Twitter is a great way for businesses to find and convert new customers right in their neighborhoods. And strong keywords are the fundamental element that make it happen. That’s why SocialCentiv, a Dallas company whose software-based marketing service helps small and mid-sized companies find new customers on Twitter, has improved its user interface to make it easier and more effective for its clients to use keywords to target customers at the moment they’re ready to buy.
SocialCentiv has also improved its keyword analytics – or the tool that tracks how well each keyword is performing – to help businesses better monitor how their campaigns are doing.
“Choosing the right combination of keywords is critical for a marketing campaign to succeed on this social platform,” said Bernard Perrine, SocialCentiv’s co-founder and CEO. “Because Twitter allows unparalleled insight into people’s sentiments at a given moment, marketers must research how consumers use Twitter and build their keyword assortment accordingly.”
How keywords work
Keywords are words or phrases that a SocialCentiv business client specifies – such as “coffee” or “pizza” – to find relevant Tweets. If a consumer Tweets that she’s hungry for pizza or craving coffee, for instance, the SocialCentiv business can follow up with a coupon for a discounted slice of pepperoni pie or free cup of coffee.
The trick, Perrine noted, is to remember that consumers use Twitter differently than, say, Google or YouTube.
“Twitter is a conversational platform. People Tweet as if they are talking to other people – which they are. This means marketers must choose keywords that reflect real conversations, rather than what people type in to search engines to find content they might be interested in.”
As one Twitter blog notes, a hypothetical company that sells baby clothes would probably come up empty if it used a keyword phrase such as “boy infant clothes.” The reason: That’s not how people Tweet.
Instead, the blog notes, some 8,000 Tweets weekly contain the phrase “it’s a boy.”
In a similar vein, Perrine added, effective marketing on Twitter requires monitoring the network for what people are talking about.
“That is called ‘social listening.’ By regularly searching key terms and phrases, a company can gain valuable insights into what is happening with its customers in real time. The goal, of course, is to take action when opportunities arise.”
The Twitter blog post noted that when people were debating online whether horses in the 2014 Belmont Stakes should be able to use nasal strips, the Breathe Right company pounced by Tweeting relevant responses to posts it found via keywords such as “Belmont” and “#HorseRace.”
“Breathe Right used keywords to make hay,” Perrine said. “That is why Twitter is such a powerful marketing tool.”
Key for keywords: research and analytics
Choosing the right keywords is a combination of art and science. But online tools can help make the research process easier and more effective. For example, TweetVolume (shows how often a given keyword appears, such as for health care-related Tweets) and Hashtags.org (searches for Tweets matching a given hashtag).
“Once the business owner has chosen the keywords he or she wants to use, it’s important to monitor them weekly to see how they’re performing,” Perrine explains. “After collecting enough data on the engagement each keyword is getting, SocialCentiv’s enhanced analytics make it easy to prune out words and phrases that aren’t working as well.
“Our tools also allow the marketer to evaluate each keyword’s performance after that, while adding in new ones as the conversation on Twitter evolves.”
Another trick that Twitter recommends is using keywords to circle back with consumers who have previously responded to Tweets that businesses have promoted to them. Targeting keywords on their timeline makes that process easy.
“If you know from experience that a given consumer is interested in your product, why not re-kindle the discussion when the time is right?” Perrine suggested.
The good news for marketers is that, by one account, Twitter has more than 230 million users, who send more than 500 million Tweets every day.
“The marketing opportunities that Twitter presents are unlimited,” Perrine said. “Keywords are the way businesses can take advantage of them.”
About SocialCentiv
In August 2014, HipLogiq integrated its portfolio of Twitter marketing applications under a single product line, SocialCentiv. Now, businesses can visit SocialCentiv.com and find a user-friendly, do-it-yourself Twitter marketing tool that makes it easy to create a campaign that tracks keywords and reaches relevant consumers with greater precision by targeting local Tweets. You can be part of the most relevant Tweets as they happen, spot opportunities first, and make a name for yourself with SocialCentiv.
Since May 2013, SocialCentiv has received $12M in two rounds of funding. For more information, go to www.SocialCentiv.com like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
For more information, contact Karen Carrera, TrizCom, 972-207-1935, karen@trizcom.com or @kjcarrera.
