Should You Use Twitter for Business?

Aside from Snapchat, Twitter is often the hardest nut for the marketer/brand/business to crack. What are you supposed to say and who are you saying it to? Do hashtags matter and if so which one’s do you use? How come no one is following you?

We empathize. Listen, Twitter is freakin’ tough. A lot of people who run brands and businesses are told they should be there but they’re not told why. It doesn’t have to be this way. Fact is, sometimes Twitter’s right for your business and sometimes it’s wrong. We can’t breakdown everything here, but we can help you get started.

Hopefully this blog will help you decipher where you should be.

What’s #Trending on Twitter?

Before we get into whether you should use it, you should know three key things about the platform.

1. How many people are using Twitter? 100 million people every day. (Click that link to get more great stats), 63% of which are 18-45 years old.
2. What’s currently happening with Twitter? A lot, actually. Its founder is considering adding an edit feature. Politics as usual are well, pretty standard here and they can be pretty extreme. And the change to 280 characters didn’t make the platform implode.
3. Is Twitter even relevant anymore? That depends on who you ask. Short answer: yes.  But, if Statista is to be believed (they are), then a stall-out in user growth over the last two years is certainly something to watch. But … it’s still the platform for breaking news and trends — a critical element for 21st century media consumption and culture.

Who’s Using Twitter, Really?

Jump on the platform and it becomes clear that Twitter’s upper strata is formed by media outlets, celebrities, influencers, and sports figures. Why? Because they have something to say that people care about. Of course, us regular people are having conversations there, too, and the big dogs wouldn’t be there without us. But the fact of the matter is that if you use Twitter you should have something to say about something that matters. Also, you should have someone to say it to. Essentially, don’t be noise. Be a voice that stands for something. Even if that voice is about something mundane like B2C siding and roofing sales. Trolling people, trashing brands, and getting people riled up with controversial statements doesn’t count, btw. Please, don’t go that route. People who do that are barely people.

Just Tell Me If I Should Use It or Not!

Jeez, ok. We’re getting to it. Here’s how we break it down — on a high level — for our clients.

1. Who’s the audience you want to reach and are they on Twitter? If they are, then proceed.
2. Ok, are you willing to put 3 times as much (or more) effort into this platform as your are on your other social channels? You are? Great. Because that’s a must for Twitter. It’s user base is smaller than IG, Facebook, and Snapchat. It’s more work to consume content for the users compared with the other platforms. And it’s filled with noise you have to break through to be relevant. OK, continue please.
3. Do you think people will be seeking you out on Twitter for customer service? This is huge because it adds another complicated layer to your social media ecosystem. We’re advocates for top-notch customer service, so if this a yes for you, you’ll need to make sure you do it right by putting framework into place that gives customers what they’re looking for.

OK, so now we’re getting somewhere. We can’t actually tell you if you should use it. You need to consider the questions above and think long and hard about how Twitter fits into your marketing mix. Should you choose to use it though, this would be the point where you start figuring out what your audience values and what you can deliver, which is the critical piece. Then, when you get to this point you can start putting your Twitter strategy together.

Oh, and by the way, you can totally consider Twitter as a straight up ad platform if you want. It’s OK to do that. This is advertising, after all. Sometimes we should just accept that it is what it is.

We should reiterate that this is a super basic outline. Like all social channels, Twitter is complex and no two brands or strategies are alike. But if you wanna talk more about it, we’d be happy to. Feel free to tweet at us @JTCG (Jacob Tyler Creative Group, if you’re wondering). Or, just go old school and give us a call.