Is Twitter Worth It?

Have you ever tried something and, for some reason, despite your effort, it didn't come together as expected? Most of us, if not all, have experienced something along these lines. It could be school, work, personal relationships, physical fitness; the list goes on. But if you were to look back, is there something you could have done differently? Maybe more preparation before the start, or more practice to perfect your art, or you could've pushed past the obstacles, instead of quitting. In the end, if we want to be good at something, or get the results we’re looking for, we have to learn about it, put it into practice, and apply all the effort, not just half or a little here and there.

Clients often ask if Twitter is worth it. Majority of the time, smaller, local brands have the hardest time with Twitter. It takes time, a lot more time than they’re willing to dedicate, and it takes knowledge of the platform and its best practices, to which many aren’t well-versed.

The simple answer is Twitter is worth it, if used appropriately. By this I mean, it shouldn’t have your Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat strategy slightly varied and applied. Twitter is about user engagement. Not in the same way you seek engagement on Facebook or Instagram. Twitter is, often times, a channel for users to communicate directly with a brand. They engage, expressing positive or negative experiences, or opinions, and it’s an opportunity for the brand to respond in real time. 77% felt more positively toward the brand when they received a response. So much so, they’re likely to spend 3-20% more on items from that business in the future.

Get on Twitter. If you’re already on it, use it. I don’t mean tweet once or twice, or sometimes. Start with this.

1. Find and follow your industry influencers/power users. You can search hashtags on Twitter to help find users or use a social management tool to gather this information. Don’t forget about your target demographic either. These people are the purchasers that you should genuinely connect with.

2. Interact with influencers, power users, and your everyday consumers/customers. @Mention them, retweet or tweet about them. Create a conversation with these people and they’ll return the favor. This will help gain exposure and showcase your brand in a positive light.

3. Share great content. Don’t talk about you, you, you. You care about your brand and want others to, but it should be accomplished indirectly. Share what they care about, what relates to them, and not why your product is the best. Let me them find that out on their own, because you’ve done all of the above so well that now you’ve piqued their interest.

This is a lot easier typed than done. It will take time, lots of it. It will take effort, lots of it. But depending on your digital goals and resources available, if Twitter is in your digital strategy to accomplish XYZ, then make sure you do it the right way. If you’re going to spend the money (time is money) then you might as well make it worth it. You wouldn’t go to the gym regularly if you knew nothing would come of it, would you?

Tell us what you think – is Twitter worth it?