Is your recruitment firm struggling to get noticed on Twitter? Engagement is a major ranking factor in the platform’s algorithm. So if you want your posts to be seen, they need to be engaging.
It is also important to understand Twitter as a platform before you begin using it for your business. If there's one tip I hope you'll take away from this post, it's this:
Avoid being a hard sell and commenting solely about yourself or your products on another account’s post. Readers are generally put off by Twitter accounts whose main aim is simply self-promotion. Find a niche and tap into it.
With that in mind, here are seven simple tactics that you can implement into your social media strategy to increase your engagement and visibility on Twitter:
Attention spans are decreasing - especially with the emergence of TikTok and Instagram Reels - so apply that same brevity to Twitter. People rarely have the time to read a long tweet thread unless it’s a trending discussion on a viral topic. And if they don't read it, they won't engage.
You may have 280 characters available to use but according to Twitter only 12% use over the original 140 character limit.
People like Twitter accounts with a unique personality. Take a leaf out of Aldi and Innocent’s book who have nailed the Twitter game by being unapologetically themselves.
BUT your content must be reflective of your business’ identity. Your company has a unique voice and view point - use it.
As with all social media platforms, finding the best times to post is incredibly important. To get a better understanding of when your customers are most active on social media and what type of content they want to see, look at your customer profile and Twitter Analytics data. This will give you insight into their social media habits.
For example, are job posts during the working day receiving engagement? Or would they be better posted during commuting hours or lunch where potential candidates don’t have to worry about their boss or colleagues looking over their shoulder? And is there a particular day of the week your tweets get more link clicks?
Many brands are guilty of using too many hashtags when they post on twitter, in an attempt to increase their visibility. Twitter recommends using a maximum of two, and research suggests using more can cause a 17% drop in engagement.
Twitter uses hashtags to categorise tweets. So when you overload your tweet with five or more hashtags, Twitter is confused about how and where to categorise and could even categorise your tweet as spam - and then no-one will see it.
It is therefore important to make sure that the hashtags you use are related to the content you are sharing. Don’t just use a hashtag because it's trending (although when a trending hashtag is relevant then definitely go for it).
While we are on the topic of categorising your tweets correctly... With Twitter becoming an ever more saturated social media platform, knowing your keywords is crucial.
The keywords you use should paint a picture for your profile viewer of what your account is about, so that even if they only stumbled upon you accidentally, they can easily see why they should follow you.
With studies showing that the average lifespan of a tweet lasts between 15-24 minutes, it is important to re-use and repurpose tweets which have received high levels of engagement. This helps maximise the overall reach and, of course, shows that you are posting content that resonates with your audience.
With the ‘Like’ button one click away, it can be far too easy to simply ‘like’ mentions from Twitter users rather than take the time out to reply. However, replies are not only good customer service - with Twitter research showing customers who receive a response are 30% more likely to recommend the brand - but they also create more impressions and engagement for your firm.
Try asking a follow-up question in your response as this will help generate further conversation and can provide you with interesting insights about your content.
Boosting your twitter engagement is key to getting in front of your target audience and increasing each tweet's performance. Following the tactics talked about in this blog post and regularly looking at your twitter analytics tool will help you to achieve your social media marketing goals.
Author: Charlie Nunn
Originally posted March 2018, updated June 2022