5 Twitter Strategies You Need to Know
by Catherine HeegFollowing is the latest in a series of guest columns by social media strategist Catherine Heeg.
Meet Twitter: 140 characters! 500 million users!
Many travel pros who are looking to dive deeper into social media are turning to Twitter. It’s an innovative place to launch a new group departure, showcase your newest package or blog post.
Let’s explore several strategies and tactics from novice through advanced that you can employ to increase your Twitter visibility.
Novice: Your bio and image
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1. Your Twitter handle or name on Twitter is crucial to helping people understand why they should follow you. If you’re new to Twitter, consider carefully how people know you – whether by your business name or your own personal name. Choose your Twitter handle accordingly.
2. Your header image is your first impression. Make sure it’s powerfully related to your brand and mission statement. This is your chance to upload a picture or graphic of your specialty, niche or latest fam destination. Remember to include links to your other social sites in your Twitter profile.
Intermediate: Conversation is king!
3. Creating lists in Twitter is an ingenious way to keep up with news that matters to you. As you begin to follow people and businesses, organize them into lists by topic, industry or specialty. This way you can simply go to that list and see what’s top of mind and participate accordingly.
You can also search other peoples’ lists to see who they follow and add those people to your lists as well. This strategy will give you a well-rounded overview by topic, industry or association.
4. Hashtags (#) are a phenomenal way to organize and find information by topic. We’ve seen hashtags appear in Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other social sites. Please don’t overuse hashtags on Twitter, as it makes your tweet hard to read and many people will skip right over it. Use hashtags sparingly and wisely!
Advanced: Building relationships
5. Twitter chats are a “twunderful” way to converse and draw new followers. Here are two specific suggestions:
• Set up a Twitter chat prior to your next group departure so that trip participants can meet one another beforehand.
• Join or start a TwitterChat within your niche market or sector.
New: Twitter on your mobile!
Twitter now shows up to three tweets in a sequence at a time on mobile devices. This way you can catch up on a whole conversation at a glance. Need more than three tweets? Tap on any single tweet to see all of the replies, including responses from people you don’t currently follow.
This is great news as now whole conversations can be shared with friends via email or as individual tweets from the iPhone and Android apps.
Resources
For more detailed advice on Twitter, check out the following resources on my website:
• 7 Twitter strategies you should know.
• Tips for creating Twitter chats.
• How to weave Twitter chats into your marketing strategy.
Catherine Heeg is president of Customized Management Solutions. An international speaker and trainer, she delivers interactive social media, marketing and communication workshops and webinars for clients in the travel industry. Connect with her at http://www.cmsspeaking.com/contact.php and socially: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest.
