Twitter is one of the oldest and most underestimated social media platforms with approximately 166 million daily active users.
Based on this massive increase in the number of users, it has been deduced that brands are presented with a pleasant opportunity to reach their customers or clients, and engage in trending and real-time conversations. This is where the word “influencer” comes in.
Although many consider an influencer as someone who wears attractive apparel to advertise and convince people about a product, when it comes to Twitter, it’s a different ball game. Especially since people tend to air their honest opinions without holding back.
In this article, we will be showing you how to become a successful Twitter influencer so you can rack up more brand deals.
Who is a Twitter Influencer?
In a simple definition, a Twitter influencer is anyone who can attract and convince their followers to engage in conversations around a specific topic, person, place, or thing.
Asides from increasing brand engagement, they can also influence their followers to change their behavioural patterns or even make a purchase. This happens because people value their perspective regarding a current matter.
On Twitter, influencers can either have a macro or micro following. The major difference between these Twitter influencers and other social media influencers is that Twitter is a real-time multi-blogging platform where news is released and in no time becomes viral.
What is Twitter Influencer Marketing?
Twitter influencer marketing occurs once you become a Twitter influencer. It means partnering with certain individuals or brands around your niche and creating brand-sponsored tweets to reach their target audience.
It is also convincing your followers about the benefits of a brand product and engaging them to make a purchase. In some cases, it could be used for PR. Here, a brand tries to create a strong positive presence online. So they hire an influencer to help make this possible.
Although twitter marketing takes on different approaches, it usually involves tweeting with hashtags, brand-name mentions, or referring to existing service reviews.
Seven Tips for Becoming a Successful Twitter Influencer
Do you have a Twitter account and hope to become an influencer with it? These are seven guaranteed ways to achieve this
1. Organically grow your Twitter followers
You don’t need to be desperate to have a huge following by buying an already existing account. As wise as this might look, people followed that account for a reason – which might be completely different from yours. There’s also the issue of bot followers.
This is why you should create your own personal account and share valuable content. Do this passionately and consistently so that it can drive people to follow you.
You also want to abide by Twitter rules and policies so your account doesn’t get suspended over time.
2. Stay up to date with trendy topics
We recommend tweeting about topics that receive high engagement under your niche to drive traffic to your profile. Sadly a lot of Twitter influencers just add trending keywords to unrelated posts. While this might work, it can be very tacky.
So instead, find posts and leave your two cents either as a comment or a quote. You can even start a thread giving your opinions on the subject at hand. Here are a few tips to find these trendy topics;
- Follow topics or influencers that talk on subjects around your field of interest. With this, you will have an idea about things that are happening currently and how to properly interact with the topic.
- Use the advanced “search” function to find trending topics that suit your niche in your location.
- Always monitor your Twitter analytics so you can identify the type of content bringing you the most engagement.
3. Choose a content niche
As an influencer, you shouldn’t be a jack of all trades. A niche is a specific field of interest that is not for everyone but a specific audience.
On Twitter, there are varieties of niches like sports, fashion, entertainment, and so on. The importance of niching as an influencer is that it builds your network in that industry and increases your brand recognition for that particular topic.
For example, when you think of Hack sultan, you immediately think about his influence in tech. For Aproko Doctor, you think about his health tips and associate him with the medical field. They’ve both become the go-to for opinions in their respective sectors.
So to choose a niche, you should:
- Sincerely ask yourself if you have a basic understanding of the niche, some problems you have observed within it, and the solution you intend to provide.
- Identify your target audience by drafting out what subjects you want to tweet and be ready to follow them if they haven’t followed you yet. This is because you need the right niche for your audience.
- If your sole aim is to get it monetized, thoroughly research to confirm the chances you have in that industry and how to achieve it.
4. Interact with other profiles
To become a successful Twitter influencer, you need to have meaningful interactions with others. That’s the only way they can give you the same.
Engage with other tweets especially those that are related to your niche. You can do this by dropping a respectful comment or retweeting the post if you agree with it. Not only will it help you build connections online, but it will also build your domain knowledge.
When others engage with your tweet, don’t hold back on replying. If you don’t, it can be misinterpreted that their views do not matter. Over time, engagement on your tweets will dwindle.
So, when you see a tweet that sparks a discussion in your comment section, you should also join the conversation by dropping your views. Or at best, leave a reply.
In some cases, there might be disagreements or conflicting opinions, you should endeavour to respond politely.
5. Optimize your profile
As a potential influencer, your profile should not look like a dumping ground for every view. Instead, it should represent you – or what you hope to be. People are generally attracted to value, so when they view your profile, what do they see?
Your bio is a starting point to introduce yourself. Have a short description of who you are and what you do. Add a fun, yet professional profile photo too so people can put a face to your views.
We also recommend adding your contact information, especially your email address or a link to your website so that brands can easily reach out to you.
6. Work on collaborative content
Collaborative content in this case means a partnership with other influencers or individuals. So if you’re a photographer, you can reach out to upcoming models to jointly showcase your work.
You can also reach out to small or upcoming brands to help them promote their products or services for free. When you do this, bigger brands will be attracted to what you do and they’d see the potential you have to offer to their business. In no time, you’d be earning as an influencer.
7. Maintain a balance in your content
Once you decide on your niche, your content should have a balance between educating and entertaining.
For example, when the trends within your niche are contrary to your perspective, don’t be afraid to share the reasons why you disagree with that tweet. It’ll educate someone. You can also engage in online banter and be humorous about it – that’s entertaining.
In addition to this, when a user visits your profile, there has to be a balance in the content you put out. A good example is that you can’t be an influencer and simply retweet posts all day. There has to be a healthy mix of your original content, retweets and brand endorsements.
So consistently dish out valuable content that’ll help your audience. Every now and then, quote or retweet other tweets that are in line with your niche.
Final thoughts
Being a Twitter influencer is rewarding as it allows you to become a thought leader and the go-to person for brand deals.
Unfortunately, to become prominent online, you must be ready to invest your time into building your profile and reach. By following these tips above, you’re on your way there.
Also, many tweets that go viral aren’t planned. So you should always be prepared when fame comes. This is why you need your own custom payment link for receiving tips from your followers ahead of time.
If you also have digital products, you need to be able to plug them into your tweet that’s gaining serious traction. Don’t have one yet? Create yours here
