How Twitter Can Help Your Business Ball on a Budget (Plus Tips!)
Being present on Twitter and being successful are two different things entirely. Especially for those who need cost-effective solutions, but can’t afford to run various ad campaigns, it may seem impossible to attract interest in a field full of competitors with larger budgets.
We’re going to explain how Twitter can help your business ball on a budget.
We’re going to break this guide down into three sections:
- Why Twitter is the perfect PR tool
- Ways you can utilize Twitter for tasks beyond PR
- Tips to get started immediately for organic growth
1. Why Twitter is the Perfect PR Tool
If you’re not using Twitter in 2019, you’re missing out. It’s as simple as that. What started as a luxury and a cool way to communicate with customers is now a necessity and something customers look for when buying from brands.
Especially where public relations are concerned, Twitter is the ultimate tool. For us, it comes down to four main reasons.
Wide Audience — While based in the US, people in the UK, Australia, Brazil, and every other country can still see your posts. Traditional tools and resources are limited in scope, but Twitter is quite literally available around the world.
Compared to PR events, press conferences, and other advertisements, Twitter is on a whole new level. Even some news companies restrict their platform in certain locations, but Twitter is based on IP addresses. By utilizing Twitter, you’re on a platform that billions of people can access.
Quick and Efficient — Heard a negative rumor about your brand? Stop it immediately with a tweet. Want to reveal a new product or service? You’ve got 280 characters to tell the world. Not only will all your followers see the news within seconds, but they can also hit that magic “Retweet” button and share your message further.
Over time, this opens a door for communication with customers and it also equips your business with a very important attribute: transparency.
Customer Communication — For many decades, there has always been a barrier between customer and business. With traditional advertising, there’s normally a middleman; for example, radio or TV. With Twitter (and all social media channels), we have an opportunity to control the messages we send by communicating with customers directly.
Cost-Effective — It doesn’t require a huge investment to send a tweet every so often. Some companies have made a name and gained customers for the way that they reply to tweets, so it becomes a lead generation technique in and of itself.
If you want an example, just look at Wendy’s. Using sarcasm and a tongue-in-cheek shading of other brands, they get people laughing.
Ultimately, Twitter is free to join, free to post, and free to reply to tweets. The only thing you’ll need to pay is your time.
2. Utilizing Twitter for Tasks Beyond Public Relations
If you’re going to invest your time into Twitter, you need it to be more than just a PR tool.
Recruitment — Did you know that many companies are now using Twitter to hire their talent? If you pair Twitter with something like Hootsuite, you can set up a geolocation filter with industry-specific terms and find candidates who are located nearby and have a passion for your niche. For a more direct approach, simply advertise vacancies with appropriate hashtags and a link to the application page.
Lead Generation — It’s one thing to make your investment worthwhile, but it’s another to make a return on said investment. If you’re clever enough, you may just be able to generate leads from the platform. Although it sounds simple, use the search function and look for people who could use a service like yours in a location near you.
Look for “I want” and “I need” tweets. If you’re a content writer and somebody needs a writer for their blog nearby, the location may not even be important with this example, get in touch with them and you might gain a customer.
Customer Service — Do customers still send letters to businesses with questions? No. Do they still send emails? Rarely. Instead, they look to Twitter to send a tweet. If you can answer quickly, you can catch them while they’re still in “purchase” mode. Suddenly, they have their answer, your brand is still in their mind, and you don’t lose their interest.
Market Research — You can use the search feature again for this, but we have a much simpler (and organic) solution: ask.
- What do your followers look for with a product?
- What do they feel is missing in the market?
- What do they find frustrating about the industry?
- What can you do to improve their experience?
You can get the conversation started and learn what they need; why try to guess when you can learn precisely from those who will/won’t spend money with your brand? When you try this, you’ll see that people appreciate being asked and love to give their opinions.
Event Advertising and Product Launches — You can post almost anything on Twitter and we love it for product launches and advertising events. What better way to build excitement than with a simple image, CTA, hashtags, and information regarding the product or event? From full product launches to small webinars, let your followers know.
3. Tips to Get Started Today
It’s 2019 and seemingly the whole world is on Twitter…how do you stand out and make an impression? Here are some tips:
Offer Exclusive News — Following on from the product launches and event advertising topic we were just discussing, make Twitter the home of all your big announcements.
Have a Personality — If you want your business to ball on a budget on Twitter, don’t advertise constantly. There’s nothing wrong with showing off a product now and then, but your followers need something more these days. In our experience, it’s best to add value whether this comes from office insights (behind the scenes) or even lessons where the audience learns something. By connecting in this way, it’s more likely to lead to positive results and long-term growth.
Get Involved in Conversations — Tweets are great, but real conversations are special. By replying to comments and other posts, you can get involved in some great debates and discussions. Suddenly, you’re showing your worth and also coming across with a personality rather than being “just another business.”
If you aren’t sure how to get started, we recommend getting involved in tweets and leaving the odd comment. Once you build confidence, try a text-only tweet where you invoke a response from those who come across it. When people reply, respond and make it worth their time.
Take Advantage of Holidays — With a quick search online, you’ll find Twitter marketing calendars and you’ll quickly notice just how many holidays exist. Rather than just posting on Christmas, take advantage of National Pencil Day, National Wear Blue Socks Week, and Only Use Words Beginning with ’S’ Day. Sure, this is a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.
Offer a Voice and Personality — Earlier, we mentioned Wendy’s and their sarcastic voice on social media. There’s no reason why you can’t bring out your voice and personality; this will always be better than sounding robotic. As long as you aren’t rude, arrogant, or offensive, have fun with Twitter and people will love it.
Just remember, as your following starts to grow organically, you’ll need to be consistent so that people come to recognize your brand voice and don’t have to work hard just to understand what you’re trying to say.
Use Twitter Right Now
Now you understand Twitter as a PR tool, the uses it has outside of public relations, and how to get started, why not log in and have some fun? In no time, you can help your business build an online presence while still keepign to a budget.
Bonus! Marketing Tools:
2. Bilbi AI: Daily Marketing Campaign Insights
