Tag: twitter marketing

5 tips to get verified on Twitter

Twitter, like most social media platforms, aims to help cut through bots, trolls and misinformation by various means, such as Twitter verification.

And if your business is active on Twitter, you might be wondering how to get verified and earn the blue checkmark badge next to your account handle.

Twitter verification involves a manual review by Twitter of your account to assert that your profile is credible, authentic and of interest to the public. This means that Twitter can confirm that your account is not impersonating, manipulating or spamming anyone in addition to not violating any copyright or trademark laws. Of course, Twitter verification doesn’t mean an endorsement of your business. It’s all very similar to getting verified on Instagram.

Accounts that can be considered for verification include those used by businesses, politicians, celebrities, musicians, influencers, journalists and so on. Having a big following alone, though, is not a guarantee for getting verified.

Twitter is the world’s seventh favorite social media platform, so to be validated on Twitter helps build trust with your target audience and could lead indirectly to an increase in followers since verification is a sign of authenticity and public interest.

Keep in mind that Twitter announced a new verification program in 2021 after pausing the program in 2017 when a white supremacist’s account obtained a Twitter verification badge, causing a scandal for Twitter.

While anyone can apply for Twitter verification, not everyone will be approved. Minimum follower counts are required, but they do differ between regions to make the verification process more equitable.

Dive deeper into Twitter’s current verification policy.

The application process is relatively simple. Navigate to “Account Settings” on Twitter and select “Request Verification.” Then, you can follow the prompts to submit your application for review.

But again, Twitter verification is not guaranteed. The following are five tips to help you get verified on Twitter the first time you apply.

Optimize your Twitter profile

Of course, you should already want your Twitter account to reflect your brand. What more can you do to optimize your profile? 

You can start by writing a brief-but-descriptive bio that includes your company’s location and a link to your website. In addition, make sure that you’re using high-quality images for your profile photo and cover photo.

You also can pin your top tweet. This then becomes the first tweet users see when visiting your profile, so the tweet you choose matters.

Maintain an active account

If you’re tweeting sporadically, you’re not setting yourself up well for verification. Beyond tweeting more (but still thinking about quality over quantity), you should consider:

  • Responding quickly to direct messages, mentions and comments.
  • Liking, retweeting and commenting on other users’ content.
  • Following and engaging with verified Twitter accounts.
  • Using hashtags to participate in trending conversations.

When applying for Twitter verification, Twitter does look at how your account engages with other accounts. So, ask questions, post polls and mention other verified accounts to encourage them to join the conversation.

To boost the quality of your own brand content, leverage photos and videos. This is especially important considering that you only have 280 characters to work with. Visuals can help communicate more beyond those 280 characters, and you’ll likely see higher engagement as well.

And with more tweets comes a higher risk of spelling and grammar mistakes. Double-check all copy in your tweets before posting since Twitter doesn’t allow you to edit a tweet after publication (and you wouldn’t want to have to do that as a brand anyway).

Plan and execute a Twitter marketing strategy

To help you stay focused and efficient with your content and engagement on Twitter, creating and executing a separate marketing strategy for Twitter is helpful.

You can start by:

Check out our eight expert tips to market your business better on Twitter.

Avoid shortcuts

You might be eager to get your Twitter account verified, but resist the temptation to take any shortcuts. This includes buying followers and relying on bots, you name it.

You want to keep it real, authentic, credible and reliable as a Twitter account, so avoid any seemingly spammy tweets as well. 

Be patient and trust that embracing Twitter’s best practices will not only result in Twitter verification but will help you stay verified as well.

Ensure that everything you tweet is public

While Twitter gives the option for users to change their privacy settings, you want to make sure that as a brand, all your tweets are open to public viewing.

Private tweets limit interaction and engagement, but private tweeting also signals to Twitter that your account is not of public interest.

In conclusion

While there’s no guarantee, getting verified on Twitter is one thing. Staying verified on Twitter is a whole other thing. It is possible to lose your Twitter verification badge if you don’t continue to follow Twitter’s rules and community guidelines.

View Twitter’s “rules of the road” to get a better understanding of the expectations.

In addition, check out the 14 biggest mistakes businesses make on Twitter.

As you begin to optimize your Twitter presence for possible verification, consider leveling up your digital marketing process, which can include automation, audience segmentation and enhanced email marketing capabilities, to name a few. DailyStory can help. Schedule your free demo with us today.

14 biggest mistakes businesses make on Twitter

Many businesses find Twitter to be an effective social media marketing channel.

It offers the opportunity to build your brand’s credibility, engage directly with customers and reach a larger audience.

Twitter, originally created as a micro-blogging platform, is an online news and social networking site, where users can communicate publicly through short posts called tweets.

The social platform boasts about 186 million daily active users and 38 million users from within the U.S.

But with the opportunities come the risk of mistakes that can poorly reflect on your brand (and cause a subsequent loss of revenue).

See our snapshot of the challenges and opportunities of Twitter for businesses.

The following are 14 of the biggest mistakes business make on Twitter.

Not optimizing your Twitter profile

Sure, there is only so much you can do to optimize your Twitter profile, but if you’re not regularly reviewing how your Twitter account looks and what first impressions it might be giving other users, you’re missing out.

Make sure you:

  • Upload your logo or another brand-representative image as your profile photo
  • Choose a relevant and eye-catching cover image
  • Fill out your bio with key information about what your business does and how it helps people. You can check out Twitter accounts you aspire to or compete with for inspiration
  • Pick a URL that is easy to remember and best for potential leads to click on to find out more

No Twitter content plan

Just like any other channel, you’ll be more effective with a plan. Think through your goals. Identify your target audience. Then, consider the mix of content that can help you achieve your goals and reach your target audience.

Check out our seven tips to help you level up your content marketing (whether it’s on Twitter or elsewhere).

Inconsistent brand voice

Your brand story, personality and voice are all critically important to how Twitter users view and understand your brand. 

If you lack consistency in your brand voice, it’s going to be very confusing for anyone you reach with your tweets. In addition, you want to ensure that you’re leaving out any industry jargon in your messagin (unless you are specifically targeting those who understand that jargon, of course).

Keep in mind, that your brand voice should make you human in your messaging and engagement with Twitter users.

See our eight tips for finding your brand voice. Once you know your brand voice, lock it in for your social media efforts and beyond with our five tips to create a brand style guide.

Tweeting too much (or not enough)

Tweet too much, and you look like spam. Tweet too infrequently, and users don’t find you to be an active or credible Twitter account to engage with or follow. It’s easy to make this Twitter mistake, for sure.

Try to keep your tweeting to fewer than four tweets per hour.

Tweeting only at set times

Twitter is a fast-moving social network. If you only tweet at the same time every time, then you’re missing an opportunity to reach more Twitter users. 

You can avoid this Twitter mistake by scheduling your tweets at different times. You can then use Twitter Analytics to gauge what works best for your audience.

Lacking any multimedia tweets

Go beyond just text-only tweets if you want to engage more with your target audience. Aim to mix up your content types:

  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • GIFs

Tweets with images are about 34 percent more likely to get retweeted than tweets with no images.

Talking about your business too much

Just like on any social media platform, if you talk about yourself too much, you run the risk of either losing engagement, being seen as spam or both. 

Remember the reason why most users are using Twitter. Likely, they want to be informed and/or entertained.

Some companies strive for the 80-20 rule, where they only self-promote 20 percent of the time. Others aim for a rule of thirds, where one-third is self-promotion, another third is entertainment and the last third is education. 

There’s no blatant right or wrong content mix. Take time to review your resources and what makes the most sense for your business, with the goal being to keep the self-promotion to a minimum.

As you begin to plan your Twitter content, consider using a content calendar.

Ignoring trending topics on Twitter

Twitter makes it easy to understand what topics are trending at any given time. You should keep an eye out for the topics that are relevant to your brand and that you can contribute something to the conversation.

Not all trending topics will be relevant. So, if it feels like a reach, it probably is, and you should leave it be.

Using too many hashtags

Unlike Instagram (where users technically can use up to 30 hashtags), Twitter is more restrained by total character count and best practices in hashtag usage.

Tweets with hashtags can increase engagement up to 50 percent for brands. 

But you want to stick to one, maybe two, at most. Once you go above that, you risk looking spammy to other Twitter users. So, be sure to do your research on the best one or two hashtags you should be using to avoid this common Twitter mistake.

Missing your opportunity to ask for retweets

While you might feel it’s a little over-the-top or salesy to ask for retweets, you’ll actually receive a boost in engagement overall. Tweets have a 12 times higher chance of being retweeted if you simply ask for it.

You’ll want to use the phrase “retweet” rather than “RT,” though.

The key is that you’re asking on content that is engaging enough for users to see the value of retweeting. That simple act of asking alone won’t get you the retweets you want if your content isn’t worthy.

Leaving your followers hanging

It’s easy to forget the social conversation side of Twitter since the platform moves so fast. And many businesses do.

But regardless of the noise that Twitter can generate at times, you must make it a priority to respond to any comments or direct messages that come your way. In addition, you want to comment and retweet others’ posts if you find them interesting and in line with your brand.

You want to build relationships with your followers and the broader Twitter community, and that won’t happen if you only broadcast content and never engage.

Ignoring negative comments

Related to not engaging with your followers, you cannot ignore any negative comments that come your way.

No business enjoys negative comments or reviews, but they are part of maintaining an online presence, which you absolutely want to do. Treat them as opportunities to turn this negative commenter into a fan, based on your excellent customer service and social media voice.

Check out our 11 tips to best respond to negative commenters.

Retweeting mentions of your business

Resist the temptation to retweet every mention of your brand. It can come across a little shallow, salesy and insincere to other Twitter users.

Instead, you can reply to the tweet and move on. Or, if it really should be shared, retweet it but with a comment on it to give it context to avoid this easy-to-make Twitter mistake.

Expecting instant success

Most social media marketing success is about the long-term strategy culminating in success over time.

This is no different for Twitter. Tweet once or even three times, and you likely will not see an immediate achievement of your goals.

Monitor your overall account performance for clues on what you can do more of and what you should do less of. Remember that Twitter Analytics can help you with this. It’s free to use and is native to the platform.

Check out our eight expert tips to help you market your business better on Twitter.

As you’re creating your author bio, consider leveling up your digital marketing with DailyStory and our 21-day free trial. Features include automating various marketing tasks, dynamic audience segmentation and more. Schedule your free demo with us today.

Got Twitter? 8 expert tips to help you market your business better

While Twitter is a powerful social media platform, it’s easy for your business to get lost in the “noise.”

But it’s worth cutting through and getting your message heard. It’s important to stand out.

The average Twitter user follows at least five businesses, and about 80 percent of all Twitter users have mentioned a brand in a tweet.

Dig deeper into the challenges and opportunities of Twitter for your business.

The following are eight expert tips to help you market your business more effectively on Twitter.

Audit your Twitter account

To know where you want to go, you have to understand where you currently are. Auditing your Twitter account is not only important to do, it’s something you should do regularly.

As you’re examining your account, ask these questions:

  • What types of content are we posting?
  • What’s successful?
  • What isn’t working?
  • Is our posting consistent?
  • Who is our audience?
  • When are our followers active?
  • Are we seeing a return of investment (ROI)?
  • What can we do to improve our Twitter presence?

Many of these answers can be found in your Twitter Analytics. Check out our snapshot to help you navigate Twitter Analytics.

Pay particular attention to your audience and who they are. This is critical to determining the content that will work best for your brand on Twitter.

Research your competition

As you’re getting a sense of what’s happening on your Twitter account, it’s worthwhile to evaluate what you’re competition is doing as well.

This will help inform your own Twitter strategy.

As you’re researching, ask these questions:

  • What are they doing that you should be doing? Or can do better?
  • What isn’t working for them?
  • How do they handle customer service?
  • How often are they posting?
  • Are their followers engaging with them? How?

Dive deeper into what comprises a competitive analysis and how to start your own.

Set S.M.A.R.T. goals

Unsurprisingly, to know whether you’re successful in any marketing effort relies on the goals you set in the beginning.

Goals help us focus on what we want to achieve while also helping know when we need to pivot our strategy (because we’ll know if it’s working or not).

S.M.A.R.T. goals specifically are: 

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

While you’re setting these goals, remember to break them down into measurable indicators so that you can easily grasp where you’re at in your efforts.

Maybe you want to drive more referral traffic from Twitter to your website. Understand where you’re at now, identify where you want to be (within reason) and set a deadline to get there. Once you’ve added some actions that will help you get there, you’re well on your way to outlining a Twitter strategy for your business.

Dive deeper (and beyond Twitter) with our seven tips for setting achievable marketing goals for your business.

Create a set of guidelines

A lot can go wrong on social media. Creating a social media style guide will help keep your communications clear, consistent and representative of your brand at all times.

These guidelines, which span beyond just Twitter, also help you onboard new team members more easily.

Be sure to include:

  • Elements of your overall brand, such as tone
  • Details about your audience
  • Branded hashtags, including how and when to use them
  • How and when to use emojis (and which emojis)
  • How to format links

The key is to be ready for anything. And should the true unpredictable happen, include a standard operating procedure in order to decide the best course of action.

Make a content calendar

As you’re getting a sense of what works for your audience, you’ll want to plan out specific posts.

This will help you not only be more strategic and consistent overall with your posts, but you’ll also stay ahead of holidays and fun “social media holidays,” such as #NationalPuppyDay (for example). 

As you’re creating your content calendar, think about:

  • The best times to post
  • How often you should post
  • Any approval needed for your posts
  • Balancing promotional posts with non-promotional posts

Check out our eight tips for creating a content calendar for your brand.

Follow best practices

As easy as this sounds, best practices can shift as platforms and audiences evolve. For Twitter, it’s important to stay on top of any shifting practices and trends.

However, in general, strive to:

  • Maintain a customized profile that stands out
  • Add value with your content (solving your audience’s pain points and challenges)
  • Mix up your content types, with images, videos, infographics and GIFs
  • Add relevant hashtags where appropriate
  • Engage with your audience by tagging them, responding to comments and so on
  • Monitor your brand with social listening tactics
  • Use a social media management tool to schedule your posts, such as Tweetdeck or Hootsuite

Consider paid advertisements

When it comes to paid advertisements on Twitter, you have two types:

  • Promoted tweets, where you pay for a tweet (which acts like any other tweet) to appear to a user who is not already following your account
  • Twitter ads, where you have a goal beyond the promotion of a single tweet.

Types of Twitter ads include (but are not limited to):

  • Follower growth ads
  • Website clicks or conversions
  • App-related promotion
  • Lead generation

Measure your results

This goes back to your S.M.A.R.T. goals. As your strategic efforts get underway on Twitter, you want to regularly check in on your post performance.

How are you performing against your goals? In general, try to resist the draw of “vanity metrics,” such as pure follower number and likes. Keep a closer eye on click-throughs, comments and retweets.

Continue evaluating your goals, your performance and your ROI. Nothing should be “set it and forget it.” Social media is a fast changing industry, and you’ll want to stay ahead of the curve.

Now that you can make your Twitter presence more effective, consider leveling up your digital marketing process. Schedule your free demo of DailyStory today.