How to be Productive on Social Media: Twitter

This is the 1st blog post in a series of blog posts about How to be Productive on Social Media by Law Smith, Client Partner at MEGA. 

 

The Common Complaint is either “I don’t know how Twitter works”, or more commonly, “Twitter is dumb”.

Twitter is dumb if you think you should get a lot of followers without doing anything. New users late to signing up for an account usually think it's connection-based like Facebook and friends will find you. However, Twitter has the biggest social media unbalance of celebrities/brands and regular folk. Providing original, unique content like @FiveThirtyEight or writing hilarious jokes like @FattMernandez will procure followers...

...don't be discouraged when your follower number is dwarfed by Jaden Smith...

Twitter Can Actually Be Productive If Used:

  • For Individuals

    • AS A NEWS FEED, NOT A SOCIAL NEWS FEED

      • Before the internet we read the newspaper in the morning. Remember those dark days without a screen constantly in your face? Gross, I know! Follow The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal or both if you lean one way, but want to keep an eye on the other. It's also great to follow local stories if your city's news stations haven't shut down completely. 

    • TO EXPEDITE CUSTOMER SERVICE RESPONSE

      • The reason I made a Twitter account was to put my cable company on blast. A friend told me about 4-5 years ago that huge brands are so concerned with their public image (and don't really understand Twitter), they will respond to you quicker than their customer service phone number. 

    • FOR FINDING A FOOD TRUCK YOU LIKE

      • Not all my suggestions need to be big picture ideas. Sometimes you just want to find your favorite hockey-themed potato waffle fries 

  • For Companies/Brands

    • Humblebrag 

      • Cigar City Brewing is one of the best microbreweries in the country. One reason outside of their delicious adult beverages is their ability to market their company and new beers according to the latest trends. The @FloridaMan handle procures the odd and crazy news stories that occur around Florida everyday. CCB decided to make a beer dedicated to the subversive Twitter feed in a jocular S/O (twitter lingo - shout out) to the company's Floridian roots. Their savvy for trending topics led them to a S/O on Comedy Central's Monday through Thursday fluff-news gameshow @Midnight. CCB played it real cool and Retweeted another Twitter feed promoting the cable appearance 

  • Broadcast Live Events

    • If your business is the type that hosts charity events, large parties or live entertainment, broadcast it live on Periscope, an app that allow users to broadcast in real time through Twitter feeds. Broadcast your events worldwide to gather a bigger digital presence.

 

  • Flash Sales

    • A Flash Sale is when a company uses their social media accounts to place products on sale (or help reduce unwanted inventory) for a couple of hours or a full day.  E-commerce companies can reward their current loyal customers and drum up tons of fanfare from potential customers for their products by using the Sales 101 tactic of scarcity. 

With over 250 million active monthly users, Twitter should not be ignored when it comes to reaching your audience. If you're looking for more creative ways to use social media for your business, get in touch to learn how we can help.