5 Surprising Ways To Engage Your Audience On Twitter

Maintaining an engaged Twitter community for your brand can be a challenge. With more than 500 million tweets being sent every day, how do you make your posts stand out? It’s all about diversifying your content and surprising your audience with different types of posts.

Let’s take a look at five unusual engagement tactics you can put to use right now.

Ask a question with Twitter polls

Twitter polls is a relatively new Twitter feature with a ton of potential. Asking questions has always been a great way of engaging your audience on Twitter and with Twitter polls this becomes much easier.

All you need to do is click on the poll icon on the tweet editor. Then you can ask your question and add up to four options (emojis included). Although initially Twitter polls were by default accessible for 24 hours, Twitter recently allowed users to customize the time their Twitter poll is open by giving more options from 1 minute up to 7 days.

Twitter reported a staggering 1.7 billion votes casted since Twitter polls launched back in October which is only an indication of the feature’s potential for driving engagement.

Ideas for Twitter polls

What’s great about Twitter polls is that you can use them in many different ways to engage with your audience. Here’s a few ideas:

Ask for an opinion

So, how do you feel about Twitter raising the character limit for tweets to 10,000? #twittercharacterlimit

— TheCounter (@thecounter) 6 January 2016

Better understand your customers’ needs

Nissan Fan Poll: If you had a #Nissan #GTR for a day, how would you spend it?

— Nissan (@NissanUSA) 14 October 2015

Ask for feedback

We've got polls now! Which typeface do you prefer?

— Twitter Design (@design) 21 October 2015

Ask something fun

Would you rather travel 100 years into the...

— Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover) 25 September 2015

Address some real burning issues

I know when that hotline bling, that can only:

— Norm Kelly (@norm) 5 October 2015

 Show it with a GIF

Who doesn’t love a good, funny GIF, right? GIFs were introduced on Twitter a bit over a year ago making taking our Twitter experience up a notch. So do the question “Why use GIFs on Twitter?”, we say “Why not?”. But really:

• They are eye-catching. Imagine scrolling through your Twitter timeline. You’re much more likely to click on a tweet with a GIF among a sea of static images and text based tweets.

• They help you showcase your products. Instead of a long explainer video, GIFs can be a useful alternative in featuring your products or showing certain functions.

When you mute a user, you will still see their broadcasts in your feed but won’t get notifications when they go live. pic.twitter.com/0G6MXkv9fY

— Periscope (@periscopeco) 27 July 2015

• They help you convey your brand’s personality. Whether you are replying to a Twitter mention or sharing some content, GIFs are a great way for your brand to convey a human, fun, casual tone.

Unleash the #GIFs! For more #EndlessFun go to http://t.co/2PwUiYt05a. pic.twitter.com/pgFMNVlgvS

— FIAT USA (@FIATUSA) 18 June 2014

They are great for data visualizations. A GIF can help you convey information in “snackable” form, while communicating complex messages in a simple way.

Animated map of migrations of 118 bird species in the Western Hemisphere. #birding #datavizhttps://t.co/a7WCuPaqH2 pic.twitter.com/zHhQJ8e2nr

— Randy Olson (@randal_olson) 26 January 2016

 They can be ideal for promotional campaigns. An animated GIF is a much more shareable, engaging way of tweeting a promotional campaign but also save you some valuable character space.

You want a treat? For 4 days only, everything on Bezar is 25% off! Enter code HOWBEZAR25 at checkout. pic.twitter.com/aakNpGZhiu

— Bezar (@bezar) 9 July 2015

 Note: Even not technically a GIF, Vines are are another great alternative of engaging your Twitter audience with short 6 second videos. Here’s an awesome example from Oreo.

Reward with Contests and Sweepstakes

52% of people follow brands on Twitter to be notified for special offers or promotions and 38% to take part in competitions. So organizing a simple contest or a sweepstake on Twitter is a great way to keep your followers engaged because, guess what: It’s one of the reasons they actually follow you on Twitter. Take a look at a few ideas for Twitter contests.

User generated content

What did YOU get for Christmas? Win a Zaggora kit by tweeting us a photo w/ hashtag #zaggora. Funniest gift wins! pic.twitter.com/CwqaCDqG61

— Zaggora (@zaggora) 27 December 2013

Sweepstake

Enter #TheRevenant #Sweepstakes here for a chance to win a prop bag from the film! https://t.co/klsUHR957l pic.twitter.com/9JqvNCeeNo

— Landmark Theatres (@LandmarkLTC) 27 January 2016

Flock to unlock

Win 4 tickets to The Little Festival in Shoreditch!

RT & Follow to enter! pic.twitter.com/RY9gdindbK

— The Little Festival (@LittleFestival) 28 January 2016

 Embrace live broadcasting

Live streaming is the future of social media marketing and the reason is simple. As Chris Sacca very accurately pointed out:

All of a sudden, the world’s pockets are full of good cameras and good screens with good data plans and good social platforms to let everyone know you’re broadcasting.

In a few short months since its launch, Periscope has managed to grow over 10 million accounts and nearly 2 million active users per month with engagement being off the charts, as viewers watch the equivalent of 40 years of live video, every day. Live streams can now be viewed straight from your Twitter timeline which means that broadcasts can reach an even wider audience. And if you’re into action cameras, Periscope also integrates with GoPro. How cool is that? But let’s take a look into why live broadcasts are a great engagement tactic for Twitter.

• Give access to exclusive content. A live broadcast can be a great opportunity for your audience to become part of your story. Show them the people behind the brand, the personality and an exclusive sneak peak behind the scenes.

• Host an AMA. Being open as a brand is a great way of developing trust with your audience. Periscope can be an ideal platform for setting up informal Q&A session between your audience and a member of your team.

• Educate. Sharing knowledge is one of the ways to build a strong Twitter community. Broadcasting short webinars, workshops or how-to videos is a great way to share your knowledge, build your authority and interact with your audience.

• Cover live events. Whether you are hosting or attending an important event in your industry, a live broadcast can help you connect with people beyond this physical space.

• Showcase your products. A quick, live presentation of your products could go a long way with getting more customers onboard.

Connect over a Twitter Chats

Twitter chats can be a powerful marketing tool for many different reasons. Let’s take a look at how Twitter chats can benefit your brand.

But how can you actually set up a Twitter chat?

Step 1. Get the hang of it

Even though Twitter chats are not necessarily rocket science, there are certain rules and etiquette you need to take into account. So before hosting your own Twitter chat, make sure you are familiar with the concept by attending a few chats in your niche. This way, you’ll be able to better understand how they work and at the same time, research your field so that you pick a topic that perhaps has not been covered yet and is more likely to draw interest.

Step 2. Be wise about the name and hashtag

This is probably the most critical part before launching your Twitter chat. The name and most importantly the hashtag are the ones that set the tone, convey the subject and attract relevant audience as they create expectations on what will be discussed. So before sharing your chat with the world, do some research to make sure that the hashtag you’ve chosen is unique. This way, you avoid noise and confusion with other ongoing Twitter conversations.

Step 3. Pick a time

The time and date your Twitter chat will take place heavily depends on the type of audience you are aiming for attracting. If for example your audience is located in the US, then a US time would be a no brainer. Things can get more complicated if your audience is around the globe but make sure you pick a time that works for most timezones. A Twitter chat normally lasts for an hour. As for the best day of the week, there’s no golden rule really. Except never schedule it for a Friday afternoon for obvious reasons. Before deciding on the day of the week you can do some research on when other chats take place and pick a day that doesn’t clash with other Twitter chats that could be relevant to your audience.

Step 4. Be Prepared

If you are planning to host a Twitter chat on a regular basis, creating a calendar would be a great solution for an overview of the topics you will cover. During the Twitter chat, things can get pretty hectic. So preparing the questions ahead of time, and writing down some answers can save you a ton of time and help you focus more on moderating and engaging with the participants.

Step 5. Promote

Before your Twitter chat, and especially if you’re organizing one for the first time, make sure that you build momentum by regularly tweeting about it or even by notifying your audience via email and targeted tweets.

Another way to expand your chat’s reach and get some interesting conversations going on is reaching out to influencers asking them to join you as a special guest in one of your upcoming Twitter chats. These guys are very likely to share their guest gig with their own network which will lead to more participants for your chat.

Now over to you! Have you put any of these tactics to use? Let us know in the comments right below.

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7 Things Not to Do With Social Video

Video content on social media is booming. Facebook is reporting over 8 billion daily video views, YouTube’s watch time is rising 60% year over year, and Periscope users are consuming over 40 years worth of videos per day. With traditional broadcast mediums in decline, adapting to the social video model is critical.

Check out these seven things not to do when creating your videos, and get a head start on your social video success.

#1: Ignore the no-sound experience

An increasing amount of social video is consumed on mobile devices, many of which do not have the sound enabled. Because hey, no one wants to be that person on the bus, waiting in the line for groceries, or attempting to stealth-check FB while in a meeting from hell. If you’re not including subtitles, or otherwise making your content compelling without sound, you’ve already lost. You’re just one more piece of content in a never-ending feed of delights and distractions.

#2: Focus on selling

Even if the core aim of your video is to introduce and sell a product, you need to be careful about how you position your content. People on social media are not looking for an infomercial, and launching into a sales pitch isn’t going to win you many views. So how do you get your product out there, and still appeal to users on social media? Tell a fun story, be entertaining, and use humor!

The Squatty Potty is a great example of a product video that got some serious social love. At over 16 million views on YouTube alone, the Squatty Potty video reached a ridiculous number of potential customers. It also created a… let’s just say ‘memorable’ experience in the process. How? With an ice-cream pooping unicorn and a humor-first approach to storytelling.

#3: Create a feature-length film

As we’ve previously discussed, you have less than 10 seconds to capture the attention of your audience. That splashy 30-second intro you love? Cut it. If your video is more than a few minutes in length, you better be certain that the first minute of content is so good that people will make a point to stick around.

Imagine the person watching your video is waiting for the bus and they’re halfway through your video when the bus pulls up. Did they see what they needed to see in that first minute? Or was your story so compelling that they’ll come back to it when they get home? If not, rethink your strategy.

#4: Fail to disclose paid endorsements

If you are selling products or doing business in the United States, you must disclose any paid endorsements in your videos. Even if your company is located internationally, it still falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S Federal Trade Commission (FTC) if you’re selling into the U.S. market.

The disclosure needs to occur within the video itself, and cannot be relegated to the accompanying text description. If you’re receiving payment for endorsing anything within the video, just make sure to be up front and honest about it.

Why not risk it? Well, for one it’s unethical and if your viewers find out about it (and they will) you’ve poisoned your social status as an honest business. Secondly, FTC fines are no laughing matter. Can your business afford the fees and collateral damage to your brand when you fail to disclose paid endorsements?

Learn more about endorsements and the FTC here.

#5: Disregard your audience

It’s as simple as this: make sure you’re making your video for your audience, rather than yourself.

This is doubly important to remember when creating social video content. Making a video for a Twitter audience is not the same as making a video for a Facebook audience, or a Tumblr audience, or an Instagram audience. Make sure you understand who your audience is, and adapt your content strategy to work for them.

#6: Take too long

Creating a video to tap into a current trend or meme? You’d better get it out there, FAST. You have a very limited window in which your video will still be relevant. Remember, sometimes getting a timely video out is more important than polish. Learn where you can make compromises, and when you should just to cut your losses and move on. Nothing reeks of desperation more than a brand latching onto a trend that’s already well past its prime.

#7: Forget that it’s social

Social video is social! While traditional content models focused on a broadcast method, social video allows you an unprecedented opportunity to tap into your audience directly! Don’t forget to use this to your advantage, and to build your content in a way that supports those objectives.

Have you:

• Included your social channels at the end of every video, and in the description text?
• Requested feedback either directly, or by including a relevant hashtag?
• Created an opportunity for a dialog with your viewers?
• Asked your audience to share your video?
• Asked your viewers to subscribe?
• Thanked your viewers for watching?

And more! Just keep in mind that social video is inherently a social experience. Relax, create great content, adapt based on feedback, and enjoy the process!

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These 4 Brands Used Periscope Like No One Else in 2015

When Meerkat blew up at last year’s SXSW, you just knew brands were going to flock to live streaming. That potential for revenue is likely what prompted Twitter to quickly acquire Meerkat’s competitor Periscope. In its first six months, the app attracted a staggering number of users — 10 million, to be exact. It’s also attracted its fair share of brands.

General Electric
GE was an early user of Periscope, just as it has been with many emerging platforms. One of its initial efforts was previewing Bill Nye’s appearance on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk Radio. While that was a nice warm up, #DRONEWEEK is where the corporate giant really shined. It kitted out commercially available drones to take viewers on live tours of five different GE facilities, showing off everything from a wind farm to a jet engine plant.

Ralph Lauren
Periscope also has become a fast favorite of many fashion brands. DKNY showed off its design studio’s closet while Marc Jacobs himself held a live Q&A after his Resort ’16 fashion show. But no label has gone as all-in as Ralph Lauren did in September. Not content to merely stream their New York Fashion Week show to people’s phones, they beamed the live feed to a billboard in London’s Piccadilly Circus (the British Times Square).

Doritos
Frito-Lay has been pretty inventive in its Periscoping. Their U.S.-based marketing team used the platform to host a game show called Doritos Roulette, where viewers were randomly chosen to “spin” a wheel for fun and prizes. Not to be outdone, the Canadian marketing team followed up with a 12-hour stream of stuff being destroyed by cannons (ostensibly to promote their new Doritos Collisions).

Adidas

While some brands have employed Periscope to share behind-the-scenes moments, Adidas has taken that to the nth degree. Last March, the footwear company actually live streamed Real Madrid’s James Rodríguez signing a contract extension with the brand. While that sounds a little niche, you can bet Nike would’ve done the same with Jordan if they could’ve.

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Why Periscope Is the Next Big Thing in Social Media

With more brands emphasizing the importance of a solid presence on media platforms like Facebook and YouTube, this article predicts that the next big marketing frontier is the Periscope app.

As social media becomes less of an afterthought among brands and more of an essential ingredient in the marketing mix, it is increasingly difficult to stand out on these online channels.

There is only so much attention from consumers and customers to go around, and the social streams are overflowing with content in all shapes and sizes.

So unless you want to be like the wallflower at the dance, being boring is not an option on social media. There are simply no excuses for not sharing a deep repertoire of content on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and everywhere else your audience is hanging out online. 

If your customers and prospects are spending time on Pinterest, Vine, SnapChat, YouTube, Tumblr, and Instagram, you need to establish your own solid presence there. Industry events and developments, company updates and corporate culture, promotions, offers, news and opinions - what you share is important, but sometimes where and how you share it is of even greater significance. Be there or be square. 

That's where Periscope enters the picture. Launched on March 26, 2015, this live video streaming app owned by Twitter recently eclipsed the 10 million user mark and reports that over 40 years of video are watched per day. To say that Periscope is kind of a big deal right now would be an understatement.

Of course, you can and should use other channels to share your videos, but to ignore Periscope is to overlook an unparalleled, unprecedented way to connect with people in instantaneous, unfiltered fashion. The brand that uses Periscope comes across as both transparent and authentic, unafraid to cede control of the conversation and willing to share its true identity. What is likely to result is greater trust, better business, and a stronger bond between those on either side of the medium.

To use Periscope:

1. Download the app to either your Android or iOS device.
2. Log in with your Twitter username or phone number.
3. Adjust your settings.
4. Set your notifications.
5. Look for people to follow.
6. Prepare to broadcast your own videos live. 

It really is that easy. 

You can use Periscope for everything, from streaming breaking news to giving your audience a behind-the-scenes tour of your office. You can conduct interviews, give product demonstrations, take surveys - the creative possibilities are endless. What's streamed on Periscope is limited only by your imagination.

Here are three great examples of videos created with Periscope: 

1. Ryan Pinkham's Live Tutorial

Constant Contact's Ryan Pinkham used Periscope to record a live tutorial from his desk entitled, Email Design Mistakes Your Readers Hate. He also turned his broadcast into a blog post, and archived his recording on YouTube to give his content an indefinite shelf-life.

2. Michael Hyatt's Blog Commentary

Another excellent example of Periscope use is author and speaker Michael Hyatt's discussion about his original blog post called No, You Don't Have to Work 24/7 to Succeed. In the blog, Michael also mentions that he broadcasts on a daily basis during the week at 12:30 p.m. CDT.

Keeping a regular schedule for Periscope broadcasts is a great strategy, regardless of what you're going to cover. It allows the audience to grow accustomed to tuning in to watch you at the same time every day

3. An Interactive Tour with the Mayo Clinic

Finally, the Mayo Clinic's interactive tour of its Rochester, Minnesota, campus was originally streamed on Periscope, like the two other videos above. This "after-hours, behind-the-scenes" tour has also been subsequently uploaded to YouTube.

Unfortunately, you can't watch a replay of someone else's Periscope video after 24 hours unless they've repurposed it elsewhere, such as YouTube or Vimeo.

That same inconvenience, however, helps spur real-time viewership, creating a sense of urgency every time you see the words "LIVE on #Periscope." Chalk it up to the fear of missing out.


Given its immaturity, Periscope is a relatively unproven app. However, that certainly hasn't stopped many brands from jumping on the Periscope bandwagon, tooting their own horns, and throwing any fears of revealing who they are as people to the wind. If you haven't already, now is the time to try the next big thing in social media.

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