Building Your Community on Twitter

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Video Transcript | Intro

On Twitter, conversations move quickly, so be ready to engage with your audience throughout the day. 

An online community is all about building relationships and trust. Companies can do this by retweeting and responding to customers’ tweets, liking tweets, and generally reacting to the community in a timely and helpful way.  

Hashtags and Geo Searches 

Hashtags and geo searches are key to locating relevant conversations. By doing these searches, you’ll find moments to engage, which builds relationships and trust. 

Search for hashtags relevant to your business and continually monitor them.  You should also create a branded hashtag for your fans and followers to use. Searching for your branded hashtag surfaces references to your brand. 

A geo search finds tweets posted in a specific area. If you’re hosting an event or have a brick and mortar location, geo searches help you find local opportunities to engage. 

Twitter Chats 

“Twitter chats” are real-time conversations around a topic or set of questions that are prepared in advance.  

Kick off your own Twitter chat off by tweeting out a question. Accompany it with a descriptive hashtag so your audience can find the conversation. 

Raise awareness for your Twitter chat by cross promoting it in advance through other channels, like your Instagram Stories, Facebook page, or email list. Remember that Twitter chats should be compelling, so include fun, engaging content, like gifs, images, emojis, and videos. Before hosting your own, get involved in other people’s twitter chats, to gain insights into what makes a chat successful. 

If you have a number of team members engaging with your organization’s Twitter community, find a balance between consistent brand voice and individual authenticity.  

Personalize Responses 

In addition to following brand voice guidelines, encourage your team to personalize their responses with photos and gifs. You could also ask them to sign their replies with their initials.

Dealing with Negative Tweets 

Not every comment from your audience will be positive. When dealing with negative or hostile tweets, first assess the account. Determine if you’re dealing with a real person, a spam account, or a troll. If it’s a legitimate account, de-escalate the situation by acknowledging their concerns, and offering a solution. When dealing with sensitive information, you may need to move the conversation to a private discussion.

If your community comes to your defense or offers support to a frustrated customer, be sure to thank them for their help, which in turn further strengthens the community. 

Take the Conversation Offline 

Taking online relationships offline can also strengthen community ties. When attending industry events, follow the event hashtag and scan the feed for relevant people to connect with in-person. If you’re hosting a meet up afterward, Twitter is a great way to announce it to potential attendees. And even if you’re not physically present at the event, you can still follow the hashtag and find opportunities to participate. 

Looking for more? Checkout our blog and learn Twitter Marketing: The Complete Guide for Business!