#SproutChat Recap: Audience Targeting

Audience targeting on social can be an effective way to distribute messaging to specific subsets of your brand’s communities. Targeting is defined differently on each network and there are a number of options for organic post targeting, as well as paid. As a social media or community manager, it’s best to test both options to learn which most effectively grows your brand and provides value. In this week’s #SproutChat, we asked members of our community how they use segmented posts.

Reach a Large Percentage of a Small Group

Instead of reaching a small percentage of a large group, use targeting to increase your reach with a large percentage of a small group. This tactic will resonate because followers will think your speaking directly to them. Personalized communication will lead to a higher level of engagement. As others see the increase in activity a post is generating, they may be more willing to chime in.

A6: All depends on the group. As long as they're the right audience for the message, the more the better #sproutchat

— Aaron Lumnah (@aaronlumnah) January 27, 2016

A6: brand loyalty. Easier to build traffic than improve conversions. Go 4 conversion rate first. #sproutchat https://t.co/41JManV2yt

— Princess Geek (@TechnoGuidess) January 27, 2016

A6 When prospecting the funnel is wide and you want to reach large group, changes as funnel tightens… #sproutchat

— Derek Pillie (@dpillie) January 27, 2016

A6: Small group = quality. Would way rather have loyal followers than an audience that will potentially only like one post! #SproutChat

— Mary Mangione (@marymangione) January 27, 2016

Navigate Facebook’s Newsfeed

Edgerank, Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm, is an impossible nut to crack. Circumvent the noise by organically targeting your posts or putting paid promotional dollars behind them. While paying will often provide the best results, it doesn’t mean you need to blow an entire year’s budget on Facebook. Amplify audience targeting by creating a Facebook Group focused on a topic that’s important to your existing community. Encourage existing followers to join and use the group as a space to distribute content, increase social media engagement and grow your brand.

A5: Yes, but there's no "magic formula". Each business (to be most effective) should have a mix of organic, targeted, paid, etc. #sproutchat

— Northcutt (@northcuttHQ) January 27, 2016

Q5) Paid FB targeting is very effective. ie. We target visitors to our website's Admission pages w/ ads about admission events. #SproutChat

— Josh Schweigert (@joshschweigert) January 27, 2016

A5: Because of the change in algorithms, organic reach has diminished over the years. I think targeting is almost necessary. #SproutChat

— Mary Mangione (@marymangione) January 27, 2016

A5: Yes. #sproutchat

— Keith Hannon (@KeithHannon) January 27, 2016

A5) It's far more effective now than it used to be, IMO. #sproutchat

— Gary Taylor (@garytaylorceo) January 27, 2016

Make Key Connections on LinkedIn

Strategize and determine how LinkedIn can help your organization accomplish its broader goals. Target job postings to specific industries and users with a predetermined level of expertise. Or, use LinkedIn targeting to get valuable thought leadership and lead gen content in front of executives and individuals with specific titles.

A4: LinkeIn can be very useful. Here is a resource that I found for this: https://t.co/SyzxNKUmyO #SproutChat

— Wayne Hendry (@ideakid88) January 27, 2016

A4: The pace at which it allows you to grow a network of professionals, in the same OR different industries! #SproutChat

— Hannah Kovacs (@hkovs) January 27, 2016

A4: LinkedIn targeting can get the right message in front of exactly the right people, increasing the likelihood of action #sproutchat

— Aaron Lumnah (@aaronlumnah) January 27, 2016

Don’t Go Overboard

It’s important to remember not to go overboard. Testing brand messages through audience targeting doesn’t need to happen all at once. Make sure to include a healthy mix of targeted and generally distributed posts within your social strategy. Otherwise, you’ll run the risk of ignoring key prospects by assuming social profile info is always accurate.

A3: you get the masses but maybe not the outliers & it's the outliers that could be the most passionate about your brand #sproutchat

— Adam Bianco (@Adam_Bianco) January 27, 2016

A3) A potential negative during targeting is targeting the wrong audience or missing out on targeting the right one! #sproutchat

— Jenna Chaffee (@JennaChaffee) January 27, 2016

A3: The biggest negative is that you might miss out on an audience, but targeting is really about conversion rate & efficiency #sproutchat

— Northcutt (@northcuttHQ) January 27, 2016

A3: Mismatching content to target is a common mistake. That's why it's helpful to test organic before you implement paid #sproutchat

— Sarah Reece (@SarahTheAdGirl) January 27, 2016

A3b also being afraid to pull the plug and have a backup plan if getting the wrong reactions. #sproutchat

— Terry Lo (@calgarydreamer) January 27, 2016

A3. You also can miss out on alternate uses for your product/service if you aren't looking big enough picture and listening #sproutchat

— Chris Desadoy (@EliteYouTubePro) January 27, 2016

A3 When targeting goes wrong… #Sproutchat http://pic.twitter.com/zjwr6uceu5

— Kapil (@KapilJekishan) January 27, 2016

Tune in next week when we discuss turning your passion in your livelihood with special guest Adam Bianco. Check out what he’s accomplished this through @OhioStFootball and SportsFoodie. Be sure to join our Facebook community to never miss a beat!

This post #SproutChat Recap: Audience Targeting originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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#EmailChat Recap: Email Testing 101

“Test, test, test!” – Every email marketer ever

Split testing is one of the best ways to make improvements to your email campaigns… yet only a small percentage of email marketers are doing so consistently. What gives?

Testing doesn’t have to be complicated, costly or time-consuming. Just ask the AWeber community, who shared their tips for painless email testing in yesterday’s #emailchat.

Here are seven rules to keep in mind for running a successful split test of your own:

1. Looking to improve your campaigns? Testing is non-negotiable.

• You’ll discover if the type of content you’re sending is working, or if you need to switch gears – @KristenWritesIt

• With all the tools we have to create more relevant emails, testing informs us which combination of them works best – @stephanhov

• Testing is a low-risk way to determine if something is right for your email marketing strategy without the commitment. – @oliviadello

2. “If you’re not sure, test!”

• If I’m having trouble making a decision about a subject line, content length, etc., that usually inspires a new test! – @missmontesa

• Always testing new things! You never know what your subscribers like, until you test it. – @litmusapp

• You can test anything, as long as there’s a business decision behind it. I’d rather test things that grow engagement. – @stephanhov

3. But only test one thing at a time.

• You should test one thing at a time in your email—it will help you draw conclusive results. – @litmusapp

• Testing just 1 thing at a time will help you pinpoint exactly what worked & what didn’t. – @KristenWritesIt

• In most cases, you should only test one thing at a time. (That’s why it’s called an A/B test.) – @oliviadello

4. The longer the test, the more accurate the results.

• Definitely depends on the sample size. The longer you test the higher the confidence. – @tnrt

• The more time, the more data. – @oliviadello

• For subject line tests, I wait up to a week before declaring a winner. – @KristenWritesIt

5. Your results will reveal opportunities to test further.

• As @KristenWritesIt mentioned, there’s ALWAYS room for improvement. Use your results to determine your next test! –@oliviadello

• Sorry to link drop but I have a step-by-step testing process here http://bit.ly/1mAxk0C  – @stephanhov

6. Email copy is an easy thing to test.

• I love testing subject lines and seeing how little changes impact open rates! – @missmontesa

• Video vs. non-video, different images, CTA copy (action words vs. non-action) – @KristenWritesIt

• CTA above or below the product – @TheChuabacca

7. But don’t be afraid to think beyond the subject line.

• Think beyond the subject line! Test things like frequency, timing, text v. HTML, personalization, etc. – @oliviadello

• Split test today…are my sub’s more likely to click on a text link to my blog post, or a button? – @stephanhov

• Test your CTA copy – a few ideas in this post: http://bit.ly/22bgYeK – @KristenWritesIt

And that’s a wrap.

Join us next Thursday, February 4 for the next #emailchat. The topic? Email automation.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (@AWeber) to stay up-to-date with the latest news, events and more.

The post #EmailChat Recap: Email Testing 101 appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

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Time-Saving Email Marketing Tips to Take Back Your Day

Strapped for time? Feeling frazzled? Wondering if you’ll even have time make it to the end of this blog post? (It’s ok if you don’t, you won’t hurt my feelings.)

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re the perfect candidate for email marketing. Email helps you make meaningful connections with your tribe using very little time.

It sounds like a catch-22, doesn’t it? It’s not – as long as you’re spending your time wisely. But that doesn’t always happen.

Try these time-saving email marketing tips the next time you find yourself wondering, “Where the heck did my day go?!”

Spending too much time creating content? Try…

Email automation

According to this survey, email marketers spend the bulk of their time on content. It makes sense, right? Great content helps you grow and connect with your audience.

But many marketers are spending too much time creating content. I get it. It’s hard to come up with original content on a regular basis, never mind finding the time to sit down and compose an email or *shudder* an entire series of them.

That’s why email automation exists. With email automation, you can take content you already have and turn it into a welcome series or email course. You can even link multiple email campaigns together. That way, you’re not creating a ton of new content. You’re simply organizing your existing content into shorter, digestible emails that keep your subscribers engaged over time.

Try these email automation ideas:

• Welcome campaign
• Email course
• Linked campaigns

Curated content

Curating content positions you as a thought-leader and saves you time. Here’s how to create a curated email newsletter:

• Bookmark articles with your subscribers in mind. What kind of news will keep them in-the-know?
• Make a short list of the most interesting and relevant articles in your newsfeed (three to five is a good number to aim for).
• Add those articles to a newsletter and add a short description about why people should read them.

Check out this post to learn more about curated content.

Spending too much time trying to grow your list? Try…

Wishpond

Growing your subscriber list is one of the biggest challenges an email marketer can have. It’s also a huge time-suck, especially when it comes to researching all the tools you need to create pop-up forms, landing pages and more.

Lucky for you, Wishpond has all of those tools in one place. It’s a platform where you can create Facebook contests, pop-up forms, landing pages and easily track your campaigns within the app. If you’re an AWeber customer, you can connect Wishpond to your AWeber account. Check it out!

A mobile sign up form app

You never know when you’ll meet a potential subscriber. Why not be prepared with an easy way to add people to your list, right in your pocket? A mobile app, like AWeber’s Atom app, lets you add new subscribers anytime, anywhere.

Facebook

There are lots of little ways Facebook can help grow your list fast. Try linking Facebook’s call-to-action button to your hosted sign up form or landing page. Add a sign up form to your Facebook page. Once you have those in place, promote your premium content on Facebook and let people know that if they want to see more, they can sign up for your list.

A hosted sign up form

Does the thought of creating a sign up form and adding it to your website make you break into a cold sweat? It shouldn’t – and it’s super easy to do, I promise. But there is another way: the hosted sign up form. You can create one in five minutes or less, then share it everywhere.

Spending too much time managing your subscribers? Try…

Kickbox

A massive subscriber list can only help you when those subscribers are engaged. Unfortunately, a lot of people avoid purging their list of inactive subscribers simply because list clean-up can be time-consuming.

Enter Kickbox, a tool that lets you easily check up on your list’s health and clean it up in minutes. As a result, you get better deliverability and a more active list. Check it out.

Salesforce

Want to know which of your Salesforce contacts are subscribed to your email lists? The Salesforce app integration will tell you! Learn more about keeping tabs on your contacts with the Salesforce app.

Segmenting

If you have multiple email campaigns (for customers and prospects, for example), sending the right content to the right people can get tricky. Plus, you always want to make sure you’re sending relevant content to your subscribers.

Segmenting your list based on specific subscriber interests lets you quickly and easily send relevant content to your audience. That means you can send an email only to your prospects who didn’t click through to buy your ebook in your last email. Or message those who did with another ebook they might like.

Take back your time today!

Email marketing is designed to make your life easier. Use these solutions any time you feel like time isn’t on your side.

Want to get an even better handle on managing your time? Check out these five time-tracking tools.

How do you save time with email marketing? Tell us in the comments!

The post Time-Saving Email Marketing Tips to Take Back Your Day appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

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How Threddies Uses Email Marketing to Connect with Crafters and DIYers

As Elana Donmoyer slowly rolled her collection of handmade clothing and accessories around the parking lot of a Phish concert over a decade ago, she never thought her humble efforts to fund her trips to watch her favorite band would someday transform into a business that would help support her family.

As a crafter and DIYer back then, Elana saw other crafters struggling to find hair accessories in the right colors and quantities.

“Folks were buying basic styles at the drugstore or supermarket and adding on to them,” she said. “But there was no source for these basics by-the-color. If you wanted 50 pink elastic headbands, you’d have to buy assorted packs and pull the pink ones out.”

Elana saw an opportunity, and with $500 and a lot of hard work and bootstrapping, Threddies.com was born.

Threddies offers an extensive in-stock inventory of basic and fashion hair accessories in a huge selection of colors.

With a background in retail, launching Threddies just made sense for Elana.

“I am fortunate to have been raised in retail, wholesale and apparel manufacturing, so I knew what to do once I had the concrete vision,” she said.

When it came to growing her new business, she knew selling from a rolling rack in a concert parking lot wasn’t realistic in the long run. So she started a retail and wholesale website and began selling to crafters and DIYers all around the world.

She also understood the value of email marketing and started building an email list early on (high five, Elana!).

4 email marketing lessons from Threddies

Here are four lessons Elana and her husband Jason (who’s also AWeber’s very own Android Developer) have learned since using email marketing to grow her business (and how you can make them work for you):

Take advantage of every opportunity to build your list.

Most of Elana’s subscribers have come organically from her website and word-of-mouth. But recently she’s found great success using AWeber’s Atom mobile app to add subscribers on the go at trade shows, fairs, festivals and bazaars (take that, pen and paper!).

Pro tip: Download the Atom mobile app and customize the design to match your brand or business.

Be genuine in your emails.

When Elana first started email marketing, she found that she was trying to sound a bit too buttoned-up in her emails. Over time, she’s learned to lighten up her tone and be more conversational.

“Be genuine,” Elana said. “We’ve found that people respond best when you’re being yourself – a bit candid, with some humor. Nobody likes boring, dry content!”

Pro tip: When writing your emails, remember that you’re speaking to a person, not an email address. Write as though you’re talking to a close friend. You’re also speaking to one person, not making a speech to a bazillion people at once, so get personal with your emails.

Deliver relevant, timely content.

Elana uses email marketing to keep Threddies top of mind with her subscribers. Although her core line of basic accessories doesn’t change very often, she does switch up fabrics, add new colors, and introduce new lines of fashion accessories, so she uses email marketing to make sure her subscribers are aware.

“Our customers like the periodic updates, but, of course, they like the sales the best! When it’s the end of the season and we’ve got inventory to move, email marketing is a great way to get the word out about special deals and make it happen.”

Pro tip: Understand what your subscribers want and deliver it. In Elana’s case, her subscribers love the seasonal sales she offers.

“Email marketing is also a great way to reward loyal customers with the occasional discount or private sale.”

Make time for email marketing.

As a mother and entrepreneur, Elana has to balance her time at home and in her business. But she doesn’t leave her time to chance. Instead, she makes sure to schedule in time for email marketing and other business to-dos.

“With so much to do to keep a business running, it’s easy to let these things go if you don’t specifically make time for them,” she said. “If you don’t make time for it, there never will be time for it.”

Elana has also found ways to squeeze in time when there isn’t a lot to go around.

“It’s all about stealing moments when you can – the mobile app has been hugely helpful for this,” she said. “Waiting in line at the grocery store, waiting for the kids to get off the bus. Five minutes here and there can really add up, if you use them wisely!”

Pro tip: Create an email editorial calendar to stay on track with your email marketing. If you’re crunched for time, use these tips to build your list and these tips to send quick emails today.

Big plans for 2016

With 2016 underway, Elana has big plans for growing Threddies this year.

“I plan to add more colors, sizes and fabrics to our line of in-stock basics, and to expand our popular private label program.”

As Elana grows her business, she’ll continue growing her subscriber list, too.

Whether you’re just getting started with email or you’ve hit a growth rut, fear not. Growing your subscriber list and your business doesn’t have to be scary. Check out our free, seven-day email course to learn simple organic list-boosting tips.

The post How Threddies Uses Email Marketing to Connect with Crafters and DIYers appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

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A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Twitter Video

Twitter is one of the most established social media platforms available to businesses today, which has created a lot of stiff competition. As a result, trying to differentiate yourself from the millions of other companies fighting for users’ attention is difficult. How do you stand out on a social network that has over 320 million monthly active users?

You could use Twitter ads, try Tweeting more frequently or do influencer outreach. However, there’s a solution that’s built right into Twitter’s mobile and desktop apps that you’re probably overlooking. We’re talking about Twitter Video.

Twitter Video gives you an opportunity to connect with your audience on a more personal level, tell better stories and create a richer experience. If you’ve been contemplating getting into video marketing, then Twitter Video could be the perfect starting point.

Why Twitter Video?

A better question is why not? Twitter users love video and this is especially true for those on mobile devices. In fact, 82% of users watch video content on Twitter. Not only that, but Tweets with video get more engagement.

• 2.5 times more replies
• 2.8 times more Retweets
• 1.9 times more favorites

What is Twitter Video?

Twitter Video allows you to create and share videos directly from the platform. You can either record videos using Twitter’s mobile app, or upload your own videos through Twitter.com or the iOS app.

Similar to Twitter’s 140 character limit, you also have a 30 second time limit for the length of your videos. This works in your favor because the longer a video is, the less of it a user will watch. More than 80% of users will watch a full video if it’s 30 seconds or less, which makes Twitter’s bite-size clips the perfect length to keep users engaged.

Getting started with Twitter Video is also very simple. Within the app, you just have to tap on the camera icon. Then, make sure you have the video recorder icon selected, not the camera.

All you have to do is hold the video button down to record. It will stop recording when you let go of the button. If you want to add more clips to the same video, just hold down the record button again.

You can drag-and-drop the pieces of your video to arrange the order. You can also tap and hold a specific piece and drag it up to delete it from the video altogether.

When you’re happy with the video, simply tap done and you’re ready to share. Make sure you preview your video before you Tweet it because you won’t have the ability to go back and edit it once you’ve completed the process.

If you have any issues adding videos to your Tweets, you can read through Twitter’s Help Center page.

Twitter Videos play directly in users’ timelines, so you don’t have to click a link to view them.

#BlizzardJonas getting started http://pic.twitter.com/Ykhdf1l3Sk

— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 22, 2016

Understanding how Twitter Video works is the first step. The next step is figuring out how to implement it into your marketing strategy to grow your brand and connect with your audience.

Replying To Tweets

If you want to make your replies more personal and custom, consider recording a video instead of the standard 140 characters of text. Video responses are more engaging, they stand out and a video allows you to put a face behind your brand.

The best part about Tweeting video responses is that so few businesses actually do it. Taking that extra step can give you an edge over your competitors. Just ask Gary Vaynerchuk.

We interrupt my normal stream of content for this important message http://pic.twitter.com/YzPbjGrMQQ

— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) January 20, 2016

The next time someone Tweets you with a question or comments about something you shared, try replying with a video.

Q&A Sessions

This tactic piggybacks off of the previous one, but takes social customer service to the next level. If your brand has some noteriety and you have a decent following, there’s a chance that people have questions to ask you. You could host a Q&A session on Twitter, similar to a Twitter Chat where you answer questions from the platform.

These have been around for a while now, but most brands only send standard text Tweets. Integrating Twitter Video is a way to spice things up and make the experience even more personal.

.@LoneVaultWander #AskGeoff http://pic.twitter.com/faUHdZgSli

— Twitter Gaming (@TwitterGaming) January 21, 2016

Twitter Gaming hosted a Q&A session for video game journalistGeoff Keighley. Using the hashtag #AskGeoff, users were able to Tweet their questions and Geoff replied using Twitter Video. The responses received hundreds of likes and Retweets and gave Geoff’s fans a special experience.

Capture Spontaneous Moments

Did something so unbelievable happen that the only way anyone would believe you is if you recorded it? When those moments happen, it’s the perfect opportunity to use Twitter Video.

Unplanned, interesting moments have the opportunity to go viral and attract media attention. Here’s a recent example.

NYC: Video of a cow running around in Queens earlier today on 164 St and Jamaica Ave. http://pic.twitter.com/c5ONO8u4RR

— NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) January 21, 2016

The video pictured above not only made a lot of noise on Twitter, but it also generated interest from news outlets.

Educational Videos

We live in the information age. People love content that educates and shows them how to do something new. Twitter Video is a great platform to provide valuable how-to content.

At first, 30 seconds may not seem like enough time to fully explain your topic, but that time constraint actually results in videos that are simplified, and therefore easier to follow.

Celebrate success the right way 🔑 #NationalCheeseLoversDay http://pic.twitter.com/J54Y6XS6gD

— Thrillist (@Thrillist) January 20, 2016

In honor of National Cheese Lovers Day, Thrillist put together a 25-second recipe video showing how to make grilled cheese pull apart bread. As you can see from the video, you can take a process that may take several minutes to complete and cut it down to under 30 seconds by focusing on the most important steps.

Think of something you can show your audience how to do within 30 seconds. Then, record a video and upload it to Twitter. Since the video editing features within Twitter aren’t very extensive, you’ll need to record and edit your video outside of the app and upload the finished product.

Teasers

Building up anticipation before you release a product or piece of content is one of the best promotional strategies you can implement. It gets people talking and builds up the buzz.

Since teasers are short, a 30-second video makes perfect sense.

New episode of This Week On Xbox drops tomorrow. I'll post the full version here here on Twitter. And your Xbox One. https://t.co/T0xz4hw3fx

— Larry Hryb (@majornelson) January 21, 2016

Microsoft’s Larry Hryb does a weekly YouTube segment called “This Week On Xbox” where he gives viewers insight into what’s new in the world of Xbox. The day before releasing the full video, Hryb posts a short teaser on Twitter to give his followers a sneak peek. These teasers start the conversation ahead of time and reminds users to check out the full video the next day.

You can use teasers for product launches, events, new content or anything else that you want to build hype around. In your video, give your audience just enough of a preview to get them excited for the release.

Jump On Trending Topics

When you send out a Tweet, most of the people who see it will be your followers. However, when you Tweet about a trending topic or hashtag, your Tweet can show up to millions of users who scroll through the Moments section of Twitter. Make your Tweets about trending topics are more engaging by using a video instead of just text or an image.

Paging @theACCDN with today's Lane Stadium entrance – exit light, enter white! #EnterSnowman ⛄️ #Blizzard2016 http://pic.twitter.com/P6dttuOUOA

— VT Football (@VT_Football) January 22, 2016

Videos really stand out in a sea of pictures and text. When #Blizzard2016 started trending on Twitter, Virginia Tech made a 12-second video showing the school’s football field covered in snow. Choosing to go with a video rather than just a picture created more engaging content and enticed users to check out the video as they scroll through the the list of Tweets.

Take a look at the topics that are trending on Twitter and come up with a creative idea to make a video based on what you find.

Entertain

Aside from staying in tune with what’s happening around the world, one of the main purposes of Twitter is entertainment. Apps like Vine, Instagram and Snapchat prove that video is one of the best ways to create entertaining content. As a result, we’re seeing a lot of major brands and influencers use Twitter Video to create non-traditional content for promotion and brand building.

always keep your crew fed #idolauditions http://pic.twitter.com/0XSKtJX3rl

— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) January 15, 2016

With the final season of America Idol gearing up, host Ryan Seacrest turned to Twitter to create a video that was funny and entertaining, rather than purely promotional.

With video, you don’t have to shove your products into the viewer’s face. Notice how the video didn’t tell you to watch the show, or even what date/time it aired. It was just an enjoyable clip that keeps American Idol in your mind, but doesn’t hard sell you.

Behind The Scenes Look

Giving users a look behind the curtains of your business is one of the best uses of video marketing in general. Twitter Video gives you an easier way to do it since all you have to do is hold down a button and record, then send out your Tweet. You don’t need expensive video equipment or professional lighting. Let your audience see what goes on behind the scenes with a raw video, and you’ll be able to start building brand loyalty.

last minute before my first appearance on stage #staracarabia http://pic.twitter.com/tNqhiJfixR

— CAROLE SAMAHA (@CAROLE_SAMAHA) January 15, 2016

Singer and songwriter Carole Samaha let her fans get a glimpse of what the last few seconds behind the stage look like before she steps out. Even though her audience can’t physically be there, it helps paint the picture of what the experience is like from her point of view.

Transparency is crucial if you want to build a tribe around your brand. Don’t be afraid to show your audience what goes on behind the scenes. It could be a clip of a team meeting, how you create products or other parts of your company that consumers normally wouldn’t get to see.

Twitter + Periscope

Twitter recently made a big move by adding better integration with Periscope. Periscope has quickly grown to be one of the biggest players in social video marketing. The app gives you the ability to live stream videos right from your phone. Up until now, if you were to Tweet your Periscope broadcast, users would see a link in their timeline that they’d have to click on. But now, Periscope broadcasts play directly inside Tweets for iOS users.

This could help Twitter video marketing significantly because Periscope is blazing hot right now. You’ll have the ability to bring your broadcasts to your Twitter audience and get very creative with your social media marketing efforts.

If you’re new to Periscope, check out our article filled with tips from broadcast pros.

Periscope broadcasts now come alive within Twitter https://t.co/R346R1lgZb

— Periscope (@periscopeco) January 12, 2016

Track What Works

While you’re producing all of these videos, don’t forget to keep track of what your audience responds to the most. You have a couple of options to track your stats.

First, you can use the Tweet Activity button in Twitter. It’s right below all of your Tweets.

This will show your video’s impressions, views and engagement.

For even more insight, you can use Sprout’s Sent Messages Report to quickly compare the stats of your Tweets against each other. This way you can easily see which Tweets perform the best.

Start Recording

Right now is the perfect time to take advantage of Twitter Video. Twitter is starting to focus heavily on video as you can see with the Periscope integration and their purchase of Vine back in 2012. And with the success of other video based social media apps, video marketing is only going to continue to explode. Become an early adopter and take advantage of everything Twitter Video has to offer.

This post A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Twitter Video originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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Are SEOs focusing on the wrong target?

I’ve spent a considerable amount of my life in the SEO world. But I’m here to say that our discipline is led by a false premise. We’re all chasing the wrong rabbit (or hog/unicorn/insert your favorite elusive animal here).

Take the term ‘SEO’, for instance. Search engine optimization is defined by Wikipedia as “the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s unpaid results, often referred to as ‘natural’, ‘organic’, or ‘earned’ results”. But I propose that the ultimate objective for SEO is not to get engines to recognize our relevance to a searcher’s query but to actually get our audience to value what we’re publishing and become loyal brand advocates.

To do this, search marketers must continue maturing into integrated digital marketing strategists who understand, and can act on, the key business objectives of your company.

We spend countless hours examining keywords, traffic volumes, recommended bids, but really what it comes down to is value to the user. And this practically means content – while content components (links, meta tags, length, readability, Open Graph markup, etc.) are important for relevance, they aren’t measured for value to the searcher. What value, you say? The value that our content provides to our audience – and, yes, I realize that value is difficult to measure quantitatively.

One small way SEO value can be represented is by social sharing metrics. It’s like the old word-of-mouth advertising – if someone likes our brand, they’ll tell someone else. Over the past few years, social factors have become an important correlation for ranking. But to be truly effective at building social presence, hence effectively execute SEO, it’s our content that must do the work.

It’s about content

I realize you’ve heard the mantra for years: content is king! But why is it king? Good content doesn’t rule because Google thinks it’s relevant. Content is king because it’s how we appeal to consumers.

I’m reminded of an SEO joke:

• Q: Why do SEO professionals date people based on personality instead of looks?
• A: They know better than anyone that search engines are blind and that content matters most.

Our content represents our personality; our page rankings represent our looks. This is the true reason content is king. SEO is always changing, but what doesn’t change is our need to deliver helpful, delightful, and rewarding content.

Data paralysis

Of course, SEO starts with data. Although we need data analysis to sharpen our focus, sometimes we just have to go for it. We can’t expect to hit it right on every keyword, so why are we spending so much timed deliberating over keywords?

Today, far beyond being a mere distraction, data and information overload are cited as being negatively impactful on humans and businesses. Reuters conducted a study titled Dying for information, in which 43% of respondents thought that decisions were delayed and otherwise adversely affected by “analysis paralysis” or the existence of too much information, 66% of respondents associated information overload with tension among colleagues and loss of job satisfaction and 42% attributed ill-health to this stress.

We are immersed in ‘big data’ all the time. So when is the right time to make a decision about our SEO campaigns? Maybe never, if we continue with over-analysis.

Adobe’s Digital Roadblock survey found that more than half of marketing leaders trust their gut when it comes to directing budgets, including SEO team budgets. Instead of following the data, they choose to move on gut instinct. What? After all that analysis? Well, actually that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes you’ve just got to take some risks.

Taking risks

One of the key takeaways was that digital marketers believe they should take more risks. Well, I think this applies to SEO teams.

Even if we can calculate a winning formula (boy, I wish I could have done that in the recent Powerball lottery!) we can’t know for certain what our markets will respond to. So take a risk and move forward. When all the analysis is done, we’re still left with the risk that our campaigns will not prove successful. We’ve got to get past the data paralysis and chart a direction for our campaigns.

Charting a direction

So, we’ve spent exhaustive hours poring over spreadsheets filled with keywords, data, URLs, and projections and yet we find ourselves at a loss to explain to our brand leaders why our SEO campaigns aren’t scoring well, despite the SEO team’s commendable optimization efforts.

Poor results are likely not due to selecting the most appropriate keywords, they’re due to the fact that we aren’t clearly focused on the individuals interested in what we have to offer. Remember, we all act in more than one capacity. We are workers, lovers, friends, coaches, volunteers. Our multi-faceted existence represents us as a whole. It’s that whole person who represents our target, not Google.

Therefore, SEO leaders should spend more time focusing on the overall campaign strategy, getting alignment with business objectives, and thinking about what improving the customer’s experience really means to their organization.

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How to Create an Instagram Marketing Strategy

Meet Team Sprout: Alex C., Software Engineer

Here at Sprout, we put a strong emphasis on helping employees grow: as new professionals, as managers and as part of the team. It’s particularly rewarding to see the growth of team members for whom Sprout is their first job out of college.

Alex Camargo, a Software Engineer on Sprout’s Platform Team, graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2014 and started working at Sprout shortly after. He is a member of the Infrastructure Squad, which makes tools to help other developers work better and faster.

As we look forward to hiring more college students for software engineering roles and internships this summer, I thought it would be helpful to share Alex’s reflections on the transition process from college to his career at Sprout. In this Meet Team Sprout interview, he talks about the experiences that best prepared him for his current role, explains how he’s grown and offers advice to future software engineers.

Name: Alex Camargo
Department: Engineering
Started at Sprout: September 30, 2014

How did you develop an interest in engineering?

My high school was unique in that it offered a good amount of computer science courses. I took one sophomore year and I really liked it—it didn’t even feel like work. When I was thinking about college my senior year, I looked back and thought about what I enjoyed doing the most. That was it. So I went to the University of Illinois for computer science.

Was there a particular course that best prepared you for your work at Sprout?

There was one, CS242, that prepared me the most for what I’m doing now. We wrote a ton of code, tried different languages and worked on a bunch of projects. It wasn’t focused on something like, “What’s the math behind this algorithm?” Instead, the course revolved around things like, “How do you write good software and explain it to other people?”

Every week we would present our work to the rest of the class and get feedback so we could improve. That’s exactly what we do at Sprout.

When you were looking for post-graduate jobs, what stood out to you about Sprout?

When I was looking for a job, I considered tiny startups and giant companies. They each had their tradeoffs. I wanted to choose a place where I felt like I’d learn the most from smart, friendly people. I researched Sprout and saw that it had been named one of the best places to work for people in their 20s, and it seemed like a young and exciting company.

Working at Sprout has been even better than I thought it would be. Everyone cares about their job and wants to do things the right way. You don’t want to just hack out a bunch of code and submit it. The problems we tackle at Sprout are more exciting than that.

Once you joined the team, were there any resources at Sprout that helped you transition from college into a full-time engineering job?

Yes! I was paired with a mentor, he was a Senior Platform Engineer. I was surprised—I looked at my calendar and they’d scheduled us for a meeting every morning for an hour. Every day, he’d give me feedback. We’d go over what I had worked on or the next part of a project. He had been at Sprout for a long time and had written a lot of the code, so that was a big help.

On the engineering team, we work in squads. I’m on the Infrastructure Squad, and it’s very collaborative—you get feedback and opinions from team members with different experiences and areas of focus. For example, one person might have a big focus on initial design and requirements, and someone else might focus on testing. Hearing those different perspectives is huge, especially as someone who recently graduated from college.

Before you started here, were you familiar with Sprout’s programming languages beyond Java?

Yeah, I got lucky. Right before I joined I did some work for a nonprofit. Their website hadn’t been completed by the group before and they had trouble taking in payments. It was the same technology we use here, Python and Django. I picked it up and learned a little more Python, made some improvements, got it to work, and that was really helpful, especially when they asked about those languages in my Sprout interview!

How have you grown in your time at Sprout?

Personally, it’s a lot easier to know when to ask questions now. Knowing when to stop and ask for help, when to Google a question or when to try and work on something yourself is important.

Working at Sprout is like learning how to walk with professional software. These are hard problems; it’s not like an assignment in college–there are no guidelines that someone gives you. It’s not that difficult to write some code in Java and get something to work, but once you put it in production it handles all these different inputs. Making your code production-ready and having it run on a server 24 hours a day is something entirely different.

So far, what has been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on at Sprout?

Probably my first project. I thought I was going to be doing a small project, but instead I jumped right into the main code base and wrote something useful with my mentor. That was the project I learned the most on. We worked on it for a couple months. It was writing a new way for us to get data from Cassandra–our main database. It was a good, wide-ranging project.

Since I worked on it with my mentor from start to finish, it was a good way to learn how to approach a project: how to start a project, what you need to think about ahead of time, etc. It had to be running 24/7 and handle all of the traffic that we get. We did the deployment for it and taught other people how to use it. It was like a crash course in Sprout.

Now you interview candidates—speaking to prospective interns and college hires. What characteristics do you look for?

When we interview college students, one of the big things we look for is whether they’re enthusiastic and they like doing what they do. You see a lot of those characteristics from their side projects. Do they enjoy coding, do they do this in their spare time?

It’s also important that they can explain their thought process step-by-step, because this translates well to when they work on a team with them. It doesn’t help if someone just puts a solution on the board: I need to know how they got there and that they can explain why they did. They also need to be able to learn quickly on the job, and taking feedback is an important part of that.

If you were to give advice to a college student who wants to become a software engineer, what would you tell them?

Just be enthusiastic to learn. Be curious. Have side projects. It’s through side projects that you learn what type of work you want to do: if you like working on the back end or front end—there’s a big difference between the two. You learn what types of technologies you like working with, too.

Speaking of side projects, what do you like to do outside of the office?

Combat sports. I’ve done Brazilian jiu jitsu and boxing. Right now I’m doing muay thai and kickboxing.

I like to read, too. Right now I’m reading “Rise of the Robots” which is about how automation is going to affect everything in society and change education. Since that’s a field I work in, I like seeing the trends and where it’s going.

How would one of your best friends describe you?

Probably adventurous, easygoing and dependable.

Do you have a bucket list? What would be the top item on your bucket list?

When I studied abroad, I got to travel around Spain a lot and stay in hostels. I did running with the bulls, and we met a lot of travelers. That made me want to take a few months and backpack across Europe.

You never know exactly what you’re going to find while traveling but I’ve found that it’s usually a good surprise.

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If you’re a current college student, learn more about Sprout Social’s college hiring program and past interns, and see all open roles for engineering internships and full-time positions on our careers page.

This post Meet Team Sprout: Alex C., Software Engineer originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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14 most important SEO tasks in order of priority

SEO can be overwhelming for any number of reasons.

Between local considerations, seeding the right content in the right places, and various other on-page and off-page factors, it’s tough to know where to begin even when it comes to basic SEO essentials.

What makes things even more difficult is that you can’t just start anywhere and chip away at your work. If you want to see the most success, it’s important to prioritize the SEO tasks correctly.

Although it’s not always publicized, prioritizing SEO tasks is actually one of the things we see companies’ mess up most often. If you do certain SEO tasks out of order, you’re going to spend a lot of time and use up most of your resources to finally meet your goals.

In some worst-case scenarios you actually won’t be able to meet those goals because you started with something advanced and skipped the basics (without even knowing it!)

Although there isn’t an exact order to follow, it does help to split up the most common SEO tasks into categories, starting with the highest priority first…

#1 SEO priorities

Identify and remove duplicate content.

Nothing kills a website faster than duplicate content issues. It’s confusing for Google bots so you won’t get any good visibility, and even if readers did somehow make it to your website, duplicate content is seen as spammy. Get rid of this immediately so you can start with a clean slate.

Check navigation and UX factors.

You have to make sure your website is easy to navigate and everything is cohesive. This has to do with the architecture and design. If you send people to a website that is confusing, it’s far too easy to click-away.

Make sure you have a responsive design.

In the past this may not have been such a priority, but mobile compatibility is crucial. According to Google, more searches now take place on mobile than on desktop, so you have to make sure your site looks good on the small screen. The biggest and most basic way to do this is through a responsive design.

As you may have noticed, all of your top priorities for SEO have to do with on-page tasks. Keep this is mind if more ideas pop-up in the future. You don’t want to be sending traffic to an unfinished or poorly optimized website because that traffic will immediately click away (and likely never return), so this is a crucial step to understand.

#2 SEO priorities

Setup Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools.

Although you may not use it right away, getting setup with these tools is crucial to being indexed quickly and accurately. It can help solidify your website as real.

Make sure you’re being indexed.

You have to double check that Google is indexing your site, meaning they’re crawling your website and you’re therefore showing up in SERPs. To check this, visit your Google Webmaster Tools account and click the ‘Google Index’ tab to see the total number of pages Google has indexed. Make sure it seems right!

Complete preliminary keyword research.

Understanding which keywords you want to target can help you learn a lot about SEO if you’re unfamiliar, but it also sets the stage for many of the other items in the next three sections (content creation and back linking, most notably).

Create local search accounts.

The sooner you can setup local search accounts the better. This is definitely more of a priority if you have a local business looking to attract local customers, but it’s so easy to do, that every type of company should get involved as soon as possible.

Start creating quality content frequently.

You want to be consistently putting out great content. This not only gives you more options for Google to index your website, but it helps show credibility and gives readers a way to engage. Start getting a good rhythm going with high quality articles. That’s all you need to do at first.

#3 SEO priorities

Create audience personas and get creative with your content.

Once you have a good content team and schedule in place, you can start to really bring your content to the next level. This involves creating personas to better understand your audience, writing on keywords/ topics that are trending, and getting more advanced with infographics, interviews, video, and more.

Create relationships with influencers.

You want to start getting your name out there in your niche community. This is how you will eventually earn natural links and hopefully get some great social shares out of the relationships.

Edit your title tags.

As you published content you likely wrote whatever headline you wanted, which is fine at first, but eventually you should go back and optimize your title tags. This will help you categorize your pages and make sure that you’re sending the right people to the right pages. Visit this article to learn more about title tags.

#4 SEO priority

Start working to build backlinks.

It usually surprises people that this would be so far down on the list, but remember that SEO is not about backlinks—it’s about readers. Focus on creating relationships, quality content, and understanding your audience first.

Utilize SEO tools.

There are many different SEO tools out there that can help you with different aspects of your SEO (usually best used for data). This is a priority #4 because which tools you want to use and for what reasons can get tricky, so it’s best to focus on this after you have the basics down.

#5 SEO priority

Follow SEO industry news and blogs.

This is incredibly important, but following the latest news and SEO blogs can be a little bit overwhelming if you’re a beginner. That’s why hearing about the latest and greatest new tactics is probably better handled after you’ve been in the trenches with all of the items in the last four categories.

The takeaway

Of course this is not an extensive list. There are hundreds of little things you can do to improve the SEO of your website, but above are some of the biggest and most important tasks. What needs to be done will also depend on your company – industry, size, goals, etc. – but this is a great place to start. In the meantime, let us know what you would change or what you would add to the list in the comment section below.

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[Podcast] Episode 007: What do I write in my emails?

Welcome back to another episode of the Ask Me About Email Marketing podcast, the show where we’re talking about all things email marketing and no questions are off limits.

This has been quite the week! First, I was snowed in over the weekend, leading into Monday. (Check out the “Dude, Where’s My Car” moment that I had on Sunday morning.) Typically, we try to record and wrap up episodes on Monday for a Tuesday release, but unfortunately I was stuck at home.

Of course while trapped inside, my two kids managed to get sick and then passed that bug on to me. But the show must go on!

Today’s episode answers a question we receive quite frequently: “What do I write in my emails?”

Listen to my response below:

Our answer to this question comes in the form of a new 7-day email course: What to Write in Your Emails.

In addition to the course lessons, you’ll receive 20+ email content templates that you can customize with your own content. These templates will help you overcome that inevitable writer’s block!

We’ve been running this course for a few weeks, and so far the team has received some great feedback from participants.

Want to check out a sample of the course? Check out this blog post.

Ready to dive right in: Sign up for free here.

Want to be on the show? Here’s how you can participate:

• Use the widget below to record and send us a question about email marketing.
• We’ll select a question from the submission pool and track down one of our in-house email marketing experts to provide an answer.
• We’ll record their response, package it up with your question and release it as a new podcast episode each week. Plus, each episode will include bonus resources to help you level up your email marketing.

There are so many topics to explore in email marketing. So if you’re struggling with design, content, analytics or just getting started, leave us a message with a specific question and we’ll start answering!

A few notes on submitting:

• Introduce yourself, and your business/email marketing venture. Please don’t share any spammy URLs.
• Keep your question brief. Anywhere between 60-90 seconds would be ideal. Two-part questions are okay, too!
• Keep it clean. We won’t accept any submissions with disrespectful or vulgar language.

If we select your questions, we’ll air it. By submitting a question, you are agreeing to allow us to use your full, submitted audio clip on our podcast and in marketing the podcast and AWeber.

Ready to ask a question? Click the green button below!

The post [Podcast] Episode 007: What do I write in my emails? appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

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Get ready to have your doctor ask about your social media use

If you’re having trouble sleeping, it might be because you use social media too much during the day, according to a University of Pittsburgh study backed by the National Institutes of Health. The study of 1,788 US adults aged 19 through 32 used a questionnaire to understand sleep disturbance versus social media use across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and LinkedIn. Almost 30 percent of the participants had high levels of sleep disturbance, with those who most obsessively checked social media sites experiencing the worst sleep, followed by those who spent the most overall time on social platforms. The lead author of…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Highbrow’s Quick, Educational Automation

The ultimate guide to creating the perfect social media calendar

Social media is hard! And building an audience even harder! Hard does not mean impossible and it certainly doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have fun along the way nor try and make the process as painless as possible. That’s where a social media calendar comes in… I know you weren’t expecting that! Well ok maybe it’s not the answer to everything, but it can certainly help you get a better handle on things and remove some of the stress from sharing. We’ve shared ways to develop your sharing schedule and I’d like to build on that article to focus here on creating…

This story continues at The Next Web

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10 Tips to Provide the Absolute Best Twitter Customer Service

Have you ever spent half an hour on hold trying to contact your cable company? Or maybe you’ve waited for days to get a response to an email you sent the customer service department of an online store to check the status of your order. These situations happen every day and it leaves customers feeling ignored, powerless and frustrated. However, thanks to the connectivity created by social media, customer service has changed drastically. The days of the voiceless customer are over.

Instead of privately contacting businesses, consumers are turning to Twitter to voice their issues publicly. As a result, social customer service needs to be a top priority for your business. Here are some powerful stats that show how important it is to service your customers on Twitter.

• 67% of consumers have used a company’s social media site for servicing.
• 33% of users prefer to contact brands through social media rather than by phone.
• Social customer care costs an average of $1 per interaction, compared to $6 per phone call and $2.50-$5.00 per email.
• 45% of customers share negative reviews on social media, while only 30% share positive reviews.
• 67% of companies believe social customer service is the most pressing short-term priority for contact centers.

In addition to all of this, Twitter is a public platform. That means that when you deliver excellent support, other users will be able to see it. Being known for your customer service can give you an edge up on your competitors. Zendesk found that 40% of customers start purchasing from a competitor because of their reputation for providing superior customers service.

Don’t lose out on business because of poor or non-existent customer support on Twitter. Follow these 10 tips to power up your Twitter customer service:

1. Setup an Infrastructure

Your first step is setting up your Twitter support infrastructure. Tweeting back and forth with multiple customers can become messy very quickly. The last thing you want to happen is for someone to Tweet you following up with a question they asked two days ago, and you have no idea who they are or who they spoke with.

The native desktop and mobile Twitter apps are perfectly fine for casual users. But as a business, you should use a Twitter Dashboard. Sprout’s dashboard gives you everything you need to setup and manage your social customer support. You can invite team members, track conversations, make notes and get data to measure how your support team is doing.

The other part of your setup is deciding if you want to make a separate Twitter Handle strictly for support.

Having a dedicated customer support Twitter Handle can prevent your Twitter feed from being filled with conversations about customer issues and complaints. This strategy is particularly common for software companies and corporations that get a large volume of customer support related Tweets.

2. Don’t Ignore Negative Feedback

As tempting as it is, tuning out negative feedback about your company is bad for business. Oftentimes, negative feedback gives you insight on ways to improve your business. But more importantly, ignoring customers who Tweet you can add onto their frustration.

Use negative feedback as an opportunity to correct problems and regain customers. Twitter examined the customer relations between airlines and their passengers on its site. Among many eye-opening stats, Twitter found users who received a reply back from an airline were more satisfied with their service experience.

The study also found passengers who received a reply to their Tweets were willing to pay almost $9 more for the airline in the future.

The next time an unhappy customer Tweets your company, take the time to reply and resolve their issue. They’ll appreciate the gesture and it could help increase your revenue in the long run.

3. Know When to Take The Conversation Off Twitter

Twitter is great for getting the conversation started. But when an issue starts to get too complex, move the conversation to email or your support system. Remember, Twitter only has a 140 character limit. It can be difficult to go back and forth troubleshooting an issue with that cap.

If you aren’t able to resolve an issue within a few Tweets, ask the customer to DM you with their email address or direct them to your online support system if you have one. Just make sure you give them a reference number so your support team knows who they are once the conversation goes off of Twitter. Forcing customers to explain their issue from the start can get frustrating, and you want to make the process as simple as possible.

Due to the increased use of Twitter for support issues, Sprout integrates with Zendesk and Uservoice to make the process of transitioning customers from Twitter to your support system smooth and seamless.

4. Don’t Give Out Private Information

Even though your Tweets are only meant for the customer, anybody can read them. With Twitter, it’s easy to forget the privacy and security protocol your business set for phone and email support. However, slipping up and releasing private information or asking customers for private information over Twitter can cause a lot of issues.

Here are some things you should never publicly ask a customer for on Twitter:

• Email address
• Phone number
• Username
• Password
• Address
• Billing information
• Specific items they’ve purchased from you

If you ever need any sensitive information from a customer, ask for it through phone support or other private platforms, not Twitter.

5. Initial Your Tweets

If you have multiple employees handling your Twitter customer support, you need a way to track who is responding to each Tweet. It creates accountability and allows you to stay organized. The simplest way to do this is by having employees end their Tweets with their initials when they interact with customers.

Sprout’s built-in social media CRM features make it even easier to track your team members’ interactions with customers. When a user Tweets your company with a question or concern, you can assign the Tweet to a specific member of your team. That way you know who’s in charge of replying and resolving the issue.

6. Respond Quickly

Response time is one of the most important metrics for Twitter customer service. In the airline study mentioned earlier, Twitter found the quicker an airline responded to a user’s Tweet, the more money the users were willing to spend. When an airline responded to a customer’s Tweet in under six minutes, the customer was willing to pay almost $20 more.

A separate study found 53% of users expect businesses to reply to their Tweets in less than an hour.

You can check how long it takes you to respond to Tweets within the Sprout dashboard in the engagement report, which shows both your response time and rate. With this data, you’ll be able to track your improvements and put measures in place to boost your numbers.

One of the best ways to improve your response rate and time is to monitor your brand mentions, which we’ll talk about next.

7. Track Brand Mentions

It’s hard to provide customer service on social media if you don’t have a way of monitoring when your brand is mentioned. For a lot of businesses, monitoring brand mentions on Twitter begins and ends with checking their notifications. However, Twitter notifications only give you part of the picture.

We went into great detail on how to track Twitter mentions in a previous post. Here are some key takeaways:

• Track @mentions, #hashtags and mentions of your company name.
• Search for common misspellings of your company name.
• Make sure you have Twitter notifications enabled for both the mobile and desktop apps.
• Save the top queries containing your brand in Sprout to get real time updates of brand mentions.

8. Be Human

TD Bank’s Bank Human Again initiative demonstrates the importance of humanizing customer service. We’ve seen what happens when companies attempt to automate Twitter customer support, and the results aren’t pretty.

Robots and automated systems are expected for phone support, but with social media, it’s an entirely different story. The appeal of turning to Twitter instead of traditional customer service avenues is that you can get a quicker response from a person. There’s no “press zero to speak to a representative.”

Twitter is the perfect platform to be more personable with your support. You don’t have to be quite as formal with your Tweets as you would be in an email. The environment is much more casual and your interactions are conversational. Obviously you want to maintain a level of professionalism, but the way you reply to customer support related Tweets should align with your brand’s voice and persona on social media.

@EfferentMedia Hi there! No issues reported on our end, what are you seeing? Response time is based on your user setting

— Sprout Social (@SproutSocial) January 19, 2016

9. Get to Know Your Customers

Have you ever walked into a store and had an employee greet you by your first name? Or maybe you’ve gone to a coffee shop and the barista asks if you want your usual. It makes you feel like they care about you, which ultimately provides a more personalized experience. You can do the exact same thing for your customers on Twitter.

Sprout has a built-in feature that makes this process much easier. You can add notes to any Twitter user you interact with, and share those notes among your entire team. Being able to quickly check your prior conversations or special notes/preferences for a user allows you to provide a personal level of service.

10. Go The Extra Mile

Resolving a customer’s issue doesn’t have to be the last time you interact with them. Look for opportunities to go the extra mile with your support. Whether it’s sending out a birthday wish, Retweeting their Tweets or even offering a free product occasionally, doing a little bit extra shows customers that you appreciate them.

You can add customers you’ve helped in the past to different Twitter lists or add notes to their accounts within Sprout. This will make it much easier to track your history with them and deliver top notch service.

@m_rose16 💜 💗 http://pic.twitter.com/AwNPj4cjCL

— Zappos (@zappos) January 19, 2016

In today’s social media driven world, you cannot solely rely on traditional customer support avenues. Improve your brand image, give your customers better service and build your social following by making Twitter customer service a priority for your business.

How do you use Twitter to provide better customer support? Leave a comment and let us know!

This post 10 Tips to Provide the Absolute Best Twitter Customer Service originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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