Tips to Increase Your Twitter Presence

Calling all Twitter users! Whether you’re new to Twitter and you’re trying to build your follower base or you’re not-so-new to Twitter, if you’re wanting to increase your followers’ engagement, here are 5 simple tips you can use to build your follower foundation. Keep in mind, you can use these tips for your personal Twitter page or your business/brand’s Twitter page. 

1. Personalize Your Page

Take advantage of all the opportunities Twitter provides to personalize your page and have it represent who you are, what you’re interested in, or what you’re looking for. The left side of your Twitter page should be your primary focus. There you can put photos, logos, or contact information. For bigger brands or public figures, validating your account is a good idea. Also, use the “about” section wisely and put together a to-the-point and effective bio. When followers can quickly get a sense of who you are and what you’re about, they’re more likely to follow you. 

2. Ask Interesting Questions and Ask for Help

Create conversation; don’t wait for the conversation to come to you. Your followers are a great resource for feedback and help. If you’re a brand, questions don’t have to necessarily be about your products or services– asking someone’s opinion and making it clear that it’s appreciated goes a long way. Be creative and make it fun! 

3. Re-tweet and Reply (in Moderation)

Re-tweeting (RT) and replying to tweets is an easy and effective way of acknowledging your followers and letting them know you find their tweets valuable and informative. But most of all, this lets them know you appreciate their following. 

However, make sure your re-tweets and replies are balanced. Creating conversation is important, but remember that you don’t want your Twitter feed to turn into a long list of “@reply” posts. If anything, this will decrease your number of followers, because most of them don’t have the patience to look through the conversation to find out what it’s all about. 

4. Post Relevant Updates

By posting relevant and informative information and links, followers will start to consider you as a good source of information and will find it worthwhile to engage with you. 

5. Go Back to the Basics with Follow Friday (#FF)

Putting some time and thought into a #FF post is worthwhile and a great form of engagement. It’s an easy way to give a shout-out to your favorite followers and let them know you acknowledge and like their tweets. It’s also a quick and effective way to make a recommendation to the rest of your followers on who to follow. 

What tips do you use to get the most out of your Twitter account? We’d love for you to share. 

15 Steps to Superior Support

Customer service plays a key role in creating or maintaining a reputable business and brand. These 15 Steps to Superior Support, provided by GoSquared, are great to constantly keep in mind when dealing with customers or clients.

Volkswagen’s “Fun Theory”

In the age of You Tube, with millions of videos falling short in an attempt to get the public’s attention, Volkswagen‘s add agency DDB Stockholm came up with a series of videos that have gone viral. 

Their new campaign, “The Fun Theory” (or Rolighetsterorin), is a series of experiments that set out to discover if making ordinary tasks fun, like taking the stairs instead of the escalator or throwing trash away, will encourage people to make better decisions and change behaviors.  The idea is to ultimately change the way people feel about driving environmentally friendly cars by showing the fun side of acting in a responsible way.

One of the videos called “Piano Stairs” has had over 1.5 million views on YouTube.

“The campaign has just started up with a number of experiments in which the theory—that fun can change people’s behavior—is tested in various situations,” says DDB Stockholm creative director Andreas Dahlqvist, “Volkswagen’s answer to the theory will be presented at a later stage on a separate website amongst other media. The site will display their whole range of environment technologies and cars—many, many fun ways to do something for the environment.”

This is a great example of an established brand stepping out of their comfort zone, and the subtle brand placement, combined with content that is being spread around the global market through social media, guarantees that people are going to be sharing and discussing Volkswagen and this campaign.

Check out the “Fun Theory” videos:

More viral marketing advice

from Steve Chazin, author of Marketing Apple

“One of my simple marketing rules found in the Marketing Apple e-book is ‘Make Your Message Memorable.’ Simply put, you have little chance that something will go viral unless, like a disease, it can be spread easily mouth-to-mouth. For that to happen, your message has to be super tight and easy to transmit in as few words as possible. ‘1,000 songs in your pocket’ is the answer to ‘what is an iPod?’ Before that, the Macintosh was introduced as ‘The computer for the rest of us.’ If you can boil your message down to just its syrupy goodness, you can achieve lift—the irresistible force of millions of customers selling your product for you.”

Viral marketing advice

from Cindy Gordon, vice president of new media and marketing partnerships, Universal Orlando Resort

“Nimble companies are using the Web in ways that they could never do before. New media has created a new marketing environment where the old rules of marketing no longer apply. When you have a passionate fan base for your brand, the Internet is especially vital for going viral. Communicating to a small but powerful group of fans first online to enlist their support is a smart way to ensure positive coverage in the mainstream press. The power of the Internet makes it easier for people to fall in love with you faster. But beware—it also makes it easier for them to fall out of love with you faster. It’s a double-edged sword. Listen constantly to what’s being said about you. Social media technologies do not make a brand viral; they merely allow consumers to tell others about good brands. The main thing is to be different and relevant with your brand. And when you have that, the sheer power of the Internet can accelerate your brand. Traditional media takes weeks to build brand awareness and months to build preference. The Internet can make your brand famous literally overnight.”