This is what engagement looks like (Thanks Pexels)
The holy grail of advertising … is contextual ads …[and you] can fully control access to the best keywords on Twitter
Before we go any further, check out my Twitter profile. What did you see? How is it different from your profile?
Disclaimer 1 — they are “brand new” because I say so, not because I know so. If you thought of them already, Congrats!! Write your own blog post titled “Three OLD AS THE HILLS Strategies to use Twitter Effectively (but I’m sure Sai thinks he invented them today)”
Disclaimer 2 — I am still testing these strategies and I am seeing decent results but in the interest of better science, I want you to replicate my results using these or similar strategies .
Contextual Ads..for free
The holy grail of advertising — the foundation on which Google built its empire which today lets Larry Page dick around trying to build a flying taxi service — is contextual ads. These are ads which get displayed when someone searches for stuff (Wiki it to learn more).
…your [tweet] will live on forever, silently working for you to bring people to your profile
Now, you, with a little bit of time and some search string fu, can fully control access to the best keywords on Twitter. And you can do it for free. And you can do it forever. Let’s call these tweets Sentinel Tweets because …well, you’ll see.
- Use Twitter’s search to find the best tweets related to whatever you want to promote. Unlike Google which hyper personalizes every aspect of your search, Twitter’s search results (I think) don’t vary all that much across large swaths of geography. Which means everyone searching Twitter for your keywords is going to see similar tweets.
- Go into the top tweets of the results. Respond to these tweet with whatever you are promoting. Make sure your own tweeted response is engaging and contextually relevant. Don’t be that guy throwing in random unrelated tweets.
- The interesting thing is that your response to that tweet will live on forever, silently working for you to bring people to your profile. Twitter is never going to delete your tweets. There is no downvote on Twitter so it can’t be hidden.
- Once set up, one of three things can happen —
- Nothing — other than a bit of time, you haven’t lost much from this outcome.
- The original tweeter responds — Great! You have connected with someone who cares about your message! That’s a free clickthru’ right there.
- Other people searching for similar keywords respond — THIS is what marketers live for and you got it done for free!
if someone likes your tweet, they are going to check out your profile
Now you know why I like to call these Sentinel Tweets. They work for you guiding people to your profile — assuming the tweet is engaging.
Leverage your Twitter Profile
Almost invariably, the About or Team page is the first link clicked after someone lands on your website for the first time. Similarly, on Twitter, if someone likes your tweet, they are going to check out your profile. And if you aren’t getting the most juice out of your Twitter profile, your loss.
- Pin tweets to your profile — Tacky and out of context as they can seem at times, pinned tweets get amazing amounts of engagement. Use this to push people to your website or product.
- Have a profile photo — do I need to explain this? Do I really need to explain this?
- Have recent tweets — even if it’s a tweet saying you’re too busy to tweet, just tweet that tweet, sweetie.
People are judging you on these things but chances are, you have never even thought about it.
You want quality, engaged followers not just Bots stupidly retweeting your short form diary-rhea.
Use Twitter Moments
Meh! What’s so great about Twitter moments?
Believe me, Twitter moments has the power to transform Twitter into a proper blogging platform — not just instant microblogging — where people go to immerse themselves in OPL (Other People’s Lives). And the more they immerse themselves in your life, the higher the chances that they will join your tribe.
Create your own Twitter moments and reference them in your Twitter bio. If someone is interested enough in you to read your personal Twitter moments, you are likely to convert them into a customer at some point of time. You want quality, engaged followers not just Bots stupidly retweeting your short form diary-rhea.
Twitter is all about words (Thanks Pexels)
Conclusion
What I like about these strategies is that
- You can implement them all on your own. For example, to set up your sentinel tweets on common keywords, all you need is a bit of time and dedication. You can knock a few off every day and over time, they will keep feeding you traffic.
- They are subtle. No one is going to look at a pinned tweet or a response to someone’s tweet and wonder why you are being a blatant self-promoter. They’re just normal, everyday actions taken by a Twitter power user but taken together, they will generate results for you.
The next steps in order of rising difficulty are —
- Add a picture to your twitter profile
- Pin a high quality tweet to your profile
- Tweet often even if it is to say you’re not going to tweet for a few hours
- Create a Twitter Moment with your favorite tweets (and publish it). Tell people visiting your profile to check out your Moments
- Set up Sentinel Tweets. These could be the difference between your business thriving because of Twitter or dying!
Can’t wait to hear how your Twitter engagement has changed with these strategies in place.
Friendly reminder — Science is suffering from a Repeatability Crisis so I would love to have you try these suggestions out to see if they work for you.
Originally published at ramachandr.in on April 26, 2018.
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