For businesses, Social Media has now become the fastest way to communicate with consumers. Implementing a custom social media marketing strategy is incredibly beneficial for any company. For businesses to reach their full Twitter potential, we’ll tell you exactly what marketing strategy is most effective along with what type of content is best, how to use hashtags to your advantage and also when and how often this content should be posted!

“Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” -David Beebe

While there are numerous marketing strategies that will work well for Twitter, we recommend following the 70/30 rule. Simply put, the 70/30 rule is 70% of content is curated while 30% is brand specific content.

What is curated content? Curated content are blog posts, articles, videos, photos…etc. made by others. Retweets are also considered curated content. It is recommended to share content that is relevant to your brand and products. By sharing content that is significant and valuable to your customers, you will build a bond of trust and a good reputation for your brand.

Branded content are posts about events, product launches, promotional sales, positive reviews, or blog posts specific to the company so customers can understand what you offer. The purpose of this strategy prevents the cheap and pushy salesman tactic that can actually repel potential customers. By providing selective, valuable branded content, your brand will naturally build unique relationships with your followers.

To put it in perspective, if you’re posting 7 days a week, essentially you’ll want to use 5 of those days to post curated content while the remaining 2 should be reserved for branded content.

Don’t Just Rely On Cookie Cutter Strategies; To Be Effective, You Must Add Personality!

A great marketing tactic that shouldn’t be ignored is knowing exactly what type of content to share. Content needs to stand out! There are many ways you can do this. One example is using graphics, GIFs, videos, or images. Buffer tested this by showing video content performed the best in terms of reach. Videos on Twitter actually outperform Facebook videos reach by almost 38%! Twitter shared a statistic that said videos are 6 times more likely to be retweeted than a Tweet with a photo and 3 times more likely to be retweeted than a Tweet with a GIF.

Creating a poll is another way to rise above in the Twitter world! Offering interactive content such as polls, Q&As, Contests, and so much more not only promotes engagement with your followers, but it’s a great way make connections and start a discussion!

Hashtags are a vital tool Twitter users must use! For those who aren’t technologically savvy or are just now entering the Twitter sphere, no worries! Hashtags are words or phrases starting with the ‘#’ used to indicate trending keywords or topics. This is a must have tool because hashtags are searchable. That’s right! Your followers, more than likely your customers, will be searching exactly what they are looking for and if you got what they need, you want to make sure you pick the right keyword for your hashtag. Remember, spaces or punctuations are not allowed in a hashtag or else you may reach the wrong audience. The best advice we can give is to research and create a list of industry related hashtags and then check out their ranking for Twitter. Best practice is to stick to only 2 hashtags per tweet to avoid coming off as “spammy,” however, you are able to use more.

Creating branded hashtags are essential to any marketing strategy and campaign. Hashtags are a great way to see what people are talking about and you want to make sure your tweets are in the loop by using your branded hashtags! Encouraging your followers to use your branded hashtags when talking about a service or product from your company is a great way to market – and FREE marketing at that!

Time Isn’t the Main Thing; it’s The Only Thing! – Miles Davis

With over 350,000 tweets being shared every minute, it is crucial to know when to tweet! According to sproutsocial.com, the best days to tweet are Friday’s between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. Sprout social says that the “safest” time to tweet is every day from 10:00 a.m. to noon. While Sundays are when tweets get the least engagement, some tweets get through providing the most engagement. Sprout social thinks this might be due to different sports events happening then. Be sure to consider some other major events that happen on a Sunday when tweeting; #Oscars!

According to CoSchedule, it is recommended to tweet about 15 times per day and to retweet 7 times per day! Crazy, right? Although this may seem absurd, and near impossible, there are handy tools, such as Hootsuite or HubSpot, where you can schedule all your content ahead of time. Fortunately, this makes it easier (and less time-consuming) to tweet 15+ times per day!

“Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail” – Alan Lakein

Building trust and good relationships on Twitter should be the main goal for any marketer. Implementing a custom marketing strategy with consistency helps instill that trust. Whenever you share something on Twitter, make sure to always stay true to your brand. You want your customers to know who you are and what you stand for. Two questions you should ask before starting any social media account; what is it that you represent and what do you want to be known for?