Do you use Twitter? What are your Twitter goals?
It’s no secret that B2B marketing and social media go hand in hand, and it’s easy to see why: B2B marketing is based on the idea of offering solutions to business problems, and as such heavily depends on social networks such as Twitter to spread the word.
By using Twitter, B2B companies can engage with customers, prospects, and advocates, increasing their marketing ROI.
Statista reports that Twitter, “is particularly popular in the United States, whereas of July 2021, the microblogging service had an audience reach of 73 million users. Japan and India were ranked second and third with 55.55 and 22.10 million users respectively.”
Without a doubt, for U.S. B2B companies, it is an excellent social media platform for spreading the message to a large audience.
But many companies choose to not use Twitter, because of the perception that the tool isn’t useful for marketing their products and services.
I hear a lot of companies say that they simply just don’t “get” Twitter, so they abandon it and move to a social media platform they are more comfortable using, not because their customers are there.
It is important for companies to understand the dynamics of the platform to be successful on Twitter.
So, if you are one of those companies struggling to figure out what exactly is it for and how can you use Twitter to grow your company, then this article is for you.
First… what is Twitter?
Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass founded Twitter in 2006.
The idea behind the social platform was simple – create a place where people could share short messages called Tweets.
Your piece of content could contain links (yours and to other websites), videos, photo tweets, etc.
A single tweet has a maximum of Tweets 280 character limit now. Sounds too short? It used to only have 140 character count including the link of your Twitter post. So, to those of us that have started with only 140 characters, 280 sounds plenty already!
The tweets would then appear on the timelines of people, which they could read or ignore at will. Users can follow other users who have similar interests.
This social network service grew quickly and now boasts over 206 million as of Q2-2021.
Want real-time engagement for your B2B Twitter profile? Include this platform in your social media strategy.
But before you set up your account and tweet up a storm, you need to step back and ask yourself: What are you trying to achieve on Twitter?
17 reasons B2B companies use Twitter
Let’s look at these different motivations of B2B companies, including Twitter, in their overall digital marketing plan.
Brand recognition/brand recall
A great way to get your company out there is by being active on social media, especially Twitter.
Twitter is a broad social media platform with millions of users, allowing for a broad range of exposure.
B2B companies are finding it to be an effective way to build their brand recognition, especially because it can target specific interests.
Showcase social proof
B2B companies are using Twitter to earn the trust of potential customers. They’re posting about their progress in talks with clients, the number of clients they have, and the awards they’ve won.
The idea is that by posting about social proof, people will want to work with them because they see that the company is successful.
You see, according to neuro- marketers, we are inherently wired to be attracted to social proof whether or not we admit it.
Customer service and support
In a world where social media is a powerful tool, companies are using Twitter as a customer service platform. It gives companies the opportunity to listen to their consumers in real-time and respond quickly!
This helps improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Promote events
You have access to millions of people who may not even know about your business or products yet.
Twitter can help you reach out to new audiences in ways other channels cannot.
Events such as conferences, trade shows, seminars, webinars, workshops, etc., are perfect opportunities to promote your business through Twitter.
And, if you do a better job of promoting your event on Twitter, you’ll have a better chance of filling up your space – seminar or webinar!
Business communication
These days, Twitter marketing is all about how active and transparent you are.
Sharing content gives you instant connection with your followers.
By tweeting and sharing original content, you allow people to see how accessible and credible you are.
These are crucial components of trust; which is a huge part of building a corporate brand online.
So go ahead share news about your company or post interesting updates that affect those in your industry.
Use Twitter to release exclusive information for potential or current customers.
If there is a major change in your industry, such as a merger or acquisition, you could announce this on Twitter, as well.
Gain exposure through retweets
The most important thing about social media is that it allows you to reach people who might not otherwise hear your message. Sometimes a retweet can make a big difference to a company’s business.
People retweet many types of content that interest them–thus allowing B2B companies to get seen by the re-tweeter’s audience.
In like manner, if you want to get noticed by like-minded people, influencers and their fans. And the best way to do that is to retweet their post – and mention them.
Generate leads
Businesses in all industries use Twitter to reach potential customers. Whether you’re in tech, for example, or if you’re in the food industry or automotive industry, Twitter is an invaluable tool.
Consistently connect with people, learn from them and ultimately, convert them into leads.
For example, if you’re looking for new prospects at a conference, you can create a list of people who attended your last event and then follow up with them.
Or, if you’re looking for leads for a new product, you can search for people who have similar interests as your target audience.
This leads us to the next reason…
Conversion attribution
One benefit of Twitter is that it provides one-to-one organic engagements with the people who are most likely to be interested in your product.
It doesn’t take time or effort to find them on Twitter.
Now, the more targeted people see your content, the more likely they are to click on links to learn more about what you offer. This is called “conversion attribution.”
Conversion attribution is one of the most important metrics for measuring the success of your Twitter strategy. Hence, B2B companies are turning to Twitter for conversion attribution to mine leads, attract leads, and measure leads.
If you are running promoted tweets, Twitter provides conversion tracking tool as a service available to companies that take advantage of the Twitter ads.
This tool can connect the B2B ads with the conversions that happen – on Twitter or off Twitter.
For conversion attribution, you can measure:
- site visits
- purchases
- downloads
- sign ups
- custom conversions
Of course, you can also measure conversion attribution of your organic tweets using other tools besides Twitter’s own [conversion attribution tool].
Product development and survey
B2B companies find Twitter as a space to offer their research and ask for feedback. This gives your Twitter audience a voice in your products.
Feedback is crucial because it not only helps improve products, but it can also tell you what to stop making.
With Twitter polls and custom surveys, you can directly ask Twitter users about your products and services. Gather the feedback and use that feedback to help shape any future product development.
Stay up to date with industry news
Twitter is the #1 social media platform for discovery with 79% of people of its Tweeters using it on to discover what’s new.
B2B companies can use Twitter to stay up to date with the newest industry news and research breakthroughs and latest industry developments.
By following others in your industry, you’ll get updates from influencers and thought leaders. These individuals may retweet relevant articles, blog posts, visual content (image or video clips) etc.
Competitive intelligence
B2B companies use Twitter as a source for new ideas, inspirations, connections, and more. You can also use it for competitive analysis.
Even by just looking at the Twitter feed and Twitter bios, you can see what your competitors are saying, who they are talking to, and what they are saying to their customers about their products and services. This can be done in very little time.
Don’t forget to dive into your Twitter analytics tools regularly so you know how you measure up.
Boost SEO
The better your reach, the more people see your content, like it and share it. Then the higher the chances of Twitter users clicking your link. All these make up social signals.
Search engines factor in social signals to rank your website.
So, when done correctly, tweeting can boost your site’s ranking in Google searches.
Also, tweets can contain keywords which are often picked up by Google’s algorithms.
Make sure that all your Tweets include those keywords so that Google will find your site.
When someone searches for something specific like “industrial manufacturing” or “hr technology,” your content could potentially show up high on the results page.
Attract channel partners
Twitter increases and enhances not only communication with channel partners, but it also makes it easier to find your new potential channel partners as well.
Potential partners are constantly on Twitter, looking for B2B companies to work with.
Build & strengthen business relationships
If you are looking to build or strengthen your business network, then Twitter can be a great tool. It allows you to connect with people who have similar interests to yours and provides you with valuable information about how they operate.
You can easily take part in conversations with influencers within your industry, and even make connections with journalists and bloggers. Follow people within your niche and interact with them.
The key here is that you interact with them consistently. The goal is not only to gain new contacts, but also to learn how to better market yourself through those connections.
Attract top talents
Twitter holds an enormous pool of talent for recruiters and companies.
No wonder why, Apollo Technical said that over “84 percent of organizations are recruiting via social media with another 9% planning do to so that hasn’t already.”
There are many young active users on Twitter to fill entry level roles.
Also, Twitter is used by many urbanites “that make over $75,000 a year for more senior positions,” according to Software Advice.
Link building
In the past, most link building strategies revolved around exchanging links with other websites.
While there are a lot of other resources to attract backlinks for your SEO, sharing your content on Twitter can help from a link building perspective.
It means that every time your social media manager shares a web page on Twitter, he or she is sending out a direct invitation to visit the company’s website, or articles, and other landing pages.
So if you have been tweeting about your blog and other web pages, then you’re on the right track to using Twitter for link building.
For us, there is no doubt that many of our web page visitors came to our website site via a link shared through Twitter.
Thought leadership
Thought leadership is about giving the customer ideas, knowledge, and insights they are looking for to stand out.
It’s also critical to gaining your audience’s trust, which in turn will help you build relationships with your followers.
We often make purchases because of familiarity, emotion, and respect. It’s becoming increasingly popular for B2B companies to use Twitter for thought leadership.
Why? Because Twitter shows fans that company employees and managers as experts in their fields as they engage in professional discussions.
Figuring out your Twitter goals
Now, think about what type of results you’d like to achieve in your Twitter marketing efforts.
You don’t have to do all out; start small.
Write the Twitter goal you want to focus on.
Once you do that, you can work towards creating and refining your Twitter content strategy to achieve it.
What is great about setting Twitter goals is that it allows you to measure progress along the way.
Now, although traditional ROI is not an easy measurable goal to track because of the nature of digital marketing, many of these business goals that I have mentioned can be measured using corresponding success metric/s.
In marketing, we call the metric as the key performance indicator (KPI). For example, if you’re aiming to generate leads, you’d likely target keywords relevant and “actions” you want your fans to do.
So, with Twitter, your marketing efforts can be more targeted.
I’ve written about how to measure these marketing goals here and what metrics to match it with, if you don’t know how.
Reaching your Twitter goals: Wrapping up
In brief, there are three main types of goals when it comes to Twitter marketing: Awareness, Engagement, and Conversion. These Twitter goals should align with your overall marketing plan. You need to set SMART goals for each. Then, once you reach those goals, you can move onto the next step.
- Awareness–This involves spreading information about your product or service among people who may never buy from you before. The idea behind this is to get new clients and prospects interested in your products.
- Engagement–This refers to getting your existing clients and prospects involved in conversations related to your industry. By engaging with others, you show them that you care about them and their needs.
- Conversion–This is where you try to convert your relevant Twitter users into paying customers. To accomplish this, you must provide value to your clients and leads and give them reasons they should choose you over competitors.
I hope this article helps you understand some benefits of using Twitter for lead generation. As mentioned earlier, there are different businesses that benefit from using Twitter for lead generation purposes.
With almost any type of business, Twitter can be a powerful tool for sales and marketing purposes. It is easy to set up, cost effective, and it provides plenty of information for your B2B marketing strategy that can be used to segment customers, or your buyer personas.
Ready to grow your Twitter?
