs to be full of information, and great quality posts, either funny or interesting. Having an inviting profile will mean that people are more likely to stay and interact with more of your posts if they feel engaged and have an interest in them.
A good example of having an inviting profile is having a colorful profile picture and a good informative bio as this helps other users to understand what the business is like and why they should follow it. Similarly, when users tag their friends in your posts, you want your profile to be inviting so that they then follow you and do the same.
Engage with replies, retweets and tags:
When people share your posts, liking the retweet takes no time at all. However, it can have a great reward. If users see that as a brand you are very engaging and friendly they are more likely to follow you.
Replying to questions that users ask you about your work, the products you’re trying to promote will help others as they will recognise the brand as helpful and reliable.
Dr. Wasim Ahmed 