As one of the most universally used social media platforms, Twitter has been changing online discourse since 2006. Known for having shorter character limits and high post volume by users, you may wonder if using Twitter can benefit your business. Luckily, the reality is that there are numerous benefits of Twitter for business owners — and likely more to come as the platform continues to evolve.
Understanding Your Audience
Twitter audiences are generally more engaged and receptive to content than the average internet user. In fact, a recent study revealed that Twitter users are 11% more likely to discover new things, 7% more open-minded and 18% more interested in being the first to try new products, services and experiences. With a highly engaged audience in a concentrated platform, Twitter provides the opportunity to connect with people who are invested in trying new products and sharing them with friends.
Twitter is also uniquely equipped for social listening, as tools are available that easily aggregate mentions of your brand and keywords that are relevant to your business. By conducting effective social listening, you’ll be better able to understand audience expectations and pain points and to target your market accordingly.
Research on the Benefits of Twitter for Business
In addition to tracking your own brand and keywords as part of your social listening efforts, you can use social listening tools on Twitter to gain a better understanding of your competitors. Make note of how the leaders in your industry are utilizing the platform and conducting their marketing strategy. Don’t stop at following only local competitors — also consider regional, national and international players who are shaping the larger industry in which your business operates.
Twitter recently launched Brand Surveys, which offers an affordable way to conduct market research. Surveys sent out via Twitter Brand Surveys appear in-feed just as any other sponsored post would, and allow users to engage with the survey. Because this is a first-party solution, Twitter Brand Surveys are able to offer lower minimum media spend and faster reporting than other third-party survey tools.
With a clear picture of how your competitors are performing and what your customers expect, you can more easily identify positive differentiators for your brand, as well as potential areas that are being underserved by your competitors. If there is a common complaint being widely expressed about one of your competitors, such as high price or poor service, one of the key benefits of Twitter for business owners is the ability to directly address those concerns and issues in real time.
Small Business Twitter Community
Another benefit Twitter provides for businesses is instant access to an active community of other small business owners, industry thought leaders and innovators. Small business Twitter is a bustling community, where you can follow and converse with other business owners in a quick and easy platform in order to gain knowledge, share experiences, and get ideas about growing your business and improving your operations.
In addition to following specific profiles, you can follow hashtags relevant to your specific business needs and interests. #SmallBusiness and #entrepreneurship might be a given, but you should also consider industry-specific and function-specific topics as part of your foray into small business Twitter.
In addition to utilizing small business Twitter within your industry at large, you can also connect with small business owners in your immediate vicinity. Following other local business owners in your field can offer insights into specific audiences in your region and how best to market to them. You can also find local events and partners to help expand your marketing reach.
Connect with Local Customers
Twitter also allows you to get pretty specific with regard to ad targeting by location. Twitter’s geo-targeting is based on a combination of a user’s current location as well as their recent location history, gathered from signals such as a user’s web IP address, mobile GPS signal, mobile Wi-Fi signal and real-time signals such as when a user includes their location in a Tweet.
Along with targeting your ads to a specific location, you can also include locations and geographic areas within your social listening efforts and engage in organic conversations with users in your area.
Wrap-Up: Why Use Twitter for Business?
As outlined above, there are numerous benefits of utilizing Twitter for business that warrant using the platform as a part of your digital marketing strategy. Twitter offers a unique opportunity to listen to your audience, engage directly with individuals and conduct critical research to improve your business practices. As a whole, your digital marketing strategy should include multiple platforms and diverse ways to engage with your audience.
Using marketing automation is a great way to centralize your social listening, engagement and lead generation efforts in one place. Visit our website for more information on SharpSpring and our affordable, accessible marketing automation platform.
