Twitter is a popular social network and this is very evident by how often the topic is covered in popular blogs, like this one! Socialnomics’ articles include Make Use Of The Effective Insights Of Twitter Marketing To Buzz Your Business and How to Stand Out on Twitter.
Social Media Examiner seems to love those Twitter Marketing tips and how-to articles, too, including 7 Twitter Marketing Tips and Getting Started With Twitter Marketing.
Influencer Marketing is something that can be used on any social network, but is particularly easy on Twitter because of the ability to read the tweets (unless marked private) for Twitter users, even if you are not following each other on Twitter.
Twitter for Personal or Business
I have heard many people ask why anyone would want to use Twitter for their business when it appears that there is no value in it (no return-on-investment; ROI). Just taking a look at the infographic, above, demonstrates that there is value but it is about accessing those Twitter Users and finding a way for you to benefit, in your business.
Gary Loper makes his living on Twitter. However, you would hardly know that this is a business from the aspect of how Gary presents himself. I recently interviewed Gary and he is so motivational and inspirational. If you are considering how to use Twitter in a non-business way, listen to Gary. If you are considering using Twitter for business, listen to Gary.
His approach is so personable and that may just be the secret success to how he uses Twitter for his business. But, don’t take my word for it, see what Gary has to say for himself:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAFJ-VwE-z0?enablejsapi=1&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&modestbranding=0&rel=1&showinfo=1&theme=dark&wmode=opaque&vq=&controls=2&&w=480&h=298]
Hopefully, by listening to Gary, you can start to see where you fit in the grand scope of things called Twitter. There are so many possibilities and maybe your niche is waiting to be defined and you are just the person to define it!
Twitter Statistics 2014-2015
An infographic that appeared in Marketing Profs demonstrates the quantity of users and how they use Twitter, as shown here:
Twitter Cards
Twitter Cards are a fabulous way to get more exposure. Many times people will miss the regular tweets because they are lost in what is interpreted as Twitter “noise.” However, people still notice the graphics. It is true that you could send a tweet with an attached image, for the purpose of garnering attention. However, there is also another solution and that is to code your site to produce Twitter Cards (graphics and media) so that anyone who simply adds the link to the article tweets something that includes an eye-catching element that will garner attention. This does not negate the use of images with links, but it allows for attention when the tweets do not include their own images. It is another way to get eyeballs on your content, via Twitter.
There are three types of Twitter Cards:
Graphics for Twitter Cards
If you are going to compete with everyone else out there, you are going to need stunning graphics.
Why not use just any graphics?
Fortunately, you can create your own, with built-in templates, at places like Canva, with built-in size computations.
Plugins for Twitter Cards
Now that you have your graphics (and you know what Twitter Cards are), you need some way to get them working on your site. Personally, I code my own backend programming for my Twitter Cards, but I wouldn’t expect anyone else to be as geeky as me. If your site uses WordPress, you are in luck because there is a plugin that will do it for you. It is called JM Twitter Cards. I have included a few tips on configuration. This isn’t a complete configuration guide, but rather a sort of “quick start” so you can get those cards setup and start trying them out on your own.
In Summary…
Now that we have told you about how wonderful Twitter is for business (as well as personal), and given you some statistics for this past year (as well as sharing Gary Loper’s inspiring video about how he uses Twitter in his business), we gave you some action steps. This isn’t just about the importance of Twitter Marketing, but some steps on how to get started in one area of that marketing… Twitter Cards! And, you know what? Twitter Cards, once you get past the set-up stuff and geeky stuff, can be really fun. I just want to encourage you to give yourself some slack as you go through the setup and after that, you should be well on your way to sharing dynamic content and also having a site that is all ready for others to share your stunning content for you!
