BrandKnew September 2013 March 2014 | Page 26

5 Twitter Best Practices to Humanize Your Brand Monica Jade Romeri Bringing a human touch to your Twitter activity will be welcomed and appreciated by your followers and likely help you earn a broader social audience. Over-automating your Twitter presence Twitterhumanize -your-brandand spamming your followers in hopes of expanding your reach and influence is a major faux pas. Your prospects want to know that they are interacting with a real human being behind your brand, so conducting your brand presence like a robot will not do you any favors. Although the power of social media is found in being genuine with your audience, many brands continue to devalue the worth of authentic, human interaction. Give your presence on Twitter a personal touch to make your brand seem more likeable, human and accessible. Humanizing your brand may be the quickest route to Twitter marketing success. A human brand can foster trust, help establish new connections, encourage genuine relationships, and ultimately advance your business and industry influence. 1. Know and Understand Your Audience Who are your prospects, and what are their primary concerns and objectives? Speak to their needs—providing vital industry insight and thought leadership. Be forthcoming about how your prospects can learn more; inbound links and dedicated landing pages can be helpful to them and very rewarding for you in terms of increased social lead generation and conversion. 2. Perform Content Curation Find unique yet relevant, high-quality content to share with your Twitter audience. Providing a wise selection of industryleading content is likely to increase your reach, influence and social lead generation. Curate content based on quality and relevance to prevent information overload and increase your relative value on Twitter. Relevant, educational information from trusted and respected sources is always well received and will be highly shared by your followers. 3. Practice the Virtue of Listening You really need to listen more than you talk on Twitter. Your ideal prospect may be quite different from the people who are following and talking to you directly on Twitter. Use social listening software to monitor conversations; there are many social media tools, which you can use to listen and analyze the demographics of your Twitter following. Examine the Twitter lists that you and your brand are being put on; it should shine a light on how you and your content are being received on Twitter. Also, pay attention to relevant industry trends and hashtags, which can help amplify your reach. It is important not to use Twitter for loud, one-way discussion about only yourself. If you would not do it in person, do not do it on Twitter. 4. Join or Host a Twitter Chat Tweet chats are a great way to make new connections, find new information, increase your brand awareness and help you make great strides in understanding the way Twitter functions. Be friendly and professional, while providing useful information to your audience. Answer all questions to the best of your ability. 5. Be Yourself You are unique, and your brand should be as well. Letting your personality shine through in a good way on social media is conducive to new relationships. Do not simply copy your competitors. They may not have a sound social media strategy, and their prospects and buyer personas may be significantly different than yours. Originality in social media presence and content is paramount; authenticity cannot be faked. When your followers have questions, always reply in a prompt and friendly manner. If you take too long to respond, it will look like you do not care, and your authenticity will be called into question. You do not want this to happen. Expand your social audience by promoting a conversational and genuine report. The more your Twitter audience publicly talks about your brand and shares your content, the more your reach and exposure are amplified. Introductions happen naturally, when you tweet content, reply to tweets and thank your followers. Genuine engagement can help you form new relationships, increase your reach, and incite greater social media lead generation and conversion.