Quick Twitter Tips for Promotional Products Businesses

By Sarah Semple

According to Statista, Twitter has 326 million worldwide users. That’s more than the entire population of the U.S., making Twitter one of the top social media platforms based on active users. While not all 326 million people are going to be relevant to your business, the numbers put into context the kind of reach and impact Twitter can have for businesses. Here’s how Bonnie Harris put it in a 2018 article for Business 2 Community: “Your profile is the face of your business on Twitter. It is the first thing anyone scrutinizes whenever they bump into your handle on the platform.”

Of course, there’s a lot of competition out there for businesses on Twitter, so you need to find ways to stand out. Here are a few.

1. Follow the right people

When you’re planning your Twitter strategy, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who would benefit from my business’s tweets?
• Who would connect with posts my business retweets?
• Who would find my content interesting or helpful?

Then, follow people or businesses that fit those descriptions. Unfortunately, following someone on Twitter doesn’t automatically mean they’ll follow you back, but at least you’ve taken the initiative and put your brand out there, and it gives you further chances to engage with their posts, increasing the likelihood you’ll get on their radar. It will also help you see the kind of content they engage with, giving you ideas on what to share yourself.

Annie Dimock, social media editor for Printing Impressions, Philadelphia, Promo Marketing’s sister publication, touched on why following people and businesses within your industry is so essential to having a successful channel. “Only follow companies relevant to your brand,” she said. “You don’t want an oversaturated timeline with content that isn’t of value to you.”

2. Utilize Twitter chat functions (or jump in on a Twitter chat)

If you’re already using hashtags on Twitter to drive people to your tweets, you’re off to a good start. But hashtags serve another purpose that may not be as widely known: Twitter chats. These are scheduled events where likeminded individuals, well, chat about a certain topic, with a preset hashtag tying the whole thing together and allowing people to follow along.

They’re great for networking online. And the promo industry has one, called #promochat, which happens every Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET. Jay Busselle, marketing director for Equipment Zone, Franklin Lakes, N.J., who has more than 4,000 Twitter followers, happens to be its founder. But there are plenty of others. He noted that, through a website called Twubs, you can find a number of topics and calendars for when each is happening.

“Once you find a chat that interests you, make note of the associated hashtag. Then simply make sure you are online and logged into Twitter at the scheduled time, and search for the hashtag to find the latest tweets,” Busselle said. “Twitter chats provide amazing networking opportunities and give you and your company a tremendous amount of exposure. You can participate by answering some of the questions that the chat moderator has shared. You can also respond to or retweet with comments on how you feel about other people’s answers.”

Busselle had a power tip for using Twitter chats: “Monitor and engage in specific Twitter chats where your clients are or should be engaged. There is a chat for every industry and thousands of business topics.”

3. Keep your content short and to the point

Twitter changed its original 140-character limit to 280, giving users twice the real estate for their tweets. While this does change things for people who want to write posts that are on the longer side, it’s good to keep in mind that Twitter is meant for shorter updates. Evan Tarakjian, social media and content creator for Spector & Co., the promotional products supplier based in Montreal, explained that shorter tweets are more likely to get noticed.

“Create updates that are short and sweet,” he said. “It’s true that tweets that are shorter get retweeted more often. Expand your audience with the use of hashtags. Have a good mix of tweet types. This mix can consist of retweets, images, links, quotes or short videos.”