Social Media Series, Part 2: Twitter, Its Ease of Use, and Consistency for Higher ROI

Mileva Stankovic
WritingSamples
Published in
6 min readJul 14, 2023

As a part of my new social media article series, I’ll write about the most prominent social networks of 2022. In these articles, I’ll cover:

  • The basics about the platform with the latest statistics,
  • Pros and cons,
  • How and why it can be used for marketing (or why not), and
  • Best practices for brand building

As a blogger, I have first-hand experience in social media. I’ve explored all the nooks and crannies of each platform in hopes to promote my content. This is what I’ve found out after years of living and breathing online.

Check out the Facebook article here.

Today’s topic is Twitter — a hidden gem that can bring millions in ROI. Just a note, I’ll be mentioning consistency a lot.

Twitter Stats

According to Omnicore, Twitter has about 217 million monetizable active users each day. Still, we’ll have to break the numbers down to determine who loves Twitter the most.

When it comes to gender, the numbers are pretty close (Source: Statista), with men accounting for 56.4% of users and women accounting for 43.6%. The US is the global leader in Twitter use, accounting for 76.9% of all Twitter users (Source: Statista).

This is ideal if you plan to promote your services to US residents. The next is Japan, and the third spot is reserved for India.

Age-wise, the Twitter global audience is composed of 38.5 percent of users aged between 25 and 34 years old. People aged 35 to 49 accounted for 20.7% of users. Those over 65 and younger generation of 18 to 24 year-olds each account for 17.1% of users. Teens aged 13 to 17 account for just 6.6% (Source: Statista).

This means that you’ll have a high chance of reaching a similar audience on Twitter as you would on Facebook. You can also reach some Gen Zers and Gen X users, as these generations also account for a decent percentage of users.

As always, you’ll want to set your ads based on multiple factors, and not just the age group. However, with Twitter, you may notice a wider audience.

Back to Twitter

One of the best things about Twitter is its simplicity. While you may find yourself limited in terms of characters, this is exactly what gives Twitter its power. When I first got onto the platform, I felt the need to expand my tweets and say more. Today, I’m focused on delivering my message clearly and concisely.

With practice, everyone can learn how to handle Twitter. It’s crucial to start small and work your way into groups and hashtags.

Pros and Cons of Twitter

Twitter is less complicated than Facebook, especially if you use it daily. It kept most of its original design, making it easy to see the news in your niche. Both desktop and mobile UI are solid, and the platform even lets you select day/night mode for easier usage.

The biggest catch to being successful on Twitter is to carefully select your clique. Naturally, you’ll have a different approach if you manage a personal brand versus the company’s profile.

When it comes to personal brand, you’ll want to stay true to yourself, as you would on another platform. Still, many marketers pick one network where they’re more open to sharing their private life, and Twitter can help you do this with ease.

On the other hand, if you’re managing the company’s profile, you should follow your employees and ask them to retweet the content, as Twitter users are more prone to trusting other users than the company profiles.

Twitter is super easy to manage once you get used to it, as you can also bookmark the things you’re interested in. Compared to the Facebook “Saved feature,” Bookmarks are easier to find on Twitter, and most Twitter features are one click away.

As always, hashtags are the key. Hashtags will help you promote, connect, and discover others. Still, be mindful of # as those characters also count in the tweet. Insert a few in your tweet naturally, and you’re good to go!

When it comes to ads, Twitter ads don’t seem as intrusive as ads on Facebook. Instead, they integrate naturally with the home feed, appearing as if it’s someone you already follow. Twitter ad manager is also more straightforward to use than Facebook’s one.

However, Twitter ads seem to be more inclined to app promotion than anything else. Still, you can use it to promote your website, increase your following, and get engagement.

You’ll want to test things out and see whether you get ROI. Keep in mind that many complained about the cost of Twitter ads, so set up a decent budget to begin with.

One of the biggest cons of Twitter (from my perspective) is the overwhelming amount of tweets you’ll have to interact with if you follow too many people. Unfortunately, Twitter loves activity, so you might find yourself liking and retweeting more than you initially wanted to.

However, Twitter activity does bring results and you should maintain the desired level of activity so that your tweets are seen. Remember — tweets have the shortest life span of just 18 minutes, so you’ll want to be on the top of your game. The activity ensures you’ll build your account faster than your competition.

Twitter Spaces

Twitter Spaces feature is the latest addition to the platform, where you can stream your content and invite others to join.

Hint — if you’re using Twitter for personal promotion, launching Twitter Spaces could also get you monetized!

Plus, you can use Twitter Spaces for promoting your products and services to your followers. For now, Twitter Spaces is purely audio, but it remains to be seen whether Twitter will also make it a video feature.

How to Brand and Promote on Twitter

Everything is short on Twitter — the life of a tweet, the number of characters, and the length of your video. Still, this platform can be a great extension of your online presence and a solid marketing channel.

When it comes to branding, Twitter lets you utilize color, and brand voice, and allows for a continuous presence that gets your audience involved. What’s more, Twitter can reach those who avoid using Facebook and other social media platforms.

Remain consistent with your marketing plans and take a day or two to learn how Twitter ads work. I truly believe you don’t need the help of a marketer to start with Twitter ads.

Plus, you can create your personal/company hashtag that separates you from your competition.

What Not to Do on Twitter

One of the key things to avoid is follow-unfollow users. This can get your account banned. Also, don’t ignore comments on your Tweets, especially if someone is looking for support.

Best Practices for Brand Building

Here’s what works best on Twitter:

  • Create impactful bio
  • Post often
  • Automate posts/messages
  • Use your hashtags + the industry ones + insert them naturally
  • Post various content
  • Use gifs, emojis, to-the-point tweets to cause an emotional reaction
  • Be inclusive
  • Offer support
  • Test various types of ads
  • Invite your employees to retweet

Brand building on Twitter is equally important as it is on other networks. You’ll want to stay focused on how you want the audience to perceive your brand. Be creative with your tweets and use your # to remind people about your brand.

Treat Twitter as the extension of your blog and use it often to stay visible.

Final Thoughts

I’ll be honest, the biggest benefit of Twitter is that you don’t really need ads to keep your brand above the competition. You just need a carefully crafted plan and consistency.

Twitter is easy to manage once you get used to it. The user interface is simple, and you shouldn’t have any issues even if you decide to run ads. Twitter is a hidden gem, and I see many misusing it, believing that a couple of posts a week is enough. Just stay active, and you’ll be perfectly fine.

P. S. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.

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Mileva Stankovic
WritingSamples

Sharing knowledge and experience on investing and money management, digital marketing, blogging, business, and more.