5 quick and simple ways to increase B2B leads via Twitter
Twitter is not only for connecting with those already familiar with your brand, but it is also a great platform to attract potential customers who may be unaware of what you and your company can offer.
As with all forms of marketing, however, you need to put in the time and effort if you want to reap the possible rewards. When reviewing your Twitter strategy, start by considering the following top tips:
1. Curate an audience
You can push out the best quality content in the world, but without an audience there to interact with it, it will simply sit there generating no engagement. Don’t just expect people to find your Twitter profile, instead, you should make a real effort to build and grow your followers through a carefully managed strategy. This can be done both on and off Twitter.
When you are on the platform jump in on conversations regarding products and services you offer, find out who your followers are following and follow them too, and use keywords to enable discovery by potential new customers. Make sure your Twitter profile is consistent with the branding on your website to ensure it is easy for those searching for you to find. Even when you have logged off from Twitter you can still do things to help your following - add a twitter icon to your email signature and ensure all blog posts have links to your social media platforms.
2. Don’t be spammy!
It is only natural that you want to shout from the rooftops about your products or services and push them as much as possible in front of an engaged audience. Unfortunately, people don’t particularly like being sold to in such a direct manner; however, they will accept these messages so long as they are getting other benefits from following you too.
Try to strike a balance between informative, entertaining and engaging content, alongside your sales-led messages. If you are inundating followers with sales patter expect your follower list to dwindle; however, sandwich your sales message between useful content which adds value to your followers and you will find that they are more likely to stick around.
3. Mix up your content
As well as ensuring your content output comprises both informative and sales messages, make sure you also mix up the format of shared pieces. A mixture of articles, videos, images, and infographics not only helps keep things interesting, but this approach also helps you stand out on followers’ timelines.
While copy-based articles are brilliant for conveying a dense amount of information, images are videos are highly shareable. Just remember to include subtitles on any corporate video you produce which is designed to be shared socially; many people scroll through social media with their media volume switched off, subtitling your videos means they can still be understood and digested even without audio.
4. Make it easy for followers to learn more
When compiling your Twitter bio, you will be given the option to include an URL. It goes without saying that you should ensure you are utilising this function, but more than this you should think carefully about where you want your customers to land when they click through.
The homepage may be fine for some businesses, but for others, taking Twitter followers directly to the blog section or offers page perhaps, would be more appropriate. Remember, when a user clicks through to your website the main aim is to convert this visit into a lead; ensure you are directing them to the most appropriate page to make this more likely.
5. Track, assess and promote
Just as with every other form of marketing, tracking the success of your Twitter campaigns needs to be of paramount concern. Creating tracking URL will, over time, allow you to see which messages are enticing readers to click through, and which ones aren’t generating reach or engagement.
Once you know what works and what doesn’t, you can then start to consider pushing these pieces of content out to a wider audience by promoting them in the feeds of non-followers. Make sure you target these posts correctly to ensure the right people are seeing them and use your research findings of previous campaigns to push out a message which has already proven itself to be successful.
About Keith Tully
Keith Tully is a partner at Real Business Rescue, part of Begbies Traynor Group plc. Keith has over 20 years' experience advising directors across a range of company distress issues such as cash flow problems, winding up petitions and liquidation advice.
