The Basics of Twitter

Social media is full of useful tools that can be utilized for proper social marketing. Each has their own uses, and combining them gives you the best results. But if you were to settle on any single most effective marketing tool, one of your best bets is going to be Twitter.

The microblogging site has made increasingly powerful waves since its launch in 2007. Today it holds position as one of the single more effective marketing tools for both businesses and persoonal brands around. Bloggers are finding it especially beneficial for promoting on both a brand and content promotion level.

But in what ways can you use Twitter to expand your blog’s audience? There are quite a few to try.

Start connecting with social media influencers.

There are some Twitter users who have managed to reach the top of the popularity tier. These are influencers, those people who manage to get their message out to a particularly large number of people. Within your industry, there should be several of varying levels that you can connect with. Begin retweeting content, commenting on their tweets, tagging them in posts and more. Your aim should be to build a relationship over time that makes you recognizable.

Auto update new content.

Many blog platforms will have the option to auto-update a synced Twitter account every time you make a new post. You should take advantage of this, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting, to doing it manually. But with that comes the responsibility of timing your post publication to match with your demographic’s average use time. While that isn’t something you have to consider, it helps.

Repeatedly share new content.

Don’t just post your new content once and be done with it. You should be reposting the link at least a couple of times that first day that you publish. An auto-scheduling program, such as what is used for social media dashboards like Hootsuite, make this much easier. You can just set the times and tweets all at once, and let it do the work for you. Make sure you customize each message when you repost the link, or it will look like spam.

Speak directly to followers.

When you have managed to score some followers, you need to make sure to keep them engaged. Comment and retweet their stuff when they post something valuable, reply to tweets they include you in, have real conversations, and follow back if they are interesting users.

Post regularly through the day.

You shouldn’t just post links to your account. Regular posting through the day keeps users interested in your page, and connects you with others on the social network. Unlike sites like Facebook, Twitter is all about microblogging. You are supposed to post regular snippets, rather than occasional updates.

Search related hashtags and keywords.

Twitter is a very open kind of network, and their live search feature is helpful in taking advantage of that. It isn’t unusual for others to comment freely on tweets posted by strangers. So searching for a related keyword or hashtag can give you a good opportunity to connect directly with new people interested in your blog topic. That also connects you with their followers, who can see your comments on their page.

Hold a tweetchat.

Tweetchats are becoming a lot more popular lately, and many blogs will hold their own once a week, or a few times a month. You can hold your own by announcing it on your blog, creating a hashtag for the event, and setting an intinerary for the chat itself. It is a great way to pull readers into a conversation, and potentially expand to others who see the results of that chat.

Encourage follower engagement.

Sometimes followers have to be coaxed into taking part in the discussion. The tweetchat can help with that, but so can other forms of engagement. As questions and for follower’s opinion. Give a call to action at the end of blog posts asking to be shared. Tag them in posts when you think they will be interested in a topic of discussion. Ask for user contributions, or for them to share stories using specific hashtags. Take part in community hashtag days associated with your industry. These are all ways to get followers to connect on a more direct level.

Do you have any tips for increasing a blog’s audience using Twitter? Let us know in the comments.

By Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty is the founder of MyBlogGuest and co-founder of ViralContentBuzz. If you are looking to introduce someone to Twitter, download the cheatsheet here.