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Should Twitter Be Part of Your B2B Marketing Strategy?

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Twitter is in the headlines lately as Elon Musk maybe will, maybe won’t, buy the social media platform. Regardless of who owns it, should Twitter be part of your marketing effort for your business-to-business company? Maybe.

Twitter Facts

First, you need to consider how the platform is used.

  • Twitter has a significantly lower number of active daily users than other social networks
  • One in five U.S. adults use Twitter
  • 69% of adult Twitter users in the U.S. get their news and/or gain a better understanding of the news on Twitter
  • Twitter is the most used social media channel for journalists
  • Twitter is suspected to have a larger number of fake accounts than other platforms, and has been cited as a place where fake news is posted and spread

Posts are limited to 280 characters, making Twitter a platform of quick posts that users scan quickly. The platform works well for sharing and getting news, especially breaking news. It is also widely used for events, working well for real time updates for attendees and remote watchers alike.

Managing Twitter

Account Profile

The first thing users see on your Twitter profile is your profile image, so be sure to use the same image you use on all of your other digital properties, so you can be easily recognized. For businesses, this image is often your logo.

The profile header image should give an at-a-glance overview of what you do.

Use the bio section of the profile to let users know who you are and what you post about.

Tweets

The lifespan of tweets is short and the channel is designed for higher volume communication than other social platforms. You will need to plan for how often you want to tweet, as well as the content (text, images, video, etc.) that you will share. Best practices are to build your brand reputation, establish expertise, and to be very timely.

On Twitter, you will also need to use hashtags. The right tags help connect you to your audience and topic areas.

Responding and Engaging

Twitter users can comment on and share your tweets. The can also directly message you. They will expect timely responses and acknowledgement of these activities. Engaging with users also increases your ability to appear in more users’ feeds and helps to build your following.

Gauging Success

Free metrics are available via Twitter Analytics. You can track:

  • Followers
  • Clicks
  • The tweets with the most impressions or engagement
  • The number of interactions with a tweet including likes, video views, @ replies, retweets and clicks

Beyond the numbers, you will want to track who you are engaging with on Twitter, and the business value of those interactions. Does Twitter help you provide customer service? Find new customers? Connect with the media? Etc. Know your goals for using Twitter and be sure to assess if those are being achieved.