It goes without saying that social media presence is integral to marketing and promoting any business these days. While a presence on all major platforms is recommended, it is important to understand the main purpose, function, and demographic of each service. What follows is the first in a series of social media profiles, where we introduce you to the a particular social media service and outline the specific role it can play in promoting your business. This first installment features the social platform Twitter. Understanding the tools are your disposal is the first step in utilizing them most effectively to strengthen the connection between your business and your current and potential client base.
Founded in San Francisco in 2006, Twitter is a social network that allows users to communicate messages of 140-characters or less to a self-selecting list of followers. In addition those these standard text-based tweets, pictures and links are easily and quickly shared through the platform. There are also spin-off services like TwitLonger which allow extended messages to be shared through Twitter, but for the most part terseness is preferred if not demanded.
There are over 271 million active Twitter users, who send more than 400 million tweets daily. That is a lot of activity and a lot of noise, to be sure, but it also represents a well of opportunity. Each user is a potential follower, and each potential follower a potential customer. A business can distinguish itself by providing trustworthy, interesting, and relevant content.
While Twitter has a large and varied user base, it undoubtedly skews toward a more youthful demographic. According to some studies, more than 70% of active users are between the ages of 15-25. However, with a user base that extensive, even a small percentage demographically can represent a huge number of people. As the number of active users grows by the day, it becomes even more important to root your business within the network and plant connections with both followers and users you follow.
Brevity is key to Twitter’s appeal, but it is also very much an “as-it-happens” service; while it is as easy as clicking on a person’s Twitter handle to see their past tweets catalogued, usually the most effective way to connect is to experience updates live. For this reason, timing tweet delivery is very important. Sunday morning at 2:00 AM is not the ideal time to announce a new product or sale.
To help your business have an increased presence on Twitter, it can be worthwhile to invest in promoted tweets. Meanwhile, establishing a reputation for providing relevant and worthwhile content allows other businesses, media outlets, or individuals to share links to your content simply because it is worth sharing.
In summary, Twitter is a hugely popular social network. It is not only one of the most widely used websites in the world, but for millions of people, it is only a touch away on their smartphones all day long. Twitter represents instant access, but the immediacy also means timing and constancy are crucial to be seen. In order to communicate brief and relevant information to your current and potential client base, Twitter is a must-have tool your social media arsenal.
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