Without further adieu, here are 5 Great “Engaging” Tactics for Twitter -

#1) – Use Twitter to encourage your following to promote your brand on Flickr.  Turn your events into an ongoing conversation.

Example Tweet – “Anyone at tonight’s event, join our Flickr group and post your pics of the event at (group url) #(Flickr Tag)”

This is a great way to turn fans into spokesmen.

#2) – Scavenger Hunt Contest – Contests and Twitter go hand and hand, but when the ultimate goal is engagement you need to be strategic in how you design the campaign.  A “one and done” competition where participants have to perform only one action to win does not give you enough bang for you buck.  Instead, design your competition so that the participants must return to your Twitter account multiple times and perform a number of tasks (idealy tasks related to your product) before becoming eligible to win.

#3) – Create a “Twitter Game” with a leaderboard.  Twitter games are becoming increasingly popular and yield the highest amount of engagement for those who choose to play.  This is a more involved investment and does require the creation of a website, but can be a great way to spread viral awareness and generate excitement.

#4) – Host a Twitter “microsite”.  Pioneers like Zappos and Skittles have proven that a public Twitter microsite can have huge appeal.  The biggest benefit here (advertising aside) is the feedback you are able to pull from your customers.

#5) – Join ongoing conversations about your brand or your industry using the search function.  One of the easiest ways to get people talking about your brand is to join conversations that are already in progress.  By conducting searches for keywords, you can find and recruit likely spokesmen for your brand.

For 5 MORE engaging tactics sign-up for our newsletter and keep an eye out for June’s release of “Maven’s Monthly Insight”

When building a campaign on Twitter you have only a few simple tools at your disposal. (1) The first is reaching out to influential and important people through “follows” and reply messages.  (2) The second is promoting yourself and your business through Tweets that can be read by your growing community.  (3) Finally, the third tool is the branding you are able to incorporate into your profile page.

Interested in getting a customized Twitter background to increase your effectiveness on Twitter?

Click here to get started

Twitter gives you the ability to create a 160 character biography, add a link to a website, post a profile picture, and customize the background image.  Compared to your options when developing a profile on Facebook, your options here are very limited.  But, since the interaction potential is so great on Twitter, it is worthwhile to do what you can to deliver as much quality messaging and branding as possible.

Having a customized twitter background can accomplish a lot more than you might expect.  With so many design novices on Twitter, there are simply very few, nicely-designed backgrounds out there.  Most opt to use one of the pre-made Twitter templates that comes with the account.  That said, when a user comes across a nicely designed profile page it gives them pause.  That pause time is free advertising space for you or your company.

While it is true that not all users have a monitor size that will display the full image, a large percentage of Twitter users can see the area on the left side of the screen that is increasingly used as a place to feature an informative sidebar.  This sidebar typically will feature a photo of the person or business, a short bio, website URL’s where the user can find more information about the business/person, and a couple bullet points.

A strong Twitter background allows the user to inform and direct their visitors in a manner in which they choose.  Do you have a book you are trying to promote?  Does your website offer the most affordable Armani ties on the web?  Is your company looking to hire talented web designers?  Pick out the most vital messages you want to send, and communicate it!  Being able to use social media to advertise is what separates businesses who are wasting their time and those who are building business.

A customized background image does what you can not do with your tweets (without risking your following)… to send direct marketing messages.

When you have a custom background image you are able to present anything you wish to your visitor. From a business perspective, tweets are useful to help develop new relationships, announce promotions, organize successful events.  Without having a background with some effective messaging, your business is missing out on half of the advertising benefits from Twitter.

Interested in learning more about how to get a custom background made for your Twitter account? Click here to start the process.

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Here are 5 of the top 10 principals we apply in order to create effective online marketing campaigns for our clients -

1.) Unclear Call-To-Action – If your customer cannot clearly identify within the first 3 seconds, they are not likely to do it.
2.) Too Much Text – Don’t get carried away selling your visitors with copy.  Present a succinct, clear case and let them make a decision.
3.) Long Forms – Collect only information that is necessary for an informed follow-up
4.) Distractions – The whole reason for creating a landing page is to focus the visitor on what it is you want them to do.  Don’t send competing messages
5.) Not Paying-Off – You need to deliver on the expectations you set in the ads that bring visitors to your site.  Keep them on a plain path.

Combining the right elements are a big part of the game, but there is no real cheat sheet for success that works for every brand.  Ongoing campaigns should always begin with multiple variable testing to determine which elements (and in which combination) should be included on a landing page to create the most productive landing page design possible for conversions and profits.

If you would like to learn more about landing pages or search engine marketing (S.E.M.) campaigns please give us a call at 773/314-3020 or contact us via email at info@mavenmktg.com.

The key to maximizing your R.O.I. on such a campaign is not just about making sure you are getting the best deal on price-per-click.  A keen strategy includes ways for you to close the deal in the present, AND in the future.  A campaign that neglects plan b conversion strategies will leave money on the table and separate good S.E.M. campaigns from great S.E.M. campaigns.

Contact a representative at Maven Mktg today and setup a meeting with one of our consultants to discuss how you might benefits from S.E.M. – 773/314-3020

Our suite of services range from basic S.E.O analysis, keyword research, Twitter/Facebook page design, social media campaign management, all the way to Search Engine Marketing and landing page design.

We work with any budget on an hourly rate of $75 an hour (pro-rated), and have no minimum to take on a project.  Everything is a la carte and customizable.  Typical projects range from $75 to $5,000.