Twitter Automation For Small Business

Twitter
Automation
for Small
Business

Copyright SimplyCast 2013 #learntwitter

Twitter Automation For Small Business Share!

This guide is for small business owners or individuals starting out with Twitter automation or want to get a refresher on the basics of
Twitter marketing. After reading this, you will be able to execute successful tactics related to the topic.

Twitter Automation for
Small Business
By Michael Cusden

Michael Cusden, Inbound Marketing Manager at
SimplyCast, is responsible for creating ebooks,
whitepapers and online marketing guides. Michael is a
prolific blogger who also manages content for SimplyCast’s
website and user application. He is an expert in content
marketing, social media marketing and occasionally has
time to Tweet about it.

Follow @michaelcusden

Grow Business Automatically in 140
Characters Or Less
Twitter is one of the top marketing tools at our disposal
today. But many small businesses fail to see the value and
still view it as waste of time. This is far from the truth. By
adding Twitter marketing automation to the mix as well as a
few minutes of organic tweeting, any small business can:
Research showed that in 2012:
• 34% of marketers generated leads using
• Build Brand Twitter and 20% closed deals.
• 30% of Twitter users have an income over
• Drive Sales $100,000.
• Solve Problems • 100 million active Twitter users log in at
least once per day.
• Win New Customers
• Become An Authority

Copyright SimplyCast 2013 #learntwitter 2


Table of Contents
04 Getting Started with Twitter
• What is a Tweet 4
• Setting Up a Profile 6
• Making a Beautiful Account 6
• Defining Your Goals 6
• Start Following 8

09 How to Engage
• Listen 9
• Choose Your Voice 10
• Set a Habit & Automate Process 10
• Create Sharable Content 13

14 Twitter Automation for Business
• Overall Goals 14
• Marketing 15
• Lead Generation 15
• Customer Service 17

18 Amplify and Grow Reach
• Promote Twitter Account 18
• “Get What You Give” Mentality 22.
• Measuring Impact & Performance 23

25 Conclusion

Before setting you on your way, we will review everything that you will have learned by reading this
guide. A printable quick tip sheet will also be included at the end to help you out.



Getting Started With Twitter
Twitter is a critical business communication tool as it allows businesses of any size to engage with
customers in real-time which makes it a highly effective medium. More and more, tech-savvy users
are turning to Twitter before using more traditional methods of researching and reaching out.

The Advantages of Twitter
• Immediate
• Observed
• Measured
• Open Dialogue
• Public & Organic Conversations
• Accessible & Flexible
• Unlimited Content Via The RT
• Community Building

Points to Remember
• Public Conversation
• Easy To Start Controversy
• Mistakes Can Snowball
• Careful Of What Is Posted

What is a Tweet?
A Tweet is a post or status update on Twitter
consisting of a maximum of 140 characters.
Tweets have evolved to more than everyday
experiences, and take the shape of shared links
to interesting content on the web,
conversations around hot topics, photos,
videos, music, and, most importantly, real-time
accounts from people who are in the midst of a newsworthy event, crisis, or natural disaster.



A Retweet (or RT) is a post or status
update that is shared from another user.
Retweeting is how Twitter users share
interesting Tweets from the people they
are following. They copy and paste the
original Tweet and send it out. To give
credit to the original person, users usually
put “RT” plus the originator’s username at
the beginning of the Tweet.

Hashtags are a way for people to
search for Tweets on a common topic.
If you want to find out what people are
saying about the latest Smart Phone,
you would search for Tweets with the
hashtag #iPhone, #Android or even
#BlackBerry. Or better yet, Tweet using
one of these hashtags so others can
find what you are saying.

Direct Messages or DMs are a way to
interact with another Twitter user
privately. Twitter allows you to send a
direct or private message to anyone who
follows you. Be cautious of automatically
sending a DM to everyone who follows
you. If done poorly, it is a big turnoff and
can make you look unprofessional.



Setting Up a Profile
Setting up a Twitter profile only takes a few minutes and offers quite a lot of customization for your
business.

First you need to choose the right handle or public name. This will be your Twitter nickname and will
be displayed publicly. It is a best practice to use something branded or related to your company. This
could be your actual company name or a persona that you create to represent your brand (think
mascot). The name cannot be more than 15 characters so you will have to be a little creative.

From there, write a short bio about who you are and what you plan to share on Twitter. Think
business card catchy. Do not just copy the standard boilerplate from your website’s About Us section.
Make it catchy. Also try to include a few keywords related to your business and of course your
company website.

Making a Beautiful Account
With Twitter’s limit on characters, the overall design of your Twitter profile needs to be eye-grabbing
and create an association with your product. This does not mean “Las Vegas” style with too much
flashy design, but instead a simple design that brands your company in the eye of the follower.

The two main areas to focus on are your profile photo and the background for the entire page.

Choosing the right profile picture for your business really comes down to the message you want to
send. Best practice says to use your company logo for your profile picture but it could also be the
initials of your company or like mentioned before, the persona or mascot that brands your company.
Try not to choose something obscure or hard to see or it will appear unprofessional.

For the background, keep in mind what parts of the screen are open for your content and that
different monitors will influence where things appear. A pretty standard way to go is to add a logo
and contact information. Once you build up a following you can update your background design.

Defining Your Goals
Now that you have your handle picked and design elements added, it is almost time to start using
Twitter. Before you do though, it is a good idea to define what your goal is for using Twitter for your
business.



What are your communication goals and overall Twitter strategy?
Some examples of a communication goal would be:
• To expand reach of company.
• Providing customer support for product.
• Providing information based content on a topic in order to be seen as an authority.
• To simply entertain and put your name out there.

All or one of these communication goals can be implemented.

Ask these questions to help develop your overall Twitter strategy.
• What does your business hope to gain from Twitter?
• How will Twitter work with already established marketing strategies?
• Who is the target audience?
• Which industry leaders, organizations and businesses should be followed?
• What is our Tweet frequency?
• How much automation should be used?
• Who is the point person for our Twitter account?
• What kind of oversight will be in place for Twitter?
• What will the Tweet tone be?
• What are our Twitter metrics?
• How are our competitors using Twitter?
• What keywords are important to our company?
• What trends are we going to monitor?

After answering these questions, you are ready to start tweeting and following.

The name of the social network was
originally “Twttr,” later changed to
Twitter.



Start Following
It is important that you don’t follow too many new people at one time. Twitter spammers
aggressively follow a large number of people in short bursts. If you act like a spammer, someone
might report you as such and Twitter might suspend your account. You will also be limited by
Twitter on how many people you can follow in one day. Use the search feature on Twitter or hashtags
to quickly find potential users to follow.

It is a good idea to monitor new followers and engage in conversation either with a simple public
thank you or a DM. It is very popular to automate the DM sent when someone follows you but in the
beginning, it is good to establish connections, so take that extra time. Automation will come later.

Getting Started With Twitter Takeaways
• Select a username that fits your company image and will help grow the brand. If your desired
name is taken, get creative and have fun with it.
• Make your profile page appealing to the eye, which includes a profile logo and a full background. I
recommend keeping it simple.
• Define the goals for your Twitter account. You can have more than one, but you need to decide
before you get started.
• Start following in small doses and targeting who you follow. Monitor daily and establish
connections.

50% of Twitter users are using the
social network via mobile.



How To Engage
Twitter is a two-way conversation. This is the only way you will be able to build a loyal and engaged
following. Simply setting up automated Tweets won’t do it. We will cover the correct way to
implement Twitter automation later in this guide.

Many brands, businesses and marketers already know how powerful Twitter is for finding and
engaging with their audience.

The low cost, immediacy and viral nature makes it a favorite tool for everyone from news
organizations to small businesses.

But for those using Twitter for the first time for their business, they often wonder why they don’t get
an overwhelming response to their first few Tweets. Well the simple answer is you need to develop
and engage a following.

Here is how you do that:

Listen
When you first start out with a new Twitter account, the first thought is to go and follow hundreds of
people to get the ball rolling. While this is not totally wrong, it is a good idea to have a plan on who
you will follow. Like I mentioned already, target groups of people and add them in small doses. As
each branch of followers opens up, you will find new lists of users who match up well with your
company.

By taking it slow, it will allow you to listen or read what is being said by each of the newly followed
tweeters. By listening, you will find new directions to take, what the hot topics are and what is
trending. Don’t just start sending out Tweets without taking the time to read what others are saying.
Twitter is full of interesting people, who want to answer questions and engage with you. The key is to
start a conversation.

It is also a good idea to infuse a little personality into your profile. I feel this is a must, otherwise your
feed will have the appearance that you are just posting messages like a robot. Few will want to
engage or follow you if this is the case.



Choose Your Voice
Every company needs a voice on social media. Some stick to their corporate vision, some try to add a
little humor. Whichever is your style, you should implement and stay true to it. This is especially
important if you have multiple people managing your Twitter account.

Here are a few best practices that I always tell those new to Twitter to use to help decide on what the
voice of your company should be.

• If you can’t say it to your mother, grandmother or spiritual adviser with a straight face, then never,
ever Tweet it.
• Don’t Tweet under stress. You are prone to lashing out and posting something that you’re going
to regret, regardless whether it is complaining about a project or supervisor. Don’t. Just don’t.
• Never Tweet if a phone call or a face-to-face meeting is better or more productive. It’s
unprofessional and, quite frankly, lazy.
• Don’t Tweet about private company information. This should be obvious.
• Don’t gossip about internal politics. No one cares whether your cube-mate steals from the
communal fridge.
• Never, ever blow off steam with your personal thoughts on your customers. If your customers are
frustrating you, or not spending as they should, keep it to yourself.
• Even if it is a company sanctioned happy hour or holiday party, don’t Tweet or post pictures of
your CEO doing Jell-O shots in a dive bar.

Pretty common sense stuff but you would be surprised what some people will put out into the
Twitterverse. Remember, your business account is all about your company whether it be projects,
promotions, employees or views. It should never be a personal soap box.

Form A Habit & Automate Process
Just like any type of Internet user, Twitter readers are creatures of habit. By creating your own habit
of when you post Tweets, you will make it easier for followers to see your content. This is also where
Twitter marketing automation can save you a great deal of time.

As long as you remember that full automation is not welcomed by everyone and that you should
sprinkle in a few daily Tweets that your write yourself to avoid coming off as robotic.



As a small business, one cannot actively manage multiple social media accounts, as well as other
aspects of business without some level of automation.

Twitter has set guidelines and best practices for automation: https://support.twitter.com/arti-
cles/76915-automation-rules-and-best-practices. Adhering to these guidelines ensures you are
playing safe without any worry of account suspension. Sometimes, Twitter filters out
robot-like accounts from search results before the suspension process is initiated. If the bulk of your
Tweets are automated, it is advisable to check Twitter search results everyday. An absence from T
witter search is a clear indication your account has been pinned down by Twitter and it is time to re-
think your strategy.

Now that is the dark side or quick fix of Twitter automation. Yes, it will get you some notice and link
backs, but it won’t do anything for your engagement or growth.

So what should you use Twitter automation for? In short, anything you can schedule ahead of time
that will add value when it is posted.

• Time Sensitive Information ie. Reminders Or Special Promotions.
• Company News Or Product Launches.
• Holiday Greetings Or Birthday Wishes.
• Blog Posts And Industry Articles.
• Links To Other Social Media Profiles.

You can also schedule automated Tweets about:

Short profiles about company staff
Customers love to learn about the people behind their favorite products. They want to learn about the
people in your company. Too often, companies on Twitter are more focused on selling that they miss
how much of a sales impact a little humanizing does. If you have a customer support team, put a face
to their helpful advice. Your customers will appreciate having a better idea of who they are talking to.

Company press releases
Whatever is going on inside the walls of your business – unless, of course, it’s top-secret – is great
fodder for Twitter. Try to Tweet fuzzier, heart-warming press releases than those that may be more
technical. Happy news – such as how your product changed a family’s life – is read, commented on
and Retweeted more often than non-fuzzy news.



Teasers about almost-released new products
This tactic works especially well with an upcoming holiday or a highly anticipated product. Perhaps
you release a new product feature every week or what the initial price will be. Twitter is a fantastic tool
at creating buzz, and buzz is what every marketer wants. Don’t go overboard or it will be a buzz kill.

Reviews and articles about your company products
Link to articles and product reviews. Even better, try to link to reviews by trusted consumer agencies
and websites. Essentially, you’re not saying how fantastic your products are, someone else is.

Customer testimonials on your website
People trust other people. People trust people they’ve never met more than they trust the company
that’s pushing them to buy their latest product. Let your customers do the selling for you.

By creating and automating Tweets ahead of time, you are not only spending less time on Twitter,
you are creating a more structured Twitter attack that allows you to stick to your vision and voice. Not
to mention allowing more focus on other areas of the business. Once automated Twitter marketing
campaigns are in place, it makes it easy to take a few minutes a day to add more personal Tweets and
engage with anyone trying to reach you.

Over the span of 16 days, the London
Olympics generated 150 million tweets.



Create Sharable Content
To fully engage readers and build a greater following, you need to create highly sharable content. This
is content that people want to share over and over again because it is trending, innovative,
beautiful or just down right awesome. If you have looked at your Twitter feed lately, you know what I
am talking about. Don’t just write what everyone else is doing. Come up with a new vantage point.

This could be written content, infographics, videos or photos. Just take a look on Twitter and see what
other brands are Retweeting and posting. Top 10 lists and How-to guides are gold when creating
sharable content.

Twitter Engagement Takeaways
• Don’t just post constant Tweets without reading what others are saying. Twitter is meant to be a
two-way conversation.
• Before Tweeting, choose your voice. What kind of personality do you want to portray?
• Create a habit of Tweeting with automation. Preset a few Tweets daily to engage and inform
audience and add in your own live Tweets when you can.
• The best way to engage readers is to create highly sharable content. If it provides value and is
presented in a new and exciting way, people will share it.

The average business has over 14,000 Twitter
followers.



Twitter Automation For Business
With everything set up, a better understanding of Twitter automation and a small following
established, what do you do next to explode your Twitter profile and grow business?

Overall Goals
Step one, plan out what you intend on Tweeting about and what the goals are for doing so.

Are you strictly sending out marketing materials about your product? Maybe lead generation
initiatives? Or are you planning to do mostly customer service? Regardless of which you plan to use
(maybe all), here are five areas to focus on after you set your goals for Twitter.

Link
Tweet links to your articles, blog or news archives on your website. This is especially effective for those
new or potential customers to learn a bit more about you and what you do. Further, if you’re ever
stuck or lacking Tweet-inspiration, post a link to your most commented on or most controversial
article.

Tease
Post teasers about what is coming up in your other marketing campaigns, including exclusive offers
in your email newsletter, member-only tips in your fax blasts or contests on your other social media
sites. Think of your entire marketing strategy as a giant machine: each part needs to support the rest
in order for the entire operation to be successful.

Review
Link to recent consumer product reviews from trusted sources and newly added customer
testimonials from your website. Customers who are on the fence about you will learn much more from
other customers than anything you’ll ever Tweet will.

Offer
Tweet exclusive promotional codes. You’ll be able to then track how much business your Twitter page
is generating and how many people “cash-in” on your deals. To make it easier, write your codes so
that they have some reference to Twitter, like TWEET25.

Retweet
Always, always, Retweet fascinating or interesting links or Tweets, especially those that are related to
your industry. By taking a break from shameless self-promotion, you’ll show that you are tuned in to
what others are talking about. And, as an added bonus, the more you Retweet, the higher the
possibility that you’ll gain new followers and be Retweeted by others.



Marketing
Two of the main reasons why Twitter is a powerful marketing tool is that, one, it is instant, and two, it
is inexpensive for the most part. Anyone can follow the steps to setting up and building a strong
Twitter account. The biggest hurdle for many is the time or resources to remain active.

Again, this is why Twitter marketing automation is a very helpful tool for small businesses. You will
reduce the time you spend Tweeting and still maintain an active profile. It is still vital to take at least
10 minutes every day and read your feed, engage with followers and show that there is in fact a
person behind it.

Lead Generation
Since you have started using Twitter for your business, it is only natural that you will want to leverage
Twitter as a lead generation tool. The beauty of Twitter is that it allows instant conversation for
someone looking for the product or service that you are offering. By keeping your eyes open and
being ready to act helps. By just using some simple search tips, you can mine Twitter for all kinds of
potential leads.

Then when someone is looking for a specific service that you have the solution for, you could suggest
it and bring in a new lead.

The problem with this is, you can’t browse Twitter all day looking for these people. The whole idea is
to reduce your time on Twitter, not add several hours to it.

Here are some quick and easy ways to find potential leads in only a few minutes.

Twitter advanced search
If you use Twitter, you are probably aware of the basic search function. This lets you save a tremen-
dous amount of time while you run searches using your name, or your business’s name, your brands,
your competition and other tags. This will help keep track of your online business reputation as you
look at the response to your Tweets.

However, the advanced search function is what you should really take advantage of because it lets
you run a search for your keywords by geographical location. So, if you live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
and run an advanced search for who is in Dartmouth, you can see who is saying what in that area. This
is real-time data you can filter and develop into business opportunities.



Being responsive is the key
Twitter is full of people who post questions, opinions, requirements and just about anything and it
is up to the marketer to utilize these Tweets. If someone is looking for something, they would be
pleased to have someone respond to their need. Whether it is to identify, filter or respond to people
asking questions or complaining. This becomes even more valuable if it is someone from their local
area. As a marketer, you can plan and set up a series of Tweets that could very well convert into hot
leads on a daily basis.

Remember, you must take care to insure readers don’t consider you a spammer. Instead, identify your
niche and target people in that segment by triggering an interesting conversation and being helpful,
eventually generating leads.

Distribute content
Using Twitter as a way to distribute content and information can help drive leads for other content
properties such as blog posts, contests, webinars, eBooks, etc. When distributing content via Twitter,
either use Twitter’s reporting metrics or another URL shortening service to track statistics for the clicks
and shares of your content on Twitter. This will be an important set of data to better understand what
subjects and types of content drive the best traffic and leads from Twitter.

McDonalds employs 10+ people to run their
Twitter account.



Customer Service
Using Twitter for customer service is something that should only be considered if you have the
resources. Due to Twitter’s instant nature, when a person asks for help on Twitter, they are really
expecting an answer in under 10 minutes. Even if it is to say their request was read and the necessary
people are looking into it.

Engaging with followers is important but when someone is seeking your help and you leave it for a
day, they will be irritated and less likely to engage with you again.

It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to monitor your feed for questions and to respond in a
timely fashion.

Use DMs
For more detailed problems, keep information private using direct messages. If it is a wide spread
issue, send out one Tweet to explain, but don’t try and answer everyone publicly.

This will keep your feed clear and make it easy for people looking for the problem instead of having
to scroll through endless Tweets.

Twitter For Business Takeaways
• Determine your goal for using Twitter and match your content accordingly.
• Use tools like Twitter’s advanced search for lead generation purposes.
• Being responsive is key for marketing, lead generation and customer support goals.
• Use DMs or direct messages when working with customers on unique questions.



Grow Twitter Reach
The final stage of using Twitter marketing for your small business, is amplifying your profile to reach a
much wider audience. The more engaged users you have, the better right?

Remember, you want to have followers who read your content, do something with it and help spread
your posts to new users.

Having an account of 50,000 followers who don’t even know who you are is not the optimal situation.

Here are some simple ways to grow your Twitter reach.

Promote Twitter account
It is easy to create a Twitter account and start posting messages. That only takes a minute or two to
get started. If you are entering the world of Twitter marketing however, it will take more time to see
results.

The tricky part is building an engaged following that not only helps brand your organization, but also
becomes a source for new leads and new sales.

Here are 8 simple ways to improve your Twitter presence and expand overall reach:

“Answer Monday’s”
Regardless of what you call it, setting aside one day per week to answer your customers’ top
questions is an invaluable strategy to immediately improve your Twitter presence. It not only shows
that you care about what your customers are struggling with but also that your company is proactive
when it comes to customer service. If a handful of customers have the same issue, then, chances are,
there are others.

Compile a list of the top questions from the previous week, collecting them from all of your customer
service channels – instant messaging, forum postings, Facebook, Twitter, emails and over the phone.
Cover all possible areas in which a customer may have an issue including customer service, technical
assistance, sales and promotions, and products.

Then, Tweet the answers. In order to see a significant change in your Twitter presence, this act can’t
be fly-by-the-night, Tweeting irregularly. Instead, pick a day of the week, and publicize that your
company is going to answer these questions.



Internal Shout-Outs
People who follow businesses on Twitter want the occasional reminder that, in fact, there are actual,
real, live people running the show. The common perception of companies – regardless of size or type
– is that they’re nameless, faceless automated machines that spit out products for a profit.

One of the best ways to break the mold and increase your Twitter marketing stature is to remind the
public that your company is comprised of real people.

Tweet high-fives, kudos and shout-outs to your fellow cube-mates. Tweet excellent work. Tweet
completed projects. Tweet an amazing brainstorming session. Tweet whatever that makes your
company proud.

Welcome New Clients
Similarly to Tweeting internal kudos, sharing with the Twittersphere how happy you are for gaining a
new client or customer makes everyone’s day.

This practice not only reaffirms your new found connection to your new client but also shows that
your company takes relationships very seriously.

On another level, by publicly welcoming new clients, it shouts that you’re not all about the cheddar,
pushing deals or self-promotion.

Deals
Some of the most successful businesses Tweet a daily or weekly deal, something that’s entirely
exclusive to Twitter. Posting regularly increases followers’ anticipation, conversion rates and even
attracting new followers.

Another useful and proven tip to increase Twitter presence is to link to your on-going deals through
coupon sites like Groupon or Livingsocial.

Tweeters (and the general public) love to get deals, and one of the fastest growing searches on Twit-
ter is for any sort of discount or promotions.



Use Hashtags (#)
Hashtags are an incredibly powerful and wonderful Twitter tool. As mentioned earlier, hashtags (or #)
are words that point to a specific subject or trending topic. The # separates the word from the rest of
the Tweet to underscore the importance. Hashtags are searchable, ranked and organic, meaning that
anyone can add a hashtag to a word to start a trending topic.

One of the biggest mistakes that Twitter marketers do is to overuse hashtags in their Tweets. By
littering their posts with every other word hashtagged out, they assume that it increases the
searchability and relevance.

Sadly, the opposite is true. By using hashtags sparingly and correctly, you’ll tap into the current topics
within your industry, highlight critical information in your Tweets and possibly start a trend.

Also, do some research for the week’s (or month’s) top hashtags within your industry. If there’s
already a conversation going on about a certain topic, tap into that collective power.

Follow Twitter Trending
Before falling headfirst into the powerful world of Twitter hashtags, do some research into what are
the trends for your industry.

Besides Twitter’s own trending system, several other online directories update the top hashtags and
topics.

• What are the most popular subjects?
• What are the least popular?
• Is there something that your industry is not Tweeting?

Watch for any seismic shifts in industry hashtags or if new topics pop up. Look for any patterns. Also,
monitor which hashtags your competitors, clients and potential markets use.

Create Your Own Hashtags
After doing some research and monitoring, you’ll probably come across a void in your industry. Why
not fill it with your own hashtag?

Or, even further, your business is unique, so why not write a specialized hashtag just for your brand?



When writing hashtags, keep them short, relevant and memorable. Try to avoid using all lower case
lettering, but opt for Title Case, which makes the hashtags easier to read and identify.

After which, promote your new subject not only through Twitter but all of your other online marketing
channels.

Tweet Photos
Sometimes a picture is worth a 1,000 words (or Tweets!). There’s so much more power in showing
rather than telling. And, sometimes there aren’t any words.

By using a website like TwitPic, you’ll be able to Tweet whatever image you’d like to promote.

Post Product Tips
What Twitter provides is an informal platform from which your customers can chat about the weird,
amazing, interesting and fascinating ways they use your products.

YouTube was one of the first champions of the odd product uses (remember that blender guy that
took the “blends anything” promise to the extreme by shoving every object in his house into his new
appliance).

Or, look back in the day, when Arm & Hammer baking soda started launching individual campaign
ads based on their customer’s feedback. Who knew you could brush your teeth, sanitize a litter box
and whiten whites all with one cooking product?

For every 10 customers that suggest amazing ways to use your product, one is always entirely hare-
brained. So, sort through your posts, emails and messages and see what the chatter is on different
uses for your product.

Tweet the best.

Infographics shared on Twitter get 832% more
Retweets than images and articles.



Tweet With Some Pizzazz
Yes, yes, you know already! Experts alway say it helps to improve the overall quality of your content.
Yes, it is one of the most universal tips I blog about regardless of marketing tactic. Yes, improving
writing quality is entirely dependent on the person doing the writing.

But, out of all the tips I have ever given, it is, hands down, the most critical piece of advice I can pass
along.

Writing is everything. Content is everything.

As for Twitter, the only thing that will help you rise above the masses and be noticed is the overall
quality of Tweets. Since you have such limited space to get your message across, not only do you
need to write with some skill but with some flare.

Flare is what gets you noticed, Retweeted, forwarded, search and followed.

“Get What You Give” Mentality
When it comes to building a strong following, if you stick to the “you get what you give” mentality,
you will see success.

Simply setting up a long list of automated tweets to promote and sell yourself, your business or your
product, won’t engage anyone. You can still use these Tweets of course, they just need to be mixed in
with other types of messages.

The Retweet is the greatest way to improve reach without doing much other than reading and ac-
knowledging that something is interesting.

Retweeting others in your industry, customers, and large brands is a great way to get noticed. If you
help promote someone else, there is a good chance they will do their best to return the favor.

Scroll through your feed at least once a day and Retweet a few posts that you find interesting. Again,
this will show that you are using more than automation and that you are putting effort in to engage
and add to the conversation.



Measuring Performance
Your follower number isn’t the only metric you should be looking at to determine how successful you
are on the popular social networking site. With Twitter, bigger is not always better. Measurement is
the key to ensuring your efforts are taking you in the right direction. They reveal which campaigns
were successful and which fell short.

Here are the main areas to focus on when it comes to metrics.

Follower Count
It’s right there on your Twitter profile and it’s the most common way the media (or anyone else)
reference success on Twitter. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most flawed metrics available to you
and easily gamed. Anyone can take the time to manually add followers and keep the ratio of followers
to following pretty even. But all that shows is someone had a lot of time to click the follow button.

A good sign of a strong and engaged Twitter account is a very low following number versus a very
high follower number.

Mentions
You hear about the importance of conversation on Twitter all the time, and mentions are one of the
primary ways to measure how engaged your Twitter community is.

This shows how engaged your account is but it is does not give any context to who is engaging. If it is
just your friends for example, it is not really growing your account.

Retweets
A Retweet is a very strong endorsement that can lead to more followers, clicks and conversions.
Again, while it is good to get a lot of RTs, it is better to get a lot of RTs from those who are influential.
The RT is what can make something go viral or “trend” on Twitter in a matter of minutes. Now do you
see why shareable content will be handy.

Impressions
In an effort to make social media metrics comparable to advertising buys, the impressions number has
become popular. Impressions measures your potential reach and is the number of times your mes-
sage (or mention of you) could have been seen, based on the follower count of those talking about
you. You can think of it as similar to impressions for a billboard, where you have an idea of how many
people drive by it every day, but it may not truly represent how many people saw it.



Measuring impressions generally requires a third party service but there are certainly plenty to choose
from.

Clicks /Traffic back to your site
If someone clicks on a link you send out, you know they have not only seen your message, but they’d
also like to hear more. Link shortening services allow you to track how many clicks each link you send
out gets. You can also see how much traffic Twitter drives back to your site from Google Analytics or
other web analytics services.

Whether or not this is a helpful metric for you depends on your goals on social networks. If you are
focused on brand awareness and recall, visits and clicks may not be as important. If instead, your goal
is visits and sign ups, this would be a vital measurement for you.

Clicks /Traffic back to your site
Yes, just like all other areas of marketing, it comes down to measuring ROI or return on investment.
This requires some fancy math or the services of a third party to find out how many new users or
purchases you gain from Twitter and comparing that to the effort you put in.

As a small business, this may not be important in the beginning unless you are spending a lot of
money on your Twitter presence, then you of course, want to see a return.

Grow Twitter Reach Takeaways
• Promote your Twitter profile wherever you can. Engage your audience by letting them get to know
you and your company.
• The best rule of thumb when it comes to Twitter and other social sites for that matter, is, you get
what you give. Share what others are posting and they will do the same.
• Measuring the performance of your Tweets is the only way you can learn about what your readers
like and don’t like about your posts.

11 Twitter accounts are created every second.



Conclusion
If you want Twitter marketing to work for you over the long term, then you have to focus on building
a loyal base of followers. These followers need to be targeted and not random, which sets you apart
from your competition. Then and only then will you see the benefits of promoting products and ser-
vices and having your followers share with their followers.

It takes a lot of quality time to build an engaged list of followers who want to read your daily Tweets.
Thanks to Twitter automation, you can reduce the time you spend posting messages and spend that
time focusing on business.

Go ahead, establish a voice, set your goals and form a routine posting highly sharable content. Twitter
is just waiting for you and your business to jump on board.

Happy Tweeting.

About SimplyCast
SimplyCast.com is a leading provider of interactive marketing software and services for
organizations worldwide. The company’s multi-channel marketing platform is a feature-rich solution
used by thousands of customers in over 175 countries, including many of the most recognized brand
names around the globe in retail, non-profit and hospitality industries. With thousands of
organizations using SimplyCast solutions to automate email, survey, event, voice, SMS, Twitter, fax,
Facebook, press release, landing pages and autoresponder marketing needs, they now have the
power to effectively reach customers on their preferred mode of communication.

Get In Touch
www.simplycast.com
twitter.com/simplycast
facebook.com/simplycast
pinterest.com/simplycast
1.877.312.4979



Quick List of What to Tweet About
1. Tweet or post company press releases or news updates.

2. Comment on what you’re competitors are doing.

3. If you’ve had a recent failure or public relations disaster, share with your followers what happened

and what you’re doing to fix it.

4. Launch support for a charity or non-profit that your company supports.

5. Write responses to what your followers say about your posts or Tweets.

6. Ask a question to your followers about your products, their experience or what they’d like to see

you do or try next.

7. Answer general customer questions about your company, products or services.

8. Interview your CEO or president.

9. Post a touching story about how your products or company, itself, made a difference in a

community.

10. Recommend articles written by industry leaders.

11. Talk about the history of your company and how it grew to be what it is now.

12. Comment on legislation or governmental regulation that could positively (or negatively!) impact

your business.

13. Write about what the mission of your company is.

14. Congratulate staff for their hard work.

15. Search for the top keywords in your industry.

16. Tweet or post best practices within your industry.

17. Google Alerts, RSS Feeds, Flickr (sometimes a picture is all the inspiration that you need!).

18. Retweet or link to a timely news article that will interest your followers.

19. Link to product reviews.

20. Tweet or post a well-received archived article or blog.


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