Social Media
platforms, like Twitter, Facebook and many others, have revolutionised the way
in which businesses approach online marketing. In this article Birmingham
based, internet marketing consultant, Waseem Saddique, unveils some of the
techniques that will increase the impact of promoting your business via Twitter
this Halloween.
Evidence from
marketing studies suggest that consumer interest in businesses is greatly
increased during seasonal occasions such as Christmas, Halloween, Easter,
Valentine’s day and so on. In the age of Social Media, companies have
recognised that, increased online marketing activity through resources such as
Twitter enables them to attract the attention of consumers on a massive scale
during these ‘festive’ periods.
Waseem Saddique comments: “There are a number of techniques that will enable your
business to increase your audience reach this Halloween. Often the issue is
that many businesses are just completely unaware of some of the features that
Social Media platforms, such as Twitter, possess and how these features can be
utilised to raise the profile of a business above that of competitors.”
Some top tips
Learn to use
Twitter as a search tool – Many businesses do not perceive Twitter to be a
search tool, however, utilising the ‘advanced search feature’ on Twitter can
greatly increase the impact of online marketing as it allows companies to track
top trending topics, monitor competitor activity, connect with specific target
audiences and widen the scope of people that a social media campaign can reach.
Maximise hash
tag usage – The Twitter hash tag provides a simple way for people to identify
tweets that follow a common thread. For business purposes, hash tags allow
companies to raise brand awareness and to create ‘audience communities’ that
share an interest in particular subjects. In this case, if a business was to
hash tag ‘#Halloween’ any company referencing Halloween within a posted tweet,
would reach an audience interested in the topic of Halloween.
Post
regularly – As with all Social Media platforms, the need to post regularly is
paramount. The more regular the tweets, the more regular the interaction, which
in turn protects the longevity of your brand appearing on Twitter.
Condense your
campaign – One of the benefits of Twitter is that it ‘forces’ businesses to say
less in order to have a greater impact. Twitter posts are restricted by a
maximum character count, which means that creativity in what is posted is a
must. A ‘less is more’ approach needs to be adopted when it comes to internet
marketing via Twitter.
Waseem
Saddique advises: “Learn to scale back your content, identify the key words you
want to get across to your audience and make your Tweet persuasive, give the
consumer a reason to engage and interact with a Tweet. ‘Festive’ seasons, such
as Halloween, certainly present an ideal opportunity to generate topical debate.”
The benefits
It is worth
noting that Twitter has over 100 million active users with an average 250
million Tweets posted on a daily basis. Furthermore, 50% of active Twitter
users sign in daily. Therefore, becoming familiar with some of the advanced features
that Twitter has to offer, could prove to be the difference in running an
effective Social Media campaign this Halloween.
