Twitter has fast become a marketing powerhouse for brands and businesses who want to reach their audience on a more personal level.

It’s massively flexible when it comes to the kinds of content you can share and the ways you can share it, so we’re seeing more and more businesses use this platform to help them achieve their marketing goals.

If you want to raise brand awareness, there’s no better place to start your campaign than on Twitter. When used wisely and efficiently, Twitter can help you reach out to an incredible number of people.

Gaining the upper marketing hand on Twitter requires a solid strategy that you employ consistently over time, eventually helping you gain as many followers as you can, as quickly as possible.

Does your Twitter strategy lack the luster you need? Worry no more because today we’ll be listing some of the most powerful Twitter marketing tips and tricks that actually work.

These tips should help you determine the weaker points of your strategy, and replace them with effective tactics that can help you gain the winning edge.

It All Starts with a Profile

Before you get your feet wet with more complicated marketing tips and techniques, first take a good hard look at your profile. Before you can reap massive marketing benefits from Twitter, you have to make sure you’ve set up your account for success.

Your Twitter profile has a few nooks and crannies that are just waiting to be optimized, so start by making the most of them. These are the profile elements you should optimize to their fullest potential.

Your Twitter Handle

Your Twitter handle should be short and recognizable. When someone tries to look you up, they will use your handle to find you on the platform.

Keep your Twitter name short, recognizable and consistent with your brand name. Anything other than your business name may cause confusion with followers.

Look at the clothing giant Forever 21 as an example. Their business name is short and catchy as it is, and they made sure to use it consistently across all their social media platforms. They didn’t use additional and unnecessary characters – which made them easy to find.

If you are just starting out, we highly recommend that you choose a Twitter handle that is as close to your brand name as possible.

Limit the use of irrelevant numbers and punctuation marks – they’re not only hard to look at but can be a pain to type in, discouraging users to look for you on the platform.

Having a short Twitter name is also helpful for getting those coveted @mentions from other users. Due to the imposed character limit on each tweet, users shy away from mentioning brands and businesses with long Twitter handles.

Your Bio and Your Personality

Your Twitter bio is a prime space of real estate where you can tell people more about your brand story. When crafting your bio, you’re working with a 160 character limit – so you have to wear your thinking cap to fit all the appropriate info in.

When someone looks you up on the internet, your Twitter bio will appear in the search results, so a brief and informative bio is a definite must.

According to internet marketing expert Neil Patel, your bio must strike a balance between informative and entertaining while remaining concise.

In a blog post for Buffer, Neil went through the 7 key ingredients to a great Twitter bio. Below is a condensed version of what the entire blog post was about. And here is our official BufferApp Review for your pleasure!

He mentioned that in order for you to make the most out of Twitter’s bio section, you have to craft a description that is:

Accurate: Write one fact about your profession.

Write one fact about your profession. Exciting: Write something that is crafted to entertain.

Write something that is crafted to entertain. Targeted: Write one fact that describes your niche.

Write one fact that describes your niche. Flattering: Write one fact that states an accomplishment.

Write one fact that states an accomplishment. Humanizing: Write something that talks about your hobby.

Write something that talks about your hobby. Intriguing: Write one interesting fact or feature about yourself.

Write one interesting fact or feature about yourself. Connected: Provide a link to your company’s website or to your other social media accounts

You can see here that Neil is the kind of guy who likes to take his own advice. He used his bio to concisely tell people what he has done and what he is all about.

Jamie Crager, CEO of blazefly, is another great example. He managed to summarize his entire life’s work while injecting a bit of fun in his bio.

Your Profile Picture and Your Header

Potential customers may have more interaction with your Twitter account than they would your physical store, so use a recognizable picture for your profile. Brands and businesses are encouraged to use their logos as their profile picture to nurture brand awareness.

The more they interact with your account, the more they get to familiarize themselves with your logo – increasing brand awareness in the process.

Some of the biggest brands understand the importance of consistency in branding, and we see them use their renowned logos as their profile pictures.

The simpler and cleaner the logo, the better. Keep in mind that people will be viewing it at various scales, so stick with one that can easily be seen even when compressed.

If that sounds too limiting for you, don’t worry because you still have your header space, the area at the top of the page. This is where you can let your creativity run free. This is a large area you can take advantage of to showcase your brand message in pictures.

MLB.com uses their recognizable logo as their profile picture while using a simple yet compelling photo for their header to imprint their brand.

The picture is catchy, clean and relatable to baseball fans everywhere – making their profile one of the best-looking we’ve seen out there.

Charmin, a tissue brand, uses lovable images across their Twitter account. They use colorful, friendly pictures that draw people in. They write fun and lighthearted tweets that they combine with lovable characters, making them real Twitter superstars.

In order for your Twitter profile to gain the attention it deserves, you have to take all the branding opportunities the platform offers. Don’t treat your profile as an afterthought – doing so could mean missing out on limitless marketing possibilities.

It’s Social Media so… Socialize

In order for you to see some engagement on your account, you have to pull out all the stops when encouraging interaction among your followers – you can’t expect them to talk to you, or talk about you, if you don’t talk to them.

People are on Twitter to interact, not just consume content. By reaching out to them, you’re actually making progress towards establishing valuable relationships.

If you want to engage with your followers, don’t be afraid to make the first move. Starting a conversation on Twitter is easier than in real life, without the awkwardness. Just go for it!

There are a number of ways you can interact with your followers: you can like, comment, retweet or @mention them to get the ball rolling. You can also share their original content, if they have any, along with your opinion on it.

Collaborating with influencers is also a good way to foster engagement on the platform. Twitter influencers have built a career around interacting and relating to their followers, and having one for a wingman is a great way to engage with more users.

Influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful promotion strategies out there. We see some of the biggest brands collaborate with Twitter influencers to get the word out about their brand or a particular product.

@HP partnered up with content creator @robbyjayala to launch their latest line of laptop/tablet devices. He created a Vine that showcased the product’s strongest traits in a pretty funny way:

The Vine received over 20,000 retweets and over 30,000 likes – making it one of the most successful influencer marketing campaigns in history. It also has almost 250,000 likes, almost 120,000 revines, and over 7,000 comments.

A study conducted by Twitter showed that 40% of Twitter users have made a purchase after reading a tweet from an influencer. These staggering statistics show just how powerful influencer marketing on Twitter can be.

If you want to conduct a resonating marketing campaign on Twitter, nurturing engagement through the help of influencers can be a sure fire way to do just that. There are many tools out there that can help you find the most influential people in your niche, so it shouldn’t be hard to get started.

Use Keyword Targeting

In the noisy and saturated world of Twitter marketing, relevance is king. Coming up with a content strategy that resonates with your target audience is key to reaching out to valuable followers who can potentially become customers.

Thanks to modern analytics and geeks everywhere, relevance has become measurable. You can easily determine what type of content resonates with your target audience by simply conducting keyword research and targeting.

By researching specific keywords, you’ll see what kind of content is deemed share-worthy from people within your tribe. This can give you a good overview of effective content strategies.

This keyword research is easy today – the internet is full of tools you can use to discover keywords that are soaking up all the attention of your target audience.

Below are some of the best tools you can use to conduct your study:

Hashtagify – This tool lets you input broad keywords and topics, and will then search for even more specific keywords that are most relevant to your niche.

My Top Tweet – This one runs down top tweets from users that have received the highest levels of engagement. It’s very helpful when determining what content resonates most quickly and loudly with your audience.

Riffle – This tool provides data visualization of popular hashtags, as well as important statistics that can help you craft a winning content strategy.

Bluenod – If you want an overview of the community that surrounds your target market, this tool can help you do that. It gives you pertinent statistics on people who use specific keywords from your niche.

Social Bearing – Social Bearing allows users to identify Twitter keywords as well as topics of interest from specific people that are within specific demographics.

The best thing about most of these tools is that there is a free version. You can also sign up for premium-level services, giving you access to more features that can be helpful in more complex campaigns. If you’re just starting out, however, the basic plans will more than suffice.

Tweet at the Right Time

There is a certain time of day when Twitter traffic is at an all time high – this is what experts call peak hour.

Some experts would argue that tweeting during peak hours is the best time to reach the widest audience possible. While it may be true that more people are on the platform during those hours, the high volume of traffic can make competing for attention a bit of a challenge.

Buffer, the social media scheduling tool, examined over 4.8 million tweets and discovered that peak hours do not necessarily translate to higher engagement – in fact, they correspond to lower engagement.

They discovered that Twitter receives the most traffic from 12pm to 1pm EST.

However, they discovered that tweets receive higher engagement and clicks when sent around 2:00 AM – 3:00 AM. This is maybe due to the fact that user feeds are less busy, so people can take their time browsing through posts without getting overwhelmed.

This means you have a better chance of receiving engagements during off-peak hours. Since there are fewer tweets to compete against, your posts stand out more and people have more time to peruse them.

Take it up a Notch with Conversational Ads on Twitter

Twitter ads are one of the best ways to reach out to a massive amount of users, using the platform’s official promotion services.

This has been proven to be an effective way to get your name out there, but recently Twitter took it up a notch with Conversational Ads.

Conversational Ads are just like Twitter Ads except they come with customizable Call-to-Action buttons and easier sharing options to better drive engagement with followers.

When a user taps the call to action button, a pre-populated brand message appears along with creative hashtag buttons, which users can share with their own network. This feature is also highly customizable, allowing people to tweak what they share on their profile.

Organic conversation starters like this one can be highly beneficial for advertisers and marketers, as it directly influences consumer behavior to take action.

Purchasing Social Signals

A campaign’s success is determined by the number of followers they gain, and other metrics (like sales, of course). Starting out a campaign on Twitter can be quite a challenge for those who don’t yet have an audience, or those who have yet to prove their credibility on the platform.

In order to get the part, you have to look the part. Earlier we talked about how important your profile is to your campaign’s success. Now, we will be delving deeper into looking the part of an influential, authoritative Twitter account.

Having a ton of followers will help you be perceived as a reputable brand, even if you’re just starting out. A healthy number of followers strengthens your social proof on the platform, which can translate to you gaining more organic followers.

Luckily, you can buy Twitter followers and social signals of engagement to boost your campaign. Purchasing an initial set of followers, along with a reasonable amount of social signals, can help you establish a sense of credibility in the fastest time possible.

Those social signals, including likes, retweets, and comments, are also crucial in further strengthening your reputation. They provide the realistic touch to go along with your followers, making them look more authentic.

Choosing your Twitter follower provider carefully is crucial, so take a look at our comprehensive reviews and evaluations. This will give you an edge when it comes to finding a reliable provider who can give you maximum marketing benefits, without putting your name on the line.

You want to stick with providers of high-quality followers, so you don’t end up with empty egg bot profiles like this:

Consistency is the Name of the Game

Last, we’ll talk about consistency. If you want your marketing efforts to bear fruit, you have to be persistent. Tweeting in bursts means you’re flying in and out of the radar – making you easily forgettable.

In order for you to garner more engagement, you have to establish a certain level of familiarity among your audience. We know staying on top of your Twitter account while taking care of your business can get overwhelming, but this isn’t about how hard you work – it’s how smart you work.

There are a number of free tools out there that can help you batch schedule your posts ahead of time, dripping them out at a prescribed pace – making your posting schedule consistent and persistent.

Buffer – Buffer is a social media scheduling app that allows you to schedule posts for various platforms, like Twitter and Facebook. Buffer offers their basic package for free, but also has subscription services which gives you access to more features.

Hootsuite – Hootsuite is another popular social media scheduler that is widely used by many. It can help you manage multiple networks, analyze performance, and schedule posts all in one place. Check out our Hootsuite Review when you get the chance!

TweetDeck – Twitter-owned Tweetdeck allows users to stream their newsfeed and monitor the engagement they receive. It also makes scheduling posts a lot easier and more intuitive, as the interface appears to be just like Twitter’s home screen. We have our own TweetDeck Review you should read as well!

If you find posting consistently a challenge, you can use the tools mentioned above to schedule them in advance, according to your preferred frequency. This should take the load off your back without compromising your presence on the platform.

Find a Strategy That Works – and Stick With it

Dedication and a solid strategy are the key ingredients to a successful Twitter marketing campaign. When used efficiently and consistently, Twitter can help you achieve your marketing goals – and even take it up a notch.

If your current strategy is not yielding the results you want, take the time to determine its weaker points. Be open to tweaking and adapting as you go, but don’t change so often that you can’t measure the results of your tactics.

Nitpicking your campaign’s weaker points and admitting your mistakes may not be very fun, but it must be done. You can read more about why your Twitter marketing strategy may not be doing very well right here.

There are a lot of things you can do to optimize your Twitter account to its fullest potential, from tweaking your profile to buying followers to coming up with consistent posting schedules.

Remember, it’s not about how hard you work, it’s about how smart you work. Good luck!