Ask Embrace Disruption: Twitter Engagement

Earlier this week, I opened up the option to submit your anonymous question – and I would answer any and everything that comes my way.

One of the first questions mailed in is one that I encounter more often than you’d think, so I thought it necessary to start here:

“How can I get my twitter following to engage more with my brand?”

To be honest, there’s no “right” answer to this question, but there are some suggestions I can provide you with to hopefully spark some conversation.

On the content side of things, I think the most important thing to remember here is that when representing a brand, you should not always be in “sell” mode. Tweets should be treated as a conversational tool, and if done properly can develop a more rounded personality for your brand. It’s important that when tweeting, you treat each one as though you were writing a headline on a national paper. Stay relevent, and always ask yourself if what you’re about to tweet would interest you if you saw it.

There are ways to really build out your content and make it “must-see” writing. Some of the basic guidelines around building out engagement involve sharing relevant and interesting articles, but also reaching out to your audience and participating in their conversations. It’s important to not only be a broadcaster, but additionally a fantastic listener. Some of the best twitter presences will often engage a lot based on the content their followers are sharing and really listen to what others are saying. It’s important to remember that even from behind the facade of the computer, all these tweets are coming from real people. Finally, if you’re still struggling – there’s always contesting. It’s an easy way to get the ball rolling – and everyone loves the chance to win something (no matter how big or small the prize value is). I will caution that although it can bring great success, contesting should not be your sole strategy to engage with an audience on twitter – it’s more of a complement to your everyday content.

I hope this spurs some creativity when you approach writing your tweets in the future, and thank you so much for writing in! For more insight on twitter, have a look at “Follower Count Is Wrong: 5 Steps To Measure Online Influence Properly”.

Do you have a question you’d like answered? Click here to submit one!

•