5 types of tweets that will help build your following

18 April 2016

Building a following for your business on social media is meant to be a challenge, so don’t worry if it’s is not increasing at the rate you’d like or expect. These things take time and carefully planned strategies with what you’re posting and sharing as well as who you’re engaging with.

Let’s take Twitter as our example – the platform is a great marketing tool for sharing short bursts of business information, but that is also where many users struggle – not only cramming everything into those 120-character tweets, but making it as engaging as possible too. So how can this be made into a much smoother process?

If someone has chosen to follow you, they’re clearly interested in the services of your business and what you have to say, so don’t disappoint them – give them something back in return and a reason to never consider unfollowing you when they embark on that sporadic social media clearout.

It’s all about what content you post, when you post it and keeping this balanced that will influence these decisions and help build a following. Sound tough? Again, don’t worry, here are some ideas of different types of content that have proven success, so ensure from now on you always approach your tweets with one of the following formats in mind:

Free offerings

Everyone loves getting something for nothing, so if you’ve got a product, a service or a download that you can offer your audience for free, shout about it! Especially if it’s a limited time offer. Social media is the perfect place to promote it.

People aren’t going to know unless you tell them, and when you do they’ll flock to you for the free offer if it’s indeed something that will benefit them. This can even extend to tweeting discount and promotion codes related to your business – any opportunity to save money and engagement rates will surge.

Exclusive content

It’s a rewarding feeling when you have the knowledge that you’re receiving something before everyone else, almost like VIP treatment with exclusive access and priority viewings. Well, that transfers across to social media too.

Similar to the free offerings above, if you have your own original article, infographic or video to share with your followers, make it known that they will not be able to find this content anywhere else online. By assessing your followers, you can also target specific individuals and groups with any piece of exclusive content that would be of particular interest to them.

Sharing related & interesting articles

It’s important to remember that not everything you share through your company’s social media accounts should be your own material. If you come across an interesting article related to your industry, share it, comment on it – engage with it, of course providing that you’re not directly showcasing the services of any of your closest competitors.

Some articles will be timeless so can be used a few times over many weeks or months, and sharing the more topical pieces could see you become one individual’s source of the latest news within your particular shared industry. If they recognise you’re on the ball with the news, they’ll soon be sharing what you post to their followers too, and what could be better than a seemingly random individual helping to maximise the exposure of your brand?

Company news

There will always be the crop of followers who are just simply interested in the day-to-day goings-on at your company, but tweets of this sort also present a great opportunity to really add some personality to the company’s Twitter profile.

Essentially this is just a branch of exclusive content, but with more of a focus on the fun side of work. New starters, team social events, charity fundraising – it allows people to see the faces behind the business and all creates that relatable feeling that people like to see and can casually engage with.

Entertainment

And finally, a prime underlying reason as to why anyone uses Twitter and can spend countless hours scrolling through their feed until the tweets become nothing but a blur – entertainment.

Actively seeking something entertaining within every tweet is tough – not only because what one person finds entertaining is going to be different to another, but you want the entertainment features to be credible and in good measure. It’s all about finding the right balance, and if you use Twitter in the right way for your business then the entertainment will come naturally.