Twitter has become the fastest growing social media network in the world. With over 1 billion users, it offers incredible potential to spread your brand’s message and connect with new customers on an individual level. Twitter can be especially effective when used as part of an integrated marketing strategy that mixes traditional, online, and social channels to reach target markets at every point of their journey. The key to doing so effectively on Twitter is to think about how it fits into your overall business goals and what you hope to accomplish by using the network.

1) Do Your Research

Before you begin your social media campaign on Twitter, do your research which days and locations are best for reaching your audience. Don’t try to be everywhere at once; it’s not possible, and you won’t reach all of your desired audiences. Make sure you have a plan for where and how often you post to your Twitter account so that you aren’t unnecessarily posting multiple times. Take time to build trust with your audience before sharing links or asking them to sign up for anything or buy from you directly; otherwise, they may see any link shared by a company as spam. If in doubt about where to start, look at what other businesses in similar industries are doing and follow their lead.

2) Set Up Your Profile

Before you even think about using Twitter for business, it’s important to make sure your personal profile is set up properly. First and foremost, your real name should be displayed. It should be public knowledge that you are who you say you are. Your bio should include a link to your website so people can find out more about you—and what makes you an expert on whatever subject matters most to them. It also shouldn’t be too long or complicated; two or three short paragraphs is usually best. And, of course, don’t forget to add a photo so people can know exactly who they are connecting with. Oh, and if it isn’t clear already: update your photo regularly!

3) Connect With Influencers

A digital marketing company should be able to leverage social media to connect with influencers and increase brand awareness. If you want to improve your standing on sites like Twitter, you need an understanding of hashtags, a knowledge of who to follow and effective strategies for staying visible. A professional digital marketing agency can also help you determine which accounts on your business’s social media pages are active and see how those pages rank against each other in terms of engagement. You’ll want to ensure that each page has at least one follower actively participating in your account daily, along with strong content and ongoing interactions between members of your team.

4) Create Quality Content That Others Want To Share

It’s important to be aware of what your audience wants to read and share. If you put out a ton of content on topics that are irrelevant or uninteresting, you won’t see much engagement, no matter how great your posts may be. Instead, it’s smart to do research in advance and make sure you know what people want. Then use an online tool like Buzz Sumo to find posts that have performed well with your target audience and create something similar. This type of content is likely to perform well in search engines as well as spread virally among users on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and more!

5) Respond To Direct Messages

Responding to direct messages (DMs) is a must when using Twitter for business. You can use DMs as an easy way to tell your followers about updates on your products, deals and more—but it’s also a great opportunity to connect with your customers in real time and offer personalized support. Don’t neglect responding to DMs from existing customers, either; if you want them to come back, you need to show that you value their interest in your brand. Use social media tools like Hootsuite or Tweet Deck so that it’s easier for you to keep track of your interactions on all networks, including DMs.

6) Use Hashtags Effectively

According to Sprout Social, 70% of business professionals use hashtags for digital marketing. It’s a great idea to add them to your tweets because it lets people who are interested in that topic see your content. Plus, if you don’t use hashtags on your posts, you won’t get as many views—43% of people say they don’t click on links unless there is a hashtag attached. You want potential customers to see what you have to offer! By including hashtags with your tweets, you can attract more views and increase engagement.

7) Engage In Conversations On Trending Topics

According to a study from 2013, over 70% of all traffic on twitter originates from people talking about something other than their own content. So it makes sense that a lot of Twitter users also follow several brands, many brands actually use Twitter for digital marketing company purposes. To make sure you are getting your voice heard and to ensure your business is always on-point consider following other businesses or experts in your field and commenting on relevant news. While doing so try to keep up with trending topics within your industry or categories related to yours and engage in conversations surrounding them with an intelligent point-of-view that relates back to any of your products or services offered by you.

8) Use Videos In Your Tweets

One of your top priorities as a social media marketer is growing your audience, and that means paying attention to who’s listening to you. Tools like Google Analytics can help you monitor how many people are visiting your Twitter profile—and how many of them are clicking on each link in your tweets. The better you know who’s tuning in, and what they’re responding to, the better able you’ll be to produce content that connects with potential customers. Use tools like Tweet Deck or Hoot suite Pro to manage multiple accounts and keep an eye on analytics at once.

9) Share Links From Your Own Site, Blog And Other Relevant Sources

If you’re tweeting relevant links, you should have no problem getting followers. On your website or on your profile, include a section for your followers to easily connect with you through social media. This way, if someone reads something of yours that they like, it will be easy for them to spread it to their network by clicking a link and reposting on their Twitter or Facebook accounts. From there, if your content is good enough, people will retweet and share it without you having to ask. This is called earned media and is highly effective in terms of building brand loyalty and awareness.

10) Keep An Eye On Analytics

When it comes to using social media for business, there are two approaches: one is to treat social media as a purely external channel, and second is to view it as part of your entire digital ecosystem. As a digital marketing company , we take an integrated approach because—as we’ve learned from experience—it allows us to get more visibility and influence with far less effort. To make sure you have proper social analytics, invest in some basic tracking tools like Hootsuite and Google Analytics. There are plenty of premium options out there (we use Radian6 for our agency), but it’s important that you start somewhere if you want to see what kind of return on investment your efforts will bring.

Conclusion

Twitter gives you a platform to interact with current customers, find interested prospects and promote your brand. While Twitter can be intimidating at first glance, with these 10 Top Tips for using Twitter for business, there is no reason why you can’t grow your audience, develop freelance clients and keep up to date with the industry trends.