How Brands Use Twitter For Marketing

Did you know that 77% of users on Twitter feel more positive about a brand when they get a reply back from it?

With an average user following at least five business accounts and 80% of the Twitter users mentioning a brand in a tweet. If your brand is still not using Twitter for marketing purposes, then you are definitely missing out on potential customers.

But the thing about Twitter is that it isn’t like other social media platforms, the Twitter users are smart and they can see through blatant advertising. That is why, it is important to be smart and devise a marketing strategy instead of just posting about your latest service or product launch.

Lucky for you, we have put together a complete guide to Twitter marketing

HAVE AN AUTHENTIC AND HUMOROUS BRAND VOICE

With an authentic and humorous brand voice on social media platform, your brand becomes more interesting at the same time. People are no longer interested in following brands on Twitter that only post well-edited PR releases and ad campaigns, they want to follow brands that are funny and worth their time.

With an authentic brand voice, your brand becomes more recognizable. So much so that the followers don’t need to check the handle when they read a tweet.

Wendy’s for instance has become quite popular online because of the brand’s dry sarcastic humour and punny replies. The reason why users are loving Wendy’s so much is because the brand doesn’t stick to the usual professional tone and it isn’t afraid to make fun of its competitors, or other Twitter users.

Here is a tweet where Wendy’s challenged a guy to get 18 million retweets, and get year-long free chicken if he wins.

HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3

— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017

It was Wendy’s reply that made the tweet go viral and grabbed everyone’s attention, so much so that the tweet had 2.8 million retweets when the article was written. And it is very close to breaking the most retweeted word record which was set by Ellen’s Oscar selfie.

If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014

USE CUSTOMIZED HASHTAGS AND BRANDED EMOJIS

Branded hashtags are unique to your brand and that is why they are much easier to track. So, when you ask your followers to use a certain hashtag, it does not just become easy to track replies, but its also easy to see the engagement ratio.

For instance, Chobani uses the hashtag #DrinkChobani for the brand’s beverages and #ChobaniFlip for the yoghurt range. So, whenever someone tweets about Chobani’s beverage or yogurt, they use this hashtag.

Best Day EVER ! Introducing NEW Chobani Flip Almond Coco EXTRA Loco with way more crunch and much less yogurt. #ChobaniFlip pic.twitter.com/7rtI57RQl0

— Chobani (@Chobani) April 1, 2017

Real just got ! Drink Chobani Strawberry Banana beverage. #DrinkChobani pic.twitter.com/ptSzpZsVc4

— Chobani (@Chobani) March 30, 2017

Use different customized hashtag for different kind of brand campaign to track audience

With Twitter launching hashtag emojis, some brands have also gone out of their way to add a custom emoji next to their hashtag and it has without a doubt helped them gain more traction.

An emoji with a hashtag already sounds amusing, but what is even alluring is the fact that the hashtag emoji is still very exclusive that brands launch in collaboration with Twitter.

For instance, with the Indian Premiere League (IPL) commencing, the event sponsor VIVO mobiles launched their own custom hashtag emoji #VIVOIPL

The #VIVOIPL Fan Park is arriving in your city. Join us at our Fan Parks and stand a chance to win a Vivo Smartphone. #VIVOIPLFanPark pic.twitter.com/mKwqV0bBZw

— Vivo India (@Vivo_India) April 7, 2017

And that’s not all, there are also custom emojis added for all the major cricket players of IPL.

The #IPL swings into action tonight! We've celebrated with 30 player emojis. Here's your Aussies#Smithy#Watto#GlennMaxwell#DavidWarner pic.twitter.com/KDG1nPCKY1

— Twitter Sports (@TwitterSportsAU) April 5, 2017

With daily matches and a dedicated hashtag emoji, the hashtag #VIVOIPL has a reach of 350k and 550k impressions just in a span of 24 hours

GIVE YOUR OWN TAKE TO TRENDING HASHTAGS AND VIRAL CONTENT

While it’s great to have your own branded and custom hashtags, it requires a lot of monitoring and efforts to actually make them trend. At the same time, there are so many hashtags trending on Twitter every day that it would be stupid to not take advantage of their traffic.

For instance, when a musical, Sound of Music was being telecasted live on TV, it was obviously trending all over Twitter.

DiGiorno Pizza used the trending hashtag to give its own twist to the songs in the musical.

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN, FORD EVERY STREAM, FOLLOW EVERY RAINBOW, UNTIL YOU FIND A SUPREME (PIZZA FROM DIGIORNOOOOOO) #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

YOU ARE 16, GOING ON 17 AND I'M ASSUMING YOU'D LIKE PIZZA FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY DINNERRRRRRR #BuyDiGiorno #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

By the way, did you notice how DiGiorno Pizza used their branded hashtag in combination with the trending hashtag?

Similarly, Skittles used the trending hashtag #NationalBestFriendsDay to share their own thoughts about it.

Never mind how they became best friends. The point is they are now. #NationalBestFriendsDay #squadgoals pic.twitter.com/fYiueKCvAT

— Skittles (@Skittles) June 8, 2016

Now, who can forget the viral video ‘Damn Daniel’ from 2016 where a teen on Snapchat was showcasing his very crispy white Vans shoes and his friend was commentating on it in the background. This trend might not have been started by Vans, but the company did not wait much to take advantage of it.

Shortly after that, Axe joined the bandwagon.

#FindYourMagic. Every. #DamnDaniel. Day. pic.twitter.com/VqMaPJ43ZK

— AXE (@AXE) February 19, 2016

INTERACT WITH OTHER BRAND HASHTAG CAMPAIGN AND GENERATE TRACTION

There is really nothing as interesting as seeing two top brands interact on social media as they try to one-up each other with every tweet.

For instance, when Apple launched iPhone 5c, #Apple was obviously trending. Nokia hijacked the trending hashtag by posting a picture to prove that the new coloured iPhone was inspired by Nokia phones. The tweet soon became the most retweeted brand tweet, ever.

When Nintendo launched Nintendo Switch last month, both Xbox andPlaystation stepped up to congratulate the OG gaming company.

.@NintendoAmerica It's not every day you get to throw the #Switch on a new console. Congrats! #NintendoSwitch @Nintendo pic.twitter.com/d0JNCCM6Wd

— Xbox (@Xbox) March 3, 2017

While that was sweet of these brands, but sometimes brands go out of their way to make fun of their competition. For instance, Wendy’s made fun of McDonald’s for still serving frozen beef in their restaurants, and expectedly, Wendy’s reply got way more retweets and likes than McDonald’s original tweet.

.@McDonalds So you’ll still use frozen beef in MOST of your burgers in ALL of your restaurants? Asking for a friend.

— Wendy's (@Wendys) March 30, 2017

Though Wendy’s succeeded in their mission, there is a very thin line when it comes to a healthy competition. While there is nothing wrong in being funny, you shouldn’t come across as mean or rude.

USE IMAGES AND VIDEOS IN TWEETS FOR MORE SOCIAL REACH

There was a time when Twitter was all about sticking to 140 characters. But a lot has changed in the coming years, and now Twitter does not even count links or mentions in that 140 characters limit.

With the introduction of images, videos, and gif attachments, brands are going out of their way to add media to their tweets to garner more traction. That is because a tweet with an image or a video takes more space on the screen as compared to a simple text tweet, and this space makes a lot of difference for mobile users.

Starbucks, for instance, uses media in almost all of their tweets.

Not sure which roast you ❤️ the most? We're here all day to answer your coffee questions and help you find your perfect cup. #AtHomeCoffee pic.twitter.com/83tWpN5cFn

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) March 23, 2017

Netflix too being a streaming platform uses media tweets to share promos of their upcoming shows and gifs of their already launched shows.

Feel the vibes. Season three of @GraceandFrankie is now streaming. pic.twitter.com/AbHFN36yUk

— Netflix US (@netflix) March 24, 2017

Research has shown that Tweets with photos get 313% more engagement

ORGANIZE HASHTAG CONTESTS FOR BETTER BRAND ENGAGEMENT

Organizing contests on Twitter can boost your brand’s engagement rate, increase followers, and if the contest becomes a hit, there is also a change of getting your hashtag trending.

But before you do that, it’s important to identify the main objective behind the contest and the right prize. While anyone would want a new iPhone, you want to offer a gift which only your target audience would like.

There are many ways to hold contests on Twitter. You can ask your followers certain questions, which they could answer using a specific branded hashtag, or you could just ask your followers to retweet the main contest tweet for a chance to win a prize, like Toblerone did.

On your marks…get set…RT and follow if you’d like to win a 400g Fruit & Nut Toblerone pic.twitter.com/IBmeyGW3jg

— Toblerone (@Toblerone) June 7, 2016

Honda Canada, on the other hand, asked users to caption a picture to win winter tires.

Caption this photo with the hashtag #WinWinter for a chance to win a set of winter tires! https://t.co/m2nvDFrRgi pic.twitter.com/JmERBKReEw

— Honda Canada Inc. (@HondaCanada) October 21, 2015

USE INFLUENCER MARKETING AND BOOST YOUR BRAND REACH

No matter how established a brand is, everyone has to start with zero followers when they open their Twitter account.

Influencer marketing is when brands collaborate with famous influencers with a large following, that matches the brand’s target audience. The influencers post tweets about the brand, by tagging it and using a specific hashtag, and the brands get more attention and followers.

For instance, Oreo collaborated with several influencers to get people to notice their #OreoDunkSweepstakes challenge

Love me some @oreo cookies…so obviously I had to enter the #OREODunkSweepstakes Show your own dunks for a chance to win BIG! #ad pic.twitter.com/rjOVah5Uis

— James Maslow (@jamesmaslow) March 27, 2017

Similarly, Calvin Klein collaborated with YouTuber Connor Franta to showcase their new collection.

ready to party in london tonight with @CalvinKlein!! wearing their new CK ALL and feeling like a little trouble #ad ‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/6cbJg3GWrj

— con (@connorfranta) April 6, 2017

While a single tweet can only get so much attention, if you are looking to really get an influencer’s target audience to notice your brand then the best way to do that is through a Twitter takeover.

A Twitter takeover is when some other user handles a Twitter account for the whole day. They tweet about it on their own account as well to invite their followers, thus leading to more engagement.

For instance, the age old classic Addams Family is set to go live on stage in April, and to gain momentum, they asked the play’s stage manager to takeover the official account for a day and show what it’s like to be backstage.

Thanks for joining me today @KABalmforth signing out of #TwitterTakeOver pic.twitter.com/Bnsux50Q3X

— The Addams Family (@AddamsFamilyUK) March 28, 2017

PROVIDE BETTER CUSTOMER SUPPORT ON TWITTER

Many of the brands have started using Twitter as a way of providing customer support. We live in a world of real-time comments and likes, and most customers do not want to click multiple numbers on an IVR. They use social media everyday, and they want their solutions on social media as well.

An active customer support on Twitter also lets prospective users know that the brand really cares about their customers. A keyword monitoring tool like Socialert for Twitter that can help you with customer support. You should track brand handle, brand name and even industry keywords so you can listen to all relevant conversation from your customers

HP, for example, has a dedicated Twitter channel just to provide support to its customers. They respond to requests 24 x 7, directly ask customers to DM their device information, and even raise a ticket through Twitter.

Asana, a productivity app, too uses its main Twitter handle to respond to customer issues.

For instance, Sainsbury took a dab at one of their customer’s request when he misspelled a word.

@TeaAndCopy Were there no other packs in the plaice, or was that the sole one on the shelf? Floundering for an explanation! David.

— Sainsbury's (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

Wendy’s, on the other hand, only needed a picture to direct users to McDonalds.

@_inkedSnowFlake pic.twitter.com/IhRsonIUnJ

— Wendy's (@Wendys) January 3, 2017

IN CONCLUSION

While marketing your brand on Twitter is important, it is equally important to analyse your marketing efforts to see what is working and what’s not. Analytics can also help create better content for future campaigns and drive better engagement from your followers.

Let us know what works for you on twitter in comments section below.

This article was originally published on Socialert blog here

Read more: Why Twitter Followers Are Worth More Than Facebook Fans