6 Tips to Boost Your Twitter Conversations

By Sofie De Beule
Published May 7, 2014

Are you struggling to build an engaging Twitter community?

Do you want to lead relevant conversations, but aren’t sure where to begin?

Standard auto-tweets aren’t going to cut it. Your top priority should be creating helpful, authentic interactions.

In this article I’ll tell you six ways you can start Twitter conversations and keep your followers’ attention.

When someone is looking for you or your brand on Twitter, the first thing they’ll do is search for you, and then they’ll check out your profile. If you want more followers, this is their first stop, so make it pop!

SpareFoot is an example of a Twitter profile done right. They’ve humanized their brand by showing employees having fun in their creative office space.

New followers love to see the real you in your Twitter profile.

Are your Twitter pictures and bio compelling enough to follow?

If you’re not sure, give it a quick test. Is your bio concise and clear about your brand’s purpose? Does it include keywords that flow naturally in the description? Do your background and profile picture convey the message you want associated with your brand?

You can include elements that encourage an emotional connection with any audience. What those elements are will depend on your niche.

Pro Tip: Clear out all of the clutter! Avoid using too many hashtags and don’t overdo it with links and text.

Ninety percent of information transferred through the brain is visual. If you want your messages to get attention, include photos and videos with your tweets as often as possible.

When Twitter added in-stream previews of images, it increased overall engagement. The more you invest in visual content, the more retweets, favorites and click-throughs you’ll see.

A study by Buffer found that tweets with images get 150% more interaction.

Increased visual content means big engagement.

In the example below, Sephora used calculated composition to include as much information as possible. A single picture shares a discount and product examples, as well as promotes a weekly feature.

Partner short tweets with carefully composed images.

Pro Tip: Remember that images use up about 26 of your 140 characters. Make adjustments to your tweets as necessary.

Clear messages demand simplicity.

Some businesses try to squeeze as much text as possible into their tweets. The result? Their message isn’t properly conveyed. If you waste words, you’ll probably waste followers too.

Twitter’s best practices guide cites a report by Buddy Media that found that the ideal tweet is 100 characters or fewer.

Ikea used 64 characters and a Vine video for maximum effect.

Pro Tip: Use medium-length tweets to get a 17% higher engagement rate.

Twitter only gives you 140 characters to capture your audience’s attention and convince them to jump into your conversation. Since your audience is already overloaded with social updates, the right words can make or break that connection.

To find those power words, Dan Zarella from HubSpot analyzed the top 10,000 most retweeted tweets. He found 20 words that have the most potential for capturing your audience’s attention and turning your tweets into actions.

Pro Tip: Want to get the most out of your tweets? Add please, free, check out, how to or 10 to your tweets—those are a few of the top words Dan found to be most effective.

When you first meet new people, what do you do? You ask questions. What’s your name? What do you do? How did you like the keynote?

If you want to get people talking, ask them about themselves. Twitter users love to share their opinions, so why not give them a chance to express their feelings?

To keep things focused, stick to questions related to your niche. If your company sells shoes, ask your followers about the last pair of shoes they bought.

“Who’s ready for Saturday night?” gets the conversation going while highlighting the product.

In the example above, Steve Madden stretched that advice a little bit. They posted a question about Saturday night, but paired it with a fabulous outfit featuring their shoes.

No matter how big or small your audience is, thank everyone who made the effort to answer your question. Show that there are real people behind your Twitter account and address everyone personally.

Pro Tip: Keep your questions conversational. Don’t talk to your followers like a robot, but like a friend.

Excellent content will improve your engagement, but that doesn’t mean you have to dedicate all of your time creating it from scratch.

Collect and share interesting content from other sites with your audience. Talk about it from your point of view, apply a consistent voice and show that you’re an expert in your field.

Wells Fargo tweets out a mix of original content and valuable links from other sites. They identify with their audience’s needs and find content that addresses those needs.

Curated content can be just as valuable as original content.

Pro Tip: Share a mix of curated links and information along with original tweets to make you the go-to brand for your niche.

Some Parting Thoughts

Twitter can be a struggle for any business, big or small. Getting back to basics can help you increase your follower count and overall interactions.

One of your first steps is creating an attention-worthy profile with compelling imagery. Anyone who stumbles across it should be able to get a sense of your company’s culture and products or services.

You may feel like you need to update your stream all of the time to keep up visibility, but if you don’t have a strong message, don’t tweet. Your followers won’t pay attention if your tweets lack authenticity and power.

Instead, focus on sharing intriguing visual content and stories that spark Twitter conversations around your brand or niche.

What do you think? Do you have advice about getting traction with Twitter conversations? What have your challenges been? Tell us in the comments.

Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,'script','twitter-wjs'); About the Author, Sofie De Beule

Sofie is Community Manager and Content Specialist at Engagor, a customer engagement platform. She helps brands to implement social media in other disciplines such as customer service and CRM. Other posts by Sofie De Beule »

View the original article here

How to Use Photos to Boost Social Chatter

By Jonathan Barouch
Published May 22, 2014

Are people sharing photos and talking about your business?

Do you need to breathe new life into your word-of-mouth tactics?

You don’t have to create elaborate campaigns to drive visibility for your business.

In this article you’ll discover four ways to make customers want to take and share pictures related to your brand.

No one leaves the house without their smartphone. Documenting our every action is woven into our daily routines and photos are the easiest way to do that.

And yet I’m constantly surprised that most businesses don’t take advantage of this marketing opportunity.

It only takes a simple request and most people are happy to take and share pictures while in your store or at your event—especially if you give them a fun way to do it.

You can increase your return on these social shares by highlighting your social profile URLs, handle and hashtag in high-traffic areas and asking people to tag you in their updates.

Below are four ways to make it irresistible to share photos of your brand.

I love the way Art Series Hotels have infused fun into their guests’ stay–and increased social shares about their brand to boot.

The hotels leave postcards in guests’ rooms asking them to jump on the bed and share the fun photos with their friends (tagging the hotel of course).

Come up with a fun way for customers to share your company with their friends.

This tactic has seen quite a bit of success because the kidults love to share pictures of themselves being silly in unexpected ways. When’s the last time you jumped on a bed?

To further encourage photo sharing, offer immediate special discounts for photo shares. To keep submissions flowing, you can even offer a separate weekly prize for the best photo shared.

Qantas Airways knows people love to be a little silly. Fun backdrops and props are a great way to make yourself stand out when people visit or walk by.

If you have space at your business or are exhibiting at a conference, use art installations, themed cardboard cutouts or decorated spaces with props (e.g., hats, mustaches, capes and other accessories) and encourage people to take pictures.

Depending on your product, it may be a fit to include it in your photo ops as well. However, be aware of over-branding the experience. Too much obvious selling turns people off and ruins the fun vibe.

It’s OK to subtly include your brand name, hashtag and handle in your backdrops (and remind customers to use them in their updates).

Qantas Airways scatters cardboard cutouts of Modern Family in their airports, encouraging passengers to take photos with the stars.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money on photo props (maybe none at all)—simple ideas often work best. The main thing is to focus on making the space fun so people want to take photos and share them.

If you’re hosting a live event, give attendees the chance to come and take photos with the stars of the show. These meet-and-greets sometimes create more social chatter than the event itself!

Photo fads (and memes) come and go. We’ve seen planking, owling, photobombing, and of course, selfies.

Why not take advantage of the latest hot meme for your business? With a little creativity, just about anything can be incorporated into your brand’s next campaign.

For example, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary asked customers to take selfies with some of the sanctuary animals. The results were pretty amazing. One visitor took a photo with a resident kangaroo that was liked over 41,000 times!

South American surfer Gabriel Medina’s kangaroo image was liked over 41,000 times.

Or if you have a mascot, invite people to take a picture of themselves in front of your backdrop then secretly have your mascot photobomb the picture.

Take advantage of funny photo memes to get more shares.

Taking advantage of the latest trends is sure to bring a smile and people will want to share the fun moment with their friends.

Customer-generated content makes a big difference in your social presence. When others share your business with their friends and followers, your reach can expand exponentially.

To be sure you don’t miss the buzz, set up alerts for your company name, product or hashtag so you know who’s mentioning you and where.

Acknowledge people who share great content about you by resharing their content on your own social channels, thanking them and tagging them (and use your hashtag).

I’ve seen clients get 10 times more engagement by sharing a customer’s Instagram photo on the company Facebook page than they do with some of their own photographers’ best shots.

Walt Disney World Resort asks a guest for permission to republish his Epcot photo.

In many cases, you may even want to cross-post user-generated content to your own blog or website. Before you do, ask for permission and include a link to the fan’s handle or account where they originally shared the photo. That kind of respect and acknowledgement is an important way of creating a stronger connection with fans.

I have just one word of caution: Be sure to check the user’s prior posts and the comments on the photo. You don’t want to drive traffic to a post with derogatory or unsavory comments.

Wrapping Up

People love to take pictures, especially of themselves doing unexpected activities. And since images are the best way to catch people’s attention, it makes sense to incorporate them into your marketing tactics, both online and in-store.

When you ask people to share pictures, give them a fun way to do it and encourage them to tag you, and they’re very likely to do it. It’s amazing how simple ideas can have a big impact on the social reach of your brand or brand experience.

What do you think? How have you encouraged people to talk about your business online? Which social channels have had the most chatter? Share some of your ideas or the best campaigns you’ve seen in the comments.

Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,'script','twitter-wjs'); About the Author, Jonathan Barouch

Jonathan Barouch is the CEO and Founder of location-based social analytics company Local Measure, which provides businesses and marketers with real-time insight, social alerts and analytics about their customers on a local level. Other posts by Jonathan Barouch »

View the original article here