Getting Started with Twitter Marketing: Part 2

Engaging on Twitter and Growing Your Following

As with other social media platforms, engaging with followers is key to growing your following and producing effective marketing campaigns. Hashtags and trending topics are a great starting point to engage with followers and potential followers, but you can’t stop there.

Twitter Chats

Twitter chats are organized via a specific hashtag. They are typically planned for a specific time, with a specific topic, and can be followed and joined by using the chat hashtag in a tweet. This is a great way to connect with followers and new users because it opens a dialogue and shows who and what your brand is about.

Ongoing Engagement

• Follow conversations important to your brand or industry and join in regularly
• Track “mentions” and comment or thank the person who engaged or shared your brand/name
• Reply to retweets with a thank you or to continue the discussion
• Follow industry authorities to learn from their examples and keep up on industry news
• Comment often on tweets relevant to your brand or industry
• Answer questions via mentions or tags in a timely manner – many users engage on Twitter to have questions answers or for customer service inquiries
• Avoid Auto DMs as most Twitter users don’t like receiving them and often ignore them. Instead take the time to reach out to new followers with a quick thanks or welcome.

When to Engage

Twitter appears to be a nonstop, all-day conversation, but there are peak times to engage and tweet. Time plays an important role, and different times are better for different types of results. Results may be slightly different depending on your target audience, location, and industry, but in general many Twitter users tend to engage in the evening and late night/early morning.

• Friday is the best day to post (9-10 a.m. specifically)
• Everyday 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. is a good time to post
• Sunday morning has the least engagement
• Most clicks are seen in the 2-4 a.m. time frame (except Mondays)
• After 5 p.m. are when the most retweets happen

Engagement is one of the most important factors in building a community and dedicated followers. Take the time to make followers feel like they are a part of the community.