Are you using Twitter effectively to increase lead generation results?

Twitter is a great tool for small businesses to use in order to increase their lead generation results. Twitter has a unique format that allows a business to connect directly with its consumers and potential leads, when used effectively. Many businesses don’t use Twitter’s tools correctly. Remember, if you build it they will come. Here are 5 ways to use Twitter effectively for your social media strategy:

Use Twitter as a Conversation, Not as a Sales Pitch
Every business needs to treat social media platforms as a place to talk with visitors, consumers, and potential leads as you would face-to-face. The most important thing to remember is that you are creating a conversation not doing the hard sale. When you tell this audience that you want to help them within your areas of expertise, you are trusting that what goes around will come around. And, it will. You still need a call to action and good approaches, but it is very much a give to get environment. When you begin with here is a great job and call me if you are a fit, that is advertising. Using Twitter as a place to advertise will turn visitors away and current leads to unfollow your business. When a business advertises they are talking at an audience, instead of talking with an audience. Use Twitter as a time to share valuable content and interact with potential leads, and your business will start to develop lead generation results.

Using the Tools Twitter Has to Offer
Hashtags are a great aspect to Twitter that can quickly enhance your Twitter presence and generate the right leads, but only when used correctly. Hashtags are used to mark a relevant keyword or phrase, categorizing those Tweets, allowing others to search those keywords. Hashtags should be used for only relevant keywords, not every word within the tweet. Over-using hashtags shows your followers that you really don’t know what you’re doing and will not drive the right traffic to your profile. If you are unsure whether or not a keyword is appropriate for your business, search the keyword in Twitter first and see what results appear.

Follow the Right People
First and foremost, make sure your businesses Twitter account is completely separate from your personal account. It is easy to start building a network off of those you already know, and that is okay. However, do not follow celebrities or others who have nothing to do with your industry and are completely irrelevant. Through your company’s Twitter page, you are trying to generate leads and increase your return on investment results; therefore, every aspect of your Twitter profile should have to do with your business. Following the right companies and leaders within your industry will bring valuable industry news to your Twitter feed.

Retweet
Share a post that is relevant to your business by retweeting that post on your Twitter account. Twitter was created to share content and create conversations; by sharing information you are becoming part of the conversation. Retweets, more often time than not, will generate followers to your account. However, retweeting and an increase in your lead generation results will only happen if the content you are retweeting is relevant to your industry; this is why it is important to follow the right people and companies.

Track the Best Time to Tweet
Check your Twitter analytics to determine which posts received the most engagement and when. The best times to Tweet will also depend on the type of business you’re in, so trial and error is another way to track the best times. Remember, each social media platform is different and each has different times when there is a higher volume of traffic to post, so take the time to look at your Twitter analytics to increase your lead generation results.

Five Key Takeaways:
Hashtag appropriate keywords that will drive the right traffic to your profile
Don’t share sales pitches out on Twitter; instead post valuable content that will be meaningful to your target audience
Follow the right people and or companies who will bring valuable content to your Twitter feed and in turn give you the right material to converse with
Retweet content that your target audience will find valuable
Take a look at your Twitter analytics to find out which tweets are generating traffic and when those tweets are generating traffic.

About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.