Twitter's Top Features

2016 will be an interesting year for Twitter. Since October 2015 share prices have been in free fall. This noise aside the network still claims 320 million monthly uniques - 79% of whom are outside the US. As such it is an important platform for businesses to have a presence on. Despite the recent criticism it has attracted for being a "secret handshake" network  I am still a big fan. Below are my favorite of it's features from a marketing viewpoint. 

• You Can Tag Relevant Profiles in Images. Most people associate the tagging of images with Facebook but did you know you can tag up to 10 people in a Tweet image? This means a lot strategically! That's 10 additional accounts that would have affected your character limit in the original Tweet. If your content was developed with input or examples from multiple people, this is a great way of notifying them of your post and boosting your chances of extra engagement. 

•  Twitter Lists - Match With Emails. If you're not using Twitter lists I suggest you start doing so! Email lists are hard won marketing gold for businesses, particularly SME's. Using an email integration tool, you can match your email database to their corresponding Twitter accounts. Once you've done this you have a list of Twitter users who you can classify as warm leads and segment them into a list of their own. Show this group a bit more love, replying & retweeting in equal measure to propel them down the sales funnel. 

• Twitter Chats - Social Selling Goldmines. A Twitter Chat is a conversational hotbed of people talking passionately about niche subjects. Find one that matches the profile of the audience you’re aiming for and join in! Just remember you’re not there to sell – that’s a quick way to be ostracized – but what you can look at is who the most vocal chatters are. Woo these people. Twitter is perfect to connect via useful comments and casual interactions. For example, a restaurant company posting pictures of mouth watering dishes with info on the ingredients in a chat about recipes. They’re not specifically selling table bookings, but they are making a contribution to the chat in way that’s appropriate to their business. 

While 2016 will undoubtedly be a key year for Twitter with many changes already afoot. It is the features above plus its inherent "real time" nature that makes it a firm favorite of mine within the overall Social Media Ecosystem. 

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