From presidential pranks to hashtag activism, Twitter has been making headlines this year. But the platform might be tricky to those who haven’t learnt its ropes. This post looks at the potential of Twitter to boost your social media marketing strategy.

These days, news hits the Twittersphere sooner than it hits the headlines of traditional media. Social media marketers know that Twitter holds real potential to reach a market and influence it. Smart businesses see the power in using Twitter for engagement, campaigning and building their brand.

But if you’re not a savvy social media marketer, you may be asking: how do I make the most of this thing or should I look for a professional social media marketing agency?

It looks deceptively simple. On the surface, Twitter offers a network where users share stories from anything to news stories to blogs. Like any web-based media presence, Twitter offers a way to engage with other businesses, colleagues or consumers. Twitter gives you 280 characters or less per tweet to do that.

But like the simplest of tools, Twitter offers more for businesses and organizations than might appear on the surface.

Here’s a quick list of ways you can use Twitter to help grow your business

#hashtag. If you’re a millennial, you may be already using “hashtag” in your everyday speech. Whether the term is common or uncommon lingo, the hashtag has potential. Experiment in using hashtags as part of a social media marketing campaign—they can be part of a holistic marketing strategy for your business. Add a hashtag to any trending topic on Twitter, and you just might ramp up engagement or enter a conversation on a topic with thousands of users worldwide. If you’re running a marketing campaign, use a hashtag on a keyword to centralize a conversation about any topic you like. If you’re taking part in a conference, start a conversation with other people about the event by adding a hashtag to the name of the conference. Tack on a hashtag to any trending word, phrase or abbreviation and your tweet will show up in a search.
Share content. Promote your business by sharing text, photos and links to your blog or website. Make content even more visual with a video. Tweet relevant quotations that add colour and personality to your brand.
Engage with others. Tweet to engage with customers and ask questions to your followers or answer questions from clients.
Learn and research. Research your industry and market by searching for trending topics in your area and get a sense of what your target audience wants, likes and needs from how they express themselves and interact on Twitter.
Build community. Retweet other users who are relevant to your brand. It can also be a way to engage with others and flatter them by retweeting their content.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But remember, just like thoughtful social media presence of an individual, organizations also need to stay smart about how they use Twitter and follow the changes on the platform. You want to maintain your brand’s identity in every tweet and retweet.

If you don’t have an in-house team to maintain a professional social media presence for your business, then you can take onboard professional social media services by an agency. At 7G Media – top digital marketing agency in Dubai and one of the most trusted social media agencies in Dubai, we can provide a custom social media strategy for your organization and execute it to perfection; that might involve a social media marketing campaign that targets advertising across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. We also create viral videos with embedded calls to action.