Three Ways To Effectively Maximize Your Twitter Reach

Depending upon what you do, and whom you are trying to engage with, Twitter can be a very powerful social media tool. I think of it as the funnel for all of my other communication channels. For Twitter to be effective, you have to have people following you who can see and share your information, and as important know how to find more to keep your audience growing.

This post is about reach, and on Twitter that is measured by how many people you are connected to. From there, based upon who they are connected to, you can start to calculate impressions… how many people could see your Tweets. Radio, TV and most publications use impressions to measure potential audience size when calculating ad costs; it’s not a new methodology. Regardless of the medium, the goal is the same: more followers/readers/listeners/watchers = more reach = more impressions = more opportunities for your business to proactively engage with the audience you are trying to reach.

Here are three ways to effectively maximize your Twitter reach, and attract new quality connections:

#PrintChat. What is the worth of having your thought-leadership shared with 6-9MILLION people for an hour of your time? That may be a rhetorical question, but if you are thinking about it my point has been made.

#PrintChat is a weekly CMYK love-fest that takes place every Wednesday at 4PM ET (use this time converter for your time zone). This fast-paced global chat attracts the best and brightest from the all areas of print, paper, marketing and design, and delivers 6-9MILLION impressions weekly. Plus, the chatters are pretty awesome and connecting with them will only have positive results.

You can participate (or lurk until you are comfortable) by searching for #PrintChat on Twitter, or by joining us in our dedicated #PrintChat room. Past chat topics, questions, stats and replays are available in our archives, but there is nothing like being there! Please check it out and take advantage of this awesome group of people, and the reach and awareness you will create for yourself/your business by participating.

Other chat’s worth checking out: Follow #’s and accounts for info @PitneyBowes #PowerOfPrecisionChat, @DomtarPaper @BluelineChat #BluelineChat, @OutputMagazine #talkprint

#Hashtags. These often misunderstood and misused former number and pound signs are truly where Twitter’s power lies. Think of them as search terms, and search for keywords most relevant for you such as #print, #design, #digitalprint, #printmedia, #paper, #directmail, #inkjet, #foil and so on. Within those streams, find the relevant contributors and follow them, participate in relevant conversations, share and re-Tweet relevant information always including the hashtag. You can also create hashtags unique for your business and start your own stream. Some great examples are #PrintWins (@XeroxProduction), #scodified (@ScodixSense) and #askavanti (@AvantiSystems).

Another phenomenal way hashtags can help you create more reach comes courtesy of industry events. Follow the streams and get involved in the conversations. Some events stay the same all the time like #GraphExpo and #SGIAExpo, others add in more specifics such as #thinkconference2015 and #Xplor16. Events companies and companies/orgs that have events share their hashtag info, so follow them to know where to watch, and starting now everyone should be watching #drupa2016 and connected to @drupa. That stream will explode very soon, and I guarantee great information is shared and fantastic connections are made within it.

Follow the Followers. You can assume that anyone following your competition as well as industry publications, industry organizations, associations and events, is also interested in the same topics as you, and some or all of the products and services you offer. Find those accounts, click on followers, and connect. More likely than not the accounts you are newly following will follow back, and your reach will grow along with a relevant audience, if you are strategic. For example, a printer wanting more designer connections will have better results looking at who is following paper companies, and design publications, events and organizations where they are gathered already. This strategy also applies for following the followers of accounts participating in hashtag streams for relevant industry terms and events.

No proactive discussion about generating more reach and awareness for your business on Twitter can happen without adding in this: You are what you share. If you want to keep your audience happy and engaged you have to figure out what that means for them, but when you do the results will be exponential, and measurable.

See you at #PrintChat.

Deborah Corn is the Intergalactic Ambassador to The Printerverse at PrintMediaCentr, a Print Buyerologist™, Integrated Marketer, Industry Speaker and Blogger, Cultivator of the Print Production Professionals Group, the #1 Print Group on LinkedIn, and host of the weekly industry #PrintChat on Twitter. She has more than 25 years experience working in advertising and marketing, and currently works behind the scenes with printers, suppliers and industry organizations helping them to achieve success with their cross media and social media marketing endeavors.