Jessica Northey knows Twitter. Daaaaaaaang she has a lot of followers! She’s an expert in building online communities and was kind enough to share some of her best strategies at Social Media Success Summit! This post details ways you can not only get Twitter followers, but also turn them into loyal and referring fans. Cool, huh?!
A couple of the main ways Jessica has built her own army are tracking hashtags and getting people to send selfies, believe it or not! Apparently if you send someone a selfie, you are invested now-a-days 😉 Her show begins each week with the selfie question: “Where are you and what are you wearing?” Go ahead, check out #WhereWear on Twitter & Instagram. Now that’s alotta selfies. Feel free to pause & indulge 😉
Building an army includes getting people vetted, trained, paid, and readied for action.
How can you do this in your niche? Jessica warned that quick giveaways just build short term relationships; they aren’t deep enough in someone’s mind to make a difference. She challenges you to ask “How do I build LOYALTY?” Fight to get true opt-ins who will rally for your cause. In order to do this, you must clearly:
- Define your cause
- Know your audience
- Know your battlefield
- Promote your cause
- Reward your members
Another way to look at it is the GRASP method.
- Goals – What are you trying to do? Success comes when you write goals down. Make sure to pick 3 solid metrics to track and use numbers. Are you trying to:
- increase brand awareness with ___ followers?
- improve social media traffic to blog by __%?
- sell ___ new t-shrits?
- Reach – Who do you want to target? How do they use social media? What’s your point and purpose? What’s your relationship with this audience?
- ABC’s/Aessthetics – Have a candid approachable photo & emotional / intentional colors. Change up headers and background. Your URL is a MUST. What is the look and feel of the overall experience? Is it consistent?
- Socialality – What are you about? (ie. Jack FM character? Diva? Foodie?) Content is the cornerstone of your online character. Speak with people, not at them. Try not to broadcast. Ask followers “What are you doing?”, instead of telling them what you are doing. Be interested in your customers.
- Promotion – Cross promote among platforms. (This keeps getting repeated in all the sessions!) Add your social to all your print including #hashtags and @names so it’s easy. Connect socially when you are in public. Right then & there. This is better and more long-lasting than any business card.Build Your Army’s Strength
- Try giving your tweeps a boost by tweeting people immediately after you meet and connect with them IRL (In Real Life).
- Share project updates and give them a feeling of involvement with what you’re doing.
- Invite people to places where you’re going to be. Meetups & Tweetups are fun!
- Test little engagements. Will your troops take action for you? With you???
Bonus Combat Tip: Use your Twitter army for reputation management and damage control. If something negative comes out, get them to rally back with positive tweets, retweets, pics, and videos. This pushes the negativity far down the feed.
Final takeaway’s:
- Interact with people and content you like.
- Don’t share *too* much and keep the drama to yourself.
- Remember people are online at different times of day.
- Be creative and have fun
- Quotes, tips, questions, and trivia do really well
- Add social widgets in your website
- Tell the truth, make it matter, and never be boring!
What would YOU like to accomplish with your Twitter army? Tweet @CalCoast with the hashtag #SocialArmy and we’ll be happy to help you with some additional tips!!!
