The crushing pace of new social network launches has slowed down a bit now. Most networks have consolidated their user base and each one has carved a niche for itself. Twitter for timely, short updates; Facebook to share precious, fun moments with friends and family, Instagram and Pinterest to share what wows visually and so on. This means that you need to employ different engagement ideas for different networks.
With multiple networks and thousands of messages rolling off the screens, capturing users’ attention has become increasingly difficult.
Twitter recently announced that it is thinking of going the Facebook way. If it does tweak its simple first-come-first-serve model with a complex algorithm, you may not see a lot of diversity in the messages on your Twitter screen.
Going the Facebook way will mean that you will see more messages from people you RT or Favorite. Frequency of Tweets, which is currently the Twitter engagement strategy for many, will soon be rendered useless.
What it also means is engaging other tweeps will become all the more important. If you do not get your Followers to engage with your Tweets, your Tweets will soon be invisible to the users.
How to reach more people on Twitter?
Although Twitter works as a broadcast channel, we rarely go the the Home screen on Twitter. Even when you do, you only see a handful of messages from your followers. Check out how you can engage your Twitter followers and get new followers with these simple tweaks to your Twitter engagement strategy.
1. Craft Engaging Messages
Duh! 🙂 this is what you thought of first, isn’t it? If you are reading this post, I am sure you know this already. The question is what is engaging and how do you define engaging?
Think back, when was the last time you felt compelled to respond to a Tweet? I am sure it was one of these things:
- The topic was related to what you were thinking at that time
- It was a cause that you cared about
- The opinion or statement was inciting enough to warrant a response, or
- You strongly agreed to what was in the Tweet
Craft Tweets that would invoke similar reaction in your target audience. Say the right things at the right time. But remember, Twitter needs you to say this multiple times.
2. Use Images when they can add to your message
Another mundane point? The question again is what kind of images? Writing a bunch of text on your images to add to the 140 character limit is a cheeky way to go around the limit. But will it get you any engagement? Images are worth a thousand words and that is what they should be – a thousand words without a word.
Use images that can make your followers and other tweeps go Wow! or even confuse them. Anything that the viewers can’t place in a certain box within seconds raises curiosity.
3. Mention peers and people you know. Don’t Spam
You want your followers to have loads of followers. The problem is the more followers they have, the less likely they are to come across your Tweets.
Tagging your messages with @ mentions helps you involve your audience in a conversation. Another way to grab their attention is to tag them in your images.
Just make sure that you are indeed interested in and want a conversation. Mentioning people in Tweets and telling them to check out your new service or product is Spamming. Instead, ask them a meaningful question and make sure you respond to their answers. That is conversation.
4. Research and use Hashtags
If Facebook is for Friends and Family, Twitter is a place where you have conversations with the world. The idea is to talk about and discuss things with new people everyday. People who are interested in subjects you are passionate about. About topics that you like to talk about.
The only way you can reach these diverse set of people who share your interest is through social media hashtags. Research relevant hashtags and then use tools like Hashtagify.me to find other contextual hashtags to reach more people on Twitter.
Other than the hashtags, these tools also show you tweeps who influence conversations around these hashtags. You can then engage these users and develop long-term relationships with new tweeps.
5. Post at the right times
Just as the right message is important, so is the time. Each time zone peaks and falls at a different time. There is an overlap, but local peak times do vary. Find out what is the best time talk to your target audience.
Messages Tweeted with the right hashtags and at the right time garner higher engagement and increase the reach of your Twitter messages.
6. Monitor Trends
Why? Not to Spam these hashtags and Tweet completely irrelevant messages.
Monitor these hashtags and whenever contextual, use them to Tweet something relevant. This will give you more exposure and start some new meaningful conversations.
7. Use Promoted Tweets
Digital advertising is a necessity. With promoted Tweets, your message can reach new audiences. Audiences that you may not reach even with using the right hashtags.
Not all people monitor hashtags. Promoted Tweets appear in your timeline based on your Tweets and how you engage with other Tweets. These people may not monitor hashtags, but they will still see promoted messages if they are relevant to their Twitter profile.
Using promotedTweets is surely a much better option than buying fake followers that will not benefit you in any way.
8. Monitor Your Twitter Stats
Right hashtags, generic times, and images -these are the tools of your trade on Twitter. But don’t forget to monitor your performance once you start employing these tools and methods.
Twitter provides impressive stats about your Tweets and how they have performed over the week or month. Check these stats every week and month and fine tune your Twitter strategy. Find out when your Tweets got most impressions, which ones got most RTs and likes and use more of the one that work.
Follow these simple ideas for gaining Twitter engagement and you will find them useful, no matter what algorithm Twitter uses. Which of these are you using right now? How have they worked for you?
Leave a comment below and get the conversation started.
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