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Twitter is one of the more difficult social media platforms for businesses to get right. But once you figure out how Twitter works and what it takes to be effective, you’ll realize that it offers a relatively high return on investment.
What is Engagement?
In the simplest terms, social media engagement is about getting followers or fans to respond to your posts (or general presence on the platform). They can do this in a number of ways, but on Twitter it involves liking, commenting, retweeting, following, clicking a link, and/or sharing a post on another social networking site.
“Social media engagement is essentially like a long-term relationship,” SEO specialist Alex York explains. “You can imagine a committed and lengthy relationship takes dedication, readiness to adapt, the ability to think about the future and ensure the other party involved is happy for years to come.”
It’s best if you don’t think about engagement as one isolated action. You’re trying to establish a line of communication over a period of weeks, months, and years. That’s how you take advantage of a platform like Twitter.
5 Tips for Increasing Twitter Engagement
Understanding what engagement is and actually amplifying engagement on your Twitter profile are two totally different challenges. Let’s check out some of the specific steps you can take for increasing engagement on your company’s profile.
- Engage With Others
Before you can expect people to engage with your Twitter account, you need to make an effort to engage with others. This means liking posts, retweeting content, asking questions, following accounts that you’re interested in, and providing input when you feel like you have something worthwhile to say.
- Keep Tweets Concise
Twitter is designed with brevity in mind. It’s intended to be a platform where you choose your words wisely and get straight to the point. The more concise you are, the better your results will be.
The data shows that tweets between 80 and 110 characters – including hashtags and usernames – is the sweet spot. This is especially true if you’re looking to generate retweets.
- Share Visual Content
As has the rest of the social media industry, Twitter has evolved considerably over the years. One of the biggest changes has been the move towards visual content. Today’s customers crave visually stimulating content and you need to give it to them.
SteelMaster Building is a good example of a Twitter account that understands the value in sharing original content that’s highly visual and engaging. Take note of how all their posts have original pictures, videos, or graphics. Not only does this make their posts more memorable, but it also commands more real estate in the Twitter newsfeed.
- Run a Contest
Contests are always an effective option for increasing engagement. Just remember that you’re trying to increase engagement over a period of time, rather than just a single isolated moment.
This contest from Tata Group is a good example of a contest that forces people to think creatively and interact with the brand at the same time.
- Use the Right Tools
You don’t need a bunch of fancy software programs and algorithms to make Twitter work for your business, but it does help to have a few handpicked tools on your side. For example, you may choose to use a tool to help you boost your visuals.
Internet marketing guru Neil Patel suggests using a tool like TwitHelper, pointing out that, “What you say is important, but how you say it can also impact your results. The use of a high-quality image can be the difference between crazy good engagement and nothing at all. A Twitter card can be very useful for concise and visually appealing content.”
Putting It All Together
If you spend any time at all studying how successful brands approach Twitter, you’ll quickly realize that nothing matters other than engagement. The number of followers you have, the amount of impressions a post gets – neither of these things has much significance if you don’t have a high level of engagement.
Take some time to study the tips and techniques discussed in this article. If you can make one positive change to your Twitter strategy in the next week, you’ll have made significant progress.