With a multitude of platforms appearing every year, social media is more popular than ever. So much so, that most businesses are now using the likes of Facebook and Twitter to promote their business, products and services to potential consumers.

However, many brands are failing to use the platforms in the correct way. While some overpower consumers by attempting to push them to like and share their posts, others disregard certain types of social media – such as Twitter – seeing them as impractical and of little benefit to their company.

So, how exactly can Twitter bring value to a campaign, and how should a company be using it to engage existing consumers and gain new brand followers?

How can retweets be valuable for a business?

Twitter acts as a miniature blogging platform whereby brands can express their opinions on topics close to their brand personality. It can also be used to provide consumers with up-to-date news about a business as well as to promote competitions. For example, a tweet from a brand is a key tool  as it can spark the process of information distribution.

Retweets act as an online word of mouth

Word of mouth has influenced what consumers buy since time immemorial. If something is liked and recommended by a potential consumer’s peers, they’re more likely to try the product or service.

To have an impact and get shared by their following, brands need to make sure that the tweets are engaging and persuasive. A consumer will only spread a message if it they find it enjoyable or informative and believe that their followers will too.

It’s often said that the sharing of a brand’s tweet – a retweet – is actually more important to the brand than the original tweet. This is because a retweet acts as a recommendation from a company’s current followers, helping a business to build new relationships and increase its future consumer base.

Your hypothetical target market may not match your actual market

When a business starts its marketing strategy, they will already have an understanding of its target audience. While social media marketing can help a brand to get in front of its target audience, it can also open up the possibility of engaging with other markets.

When a brand receives a retweet, it can be used to analyse the Twitter users enjoying its posts, which in turn can help the brand to tap into new markets.

Retweets can be the first step to making a sale

The majority of brands have certain goals in mind when implementing a social media campaign. These typically include:

• Sparking an interest in the brand’s activity, potentially resulting in a ‘like’ or ‘retweet’
• Receiving contact information
• Increasing sales

A retweet can act as the first step to making a sale, whereby the consumer starts to develop an interest in the brand and its activity. The consumer is then likely to be interested in any future posts made by the brand, which is why it’s important to keep content engaging. It can be a long process but, by generating an interest on the likes of Twitter, this can lead to new sales further down the line.

Retweets are what make things go viral on Twitter

If a brand has a strong understanding of its target demographic and their Twitter activity, this can lead to posts going viral, which in turn can lead to more followers and a larger consumer base.

The secret to seeing posts go viral is to ensure tweets are fully optimized. Use images, tweet at times when consumers are most active, apply hashtags and add links to make a tweet more appealing to consumers, persuading them to retweet. The more retweets received, the higher the likelihood that a post will go viral, resulting in a higher brand awareness, potential new consumers and future sales.

Things to consider before your brand posts a tweet

When creating tweets to share with followers, it’s important to consider the following:

• Are you happy to be judged by the post?
• Is it something that would engage you, and would you share it with your followers?
• Would you look into investing in the brand after reading the post?
• Is the tweet fully optimized?

It’s vital that brands consider all aspects of social media platforms, including Twitter and its retweets, in order to fully reach and engage consumers and to obtain the most value from their digital marketing strategies.

Author Bio

Sophie Greenwood is an account manager for Peppermint Soda, a marketing communications agency that specializes in delivering bespoke integrated creative campaigns.