How to engage audiences with Twitter

February 2010

Just follow these steps to start engaging your audiences with Twitter.

1. Set up a Twitter account

This is the easy bit. Just visit the Twitter website and follow the instructions. If you like, you can customise your profile so it complements the visual identity of your brand.

2. Follow, and get followers

On Twitter, you choose people to 'follow', which means you receive their tweets (messages no longer than 140 characters) on your customised Twitter homepage. You should find and follow some influential twitterers in your sector. Having their tweets in your feed helps you to keep your finger on the pulse, and shows other people that you are interested in what they have to say.

Once you start following other people, they may start following you in return, and then other people will start following you to see what all the fuss is about. The more you tweet, the more likely people are to find your tweets.

3. Figure out what your audience wants

Before you start tweeting, figure out what your audience finds interesting and what you have to say about it. You might like to tweet quick thoughts that occur to you, or share articles or advice, or share information about your company, markets, products, services and expertise. You might like to pose a question to your followers, to initiate a dialogue with them.

Make sure you include links to relevant information on your company website, or other websites that you want to share. You can use a service like bit.ly or TinyURL to shorten a link so that it uses up fewer characters in your tweet.

4. Plan your tweets

To get attention on Twitter, you have to tweet frequently. You might think of some things to say on the spur of the moment, but don't count on it: it's better to plan what you will write about in advance. Sit down and think up 30 tweets for your first month, and then post one a day (or more often if you think you can keep it up). Make sure that the things you plan to say support your strategy, positioning and marketing objectives.

5. Start tweeting

Start writing to engage your audiences. And remember that Twitter, like blogging, is a two-way medium. Broadcasting your own thoughts only gets you so far; you will be far more successful in engaging members of your audience if you address their points as well. If your tweets are interesting, there is a chance that people will retweet them, which helps your message to reach an even wider audience.

Feel free to follow us on Twitter. To find out more about engaging your audiences with Twitter and other social media, please contact us.

Read more:

Back to stuff