Using your Twitter account to drive engagement.
Posted by James, 6 August 2021 (5 minute read)
"Twitter is not a technology. It's a conversation. And it's happening with or without you."
- Charlene Li
Twitter has fast become a powerful marketing tool. It’s a fantastic space to communicate and share ideas. But it’s also a place where good copy drives engagement, improves click-through-rates and builds website traffic. So in today’s JW’s Thoughts of a Copywriter, let’s talk about how to use your Twitter account to drive engagement!
Twitter has played an important role in our lives for over 15 years. And it’s fair to say it divides opinion. Some feel the microblogging site has opened up communication channels in ways never seen before, while others rightly criticise it for its role in trolling, cyber-bullying and abhorrent abuse.
But I want to focus on the positive side of this social media juggernaut. I want to focus on how you can use your Twitter account to drive engagement.
What is Twitter?
Founded in 2006, Twitter is a microblog that anyone can use. As long as it’s less than 280 characters, you can write about pretty much anything – from liking your breakfast to getting involved in an academic debate about climate change. As of 2021, Twitter has over 350 million active users. This sounds like a lot. But in reality, only a fraction of the world’s population actually use it. It’s here that Twitter’s detractors argue about ‘echo chambers’ and the fact the site is really nothing more than a ‘some-to-many’ service.
Despite this, I still think Twitter has real marketing value. You can quickly disseminate information to a large worldwide audience for free. And Twitter’s demographics are generally younger, with around 65% of users under 35 – making it perfect for those looking to market specifically to consumers in these age groups.
Driving engagement on Twitter
I set up a Twitter page for JW Copywriting Services around the same time my website went live. When setting up an account, make sure to match your branding across all online platforms. You should also include your website address in the bio, giving potential customers an easy way of clicking through to it. I’ve certainly improved my click-through-rate by doing this.
My Twitter account now gets around 10,000 impressions a month and some of my posts get up to a 10% engagement rate. These numbers have also grown steadily – hopefully a sign of things to come…
So here’s how you can begin driving engagement and increasing your website traffic by using Twitter!
Start 'following' similar accounts
This is really important. Because it quickly means you’ll begin to understand what’s being said in your target market.
Some argue you should aim to ‘follow’ around 10-15 new accounts each day. And to start with, you’ll have far more ‘following’ than ‘followers’. But don’t worry. As your account grows, you’ll definitely notice more organic engagement.
Around 30-40% of those you ‘follow’ will usually ‘follow back’. I’ve also found that those with smaller ‘follower’ numbers (e.g. in the 100s rather than the 10,000s) are much more likely to engage. So try these accounts first!
‘Like’ and ‘Retweet’
‘Liking’ and ‘retweeting’ is pretty easy too. And the more you do this, the more Twitter shows you the kind of content you’re going to want to produce yourself.
But remember not to go crazy. I recommend only ‘liking’ or ‘retweeting’ a few posts each day. You don’t want to look like a bot – a real turn off for us real accounts!
Post regular content
The jury’s still out when it comes to how much to post on Twitter. But the general consensus seems to consider 3-4 times a day enough. You don’t want to oversaturate your account and you’ll probably just end up repeating yourself anyway.
My approach with @JWCopywriting is to post 3 times a day during the week, twice on a Saturday and once on a Sunday. That way, I’m regularly adding new content, but never going over-the-top!
You can also use Twitter’s handy ‘schedule tweets’ function – that way, you won’t have to log on every day (or even every few hours). This is especially helpful if you’ve got a busy week ahead and need to guarantee that things are still being posted in your absence.
Make your content topical (where possible)
If you want to see effective, topical copy on Twitter, take a look at @AldiUK. They’re always using current events to make links to their products and services.
And they’re not afraid of employing humour either – a great way of humanising marketing copy and using your Twitter account to drive engagement.
Another great account for this is @Heineken. They produced some fantastic stuff during Euro 2020, with plenty of topical content and direct links to relevant offers and products.
Post a variety of content
The options here are endless. You can post GIFs, images, polls, questions, original material or even quote tweet another user. Visual cues are always a great way of using your Twitter account to drive engagement. In fact, Social Media Examiner claims you’ll get up to 150% more retweets if you post images or videos. So I tend to tweet at least once a day with an image, video or GIF.
If you haven’t already, get microblogging and use your Twitter account to drive engagement! Because if you do things right, you can quickly build website traffic, click-through-rates and get people talking about your business.
So here are my top tips:
- Post at least once a day.
- Follow similar accounts.
- Post visual content, especially images and videos.
- Be topical where possible.
- Don’t despair! Your account will grow organically if you work at it.
Want to start using your Twitter account to drive engagement? If so, what did you think of this post? Comment below, tell me on Twitter (@JWCopywriting) or visit my Facebook page.
And if you need a copywriter for your business, get in touch and let’s start working together today! I write website and social media content, as well as advertising copy and blogs. Take a look at my services here and then contact me – I aim to respond within 24 hours.
In a couple of weeks, I’ll be focusing on direct mail and the ways it could work for your business.
Speak soon,
JW