By now you already know that social media is one of the big marketing tools at your disposal. Sometimes social media experts make it sound like all you need to do is open up a Twitter account, and suddenly you’ll be interacting with thousands of people and watching your content go viral. If you’ve been using social media and have had trouble getting any momentum going, you’ll know it’s not really as easy as that. There are, however, a few things you can do to start getting the ball rolling in terms of engaging your target audience and getting them interested in passing on your message.
When you first start out on Twitter, it often feels like you’re talking to yourself, and that’s because you probably are. People are hesitant to follow accounts that look like they were just created five minutes ago, so the first step is to make sure you’re regularly filling up your stream with content. That doesn’t mean you should just spam the world, as it were – fewer messages of value is better than a constant stream of filler.
Start building a following by adding people who you think are relevant in your niche, people who themselves already have a strong following, and then engage them in real conversation. People like to be spoken to like humans, and having some actual conversation in your tweet stream will convince potential followers that you’re not just a business bot.
The next step is to get people to help you share your content. The people you converse with on a regular basis are the ones who are most likely to help you by retweeting your links, so nurture as many of those relationships as you can.
Growing your retweet rate in your Twitter circle requires content that is consistently interesting. That doesn’t mean it has to be spontaneous, though, and in fact one of the best ways to ensure compelling content is to plan out a tweet schedule, perhaps utilizing themes for the week or even running a contest. People love to win things, and if you advertise a giveaway and ask your followers to retweet, you might get some decent results within the first few tries.
Repetition is also important. Not everyone spends all day looking at your tweet stream, and with most accounts these days following thousands of people, if you tweet something only once it’s very likely to get buried quickly. Don’t give up if you say something once and no one seems to notice. Rephrase the information and tweet it again later in the day. You’ll start to get a feel for how many times you need to say things before people catch on, and you’ll start seeing a greater response to your tweets over time.
