How wisely are you spending your time on Twitter?
Publishers and editors alike want time on social media to be spent properly.
Many publishers have seen how helpful social media can be for generating website traffic. However, some of these same publishers haven’t seen how Twitter correlates to revenue. Although revenue generation from social media may not be as high as some other marketing platforms, it’s still a relevant tool for leveraging organic media.
Therefore, it’s still important to engage with users via social media, but the time spent and activities performed have to be carefully planned.
Having focus with social media allows online editors to perform all of the other job requirements we have. It will also appease publishers, knowing that their editors are spending their time efficiently.
Below I have listed seven tasks online editors should be focusing on everyday for their Twitter strategy. These tips will help you manage your time while engaging with your audience.
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Seven tips for everyday Twitter usage
#1 – Promote your content: Every article you publish on your website should be tweeted to your followers. Adding codes to the URLs will help you track the articles so you can monitor the traffic each article generates.
When you promote your articles, you can tweet the headline or add more creative copy. For instance, instead of writing the headline, you could Tweet an interesting quote or fact found within the article. This might intrigue your followers more.
#2 – Respond to @ replies: One of the reasons to be on Twitter is to interact with your audience. If someone communicates with you directly, you need to respond or you’re missing the point of participating on Twitter.
#3 – Thank frequent re-tweeters: Every time a follower retweets my content, I make sure to thank them for it. In addition to keeping a good rapport with your audience, it allows you to tweet your content multiple times without abusing the privilege.
#4 – Retweet your competitors: You may be wondering why anyone would want to retweet their competitors’ content. In content-based environments, it’s important to share as much relevant information as possible. Doing so helps audience members realize you are a fair and trusted source of quality information.
#5 – Look for conversations to be part of: For better engagement with potential audience members, find conversations that are relevant to your content. You can do so by searching for hashtags (#) that pertain to your topics.
In TweetDeck, I often times track conversations related to the main topics covered at the website. If people pose questions, you can answer the question and point back to a relevant article or free product that can give additional context. This is a great way to start relationships with new audience members.
#6 – Follow your target audience: To do this, use Twitter Search to find important figures within your industry. Following these individuals will be the first step in forging a relationship with them.
#7 – Maintain hashtags (#): Anytime you tweet an article, look to see if a hashtag exists on the topic. If so, include it in the tweet. If a hashtag doesn’t already exist, you can create one in hopes of creating a conversation around it.
According to Amanda MacArthur, Mequoda Group’s Social Media Specialist, “social media is not a ‘you come to me’ environment”. It’s important to openly engage in order to attract users to your content.
Are there other tasks you are focusing on in your Twitter strategy? I’d love to read your comments.
For more on an in-depth Twitter strategy, including the techniques being used by the top 20 publishers on Twitter, join us tomorrow for our new Twitter for Editors webinar.
