Tips for Increasing Organic Engagement on Twitter

By now, you get it.  Raising awareness, boosting engagement and reaching the right target audience on social media demands a “pay-for-play” strategy.  The way the algorithms work, it’s wasted effort unless you put some dollars behind your posts. Even so, that doesn’t mean you should completely abandon organic efforts, especially on the White House’s favorite social platform.

Over the last two years, customer service conversations on Twitter have more than doubled, and companies are especially tuned in when negative tweets about them start to crescendo. What that tells us more broadly is that audiences want to be engaged on Twitter and interacting with them on the platform is a great way to start building relationships, not only with current customers but leads as well. Twitter is also a great place to start a conversation with industry experts and influencers, which can lend depth and credibility to your brand. For example, when a well-known and trusted brand in your market shares or retweets organic content you created, their followers (and yours if you retweet) will see they value your expertise.

Here are some tips for maximizing engagement with those followers who have already established an interest in your brand:

Post Daily (At Least Once Per Day)

Keeping your Twitter feed active and flowing with relevant and useful information doesn’t mean having to come up with original content several times a day. You can easily supplement your original content by curating news and information from third-party sources. Feel free to recycle original content that lives on another platform, like blog posts or an offer, and sprinkle in organic tweets. Try using tools like Tweet Deck, Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule posts ahead of time and don’t be afraid to retweet others. (Buffer allows you to schedule retweets btw.)

Use Images

Tweets with photos get 3x more engagement. Images can help showcase your product or services and are a great way to grab the attention of someone who is casually scrolling through their feed. If you’re curating third-party content, there is likely an image you can use to complement the link.

When uploading an image directly to Twitter, try to use images that align with Twitter’s in-stream preview dimensions – 440 pixels wide and 220 pixels tall (a 2:1 ratio) – so when your Tweet appears in someone’s feed, the image doesn’t get cut off.

Respond to Mentions

Do your best to always respond when mentioned in a tweet. Someone who is taking the time to tag your handle probably has a question, is sharing information you’ve provided or responding to something you said. Show your appreciation by responding, retweeting or liking the post, and if they’re leaving a negative comment for the world to see, you’ll want to respond to that, too.

Hashtag and Tag

Hashtags are a great way to segment conversations about specific topics so you can find relevant information and let your content be discovered by more than just your followers.  Keep hashtags simple and take advantage of ones that are trending. If you’re unsure of a hashtag or are creating a new one, type it into the Twitter search bar to make sure it hasn’t already been used for another reason. Typing variations of a hashtag into the search bar will also let you see if they are relevant and which is used the most.

When curating other’s content, credit them with a mention. Twitter also allows you to tag up to 10 people in a photo, so try tagging accounts of those you think might be interested in your post.

Twitter is a fast-paced platform, but a little added efforts and appreciation towards your followers can go a long way.

Amanda Colocho

Amanda joined Hodges in 2015 after earning her undergraduate degree in mass communications and public relations from VCU. Since then, she’s been flexing her media relations, content strategy and social media muscles on accounts like Virginia Distillery Company, Motorcycle Law Group, Hilldrup, Kroger, Virginia Outdoors Foundation and Swedish Match’s Umgås Magazine.

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