Monthly Archives: June 2011
Twitter can be a useful marketing tool if you’re able to combine a successful call to action and relevant information into the 140 character limit. Sounds tough, but don’t despair. Below are a few helpful hints that will assist you in composing the perfect tweet!
Tip 1: Use Perfect Spelling and Flawless Grammar
Many Twitter users believe because tweets are only 140 characters that spelling and grammar do not matter. In fact, spelling and grammar matter even more, as you have to be clear and concise when sharing your message. It can be very distracting to your followers if there are many errors in your messages, so always make sure to check over your spelling and grammar and read your tweet out loud before publishing it. Helpful hints when writing your tweet include always starting with a capital letter, using appropriate punctuation, and avoiding text-speaking.
Tip 2: Always Include a Link
In composing an effective tweet, you want to attach something that expands on what you are talking about. By attaching a link, you will keep your followers wanting more and clicking to see what exactly you are talking about. This is also important to back up what you are saying and generating re-tweets as well.
Tip 3: Engage With Your Audience
The most effective tweets are actually more like engaging headlines, as they keep your followers entertained and educated. You should sell your headline in a way that gives followers a reason to click on your link, but not in a way that makes them feel as if they are constantly being advertised to. Your tweets must be honest, engaging, interesting, and capable of generating the greatly sought after re-tweet.
Tip 4: Leave Room For Re-Tweeting
If you’re consistently taking 140 characters to get your message across on Twitter, you could be unknowingly sabotaging your retweetability. If your tweets are too long, there is less of a chance that people will re-tweet you, so the shorter the better! You will also want to consider what a popular retweet length is (the number of characters that you have to leave blank at the end of every tweet) in order to ensure maximum retweetability. The number can vary depending on what you are posting about, but it is important that you leave room for people to re-tweet so they can share your message with others!
Tip 5: Combine Professional and Personal Carefully
If you are tweeting on behalf of a business, it is still nice to tweet about personal activities once in awhile such as hanging out with your kids or what you are making for dinner. This way you can get on a more personal and relatable level with your clients. Even though you are using Twitter as a business tool, it is important to tweet about things that your followers can relate to. Being personal is nice, but it is also important that you do not cross the line between professional and personal boundaries. This means that you should avoid swearing or tweeting about things that are inappropriate for your business clients to read. Including information about your daily life every once in awhile shows what you care about and what is important to you, but be careful not to share too much information!
How do you keep your Twitter followers interested in your tweets? Share your techniques below.
Local Rewards Program Now Free For Businesses to Participate
Based on the feedback of local business owners and consumers, Shop Local CK has announced multiple improvements to their municipality-wide loyalty program, the most significant of which involves eliminating the business membership fee. As of June 21, locally-owned and locally-operated businesses are invited to participate in the program completely free of charge.
“When we began the Shop Local CK program, we knew it was a big undertaking, and one that would require tweaking and changing in order to provide the best benefits to participating businesses and local consumers,” explains Shop Local CK founder, Chantielle Kennedy. Changes to the program include:
1. Free Business Enrolment
The only requirements for business participation is:
- They must be located in Chatham-Kent.
- They must honour their discount for one full year from the date they join the program.
2. One Discount Level Instead of Three
- Reducing the number of loyalty levels from three to one will help streamline the program and eliminate any confusion.
- Businesses now only need to offer one discount in order to participate in the program.
- Businesses are still encouraged to set their own discount based on their unique profit margins and product offering.
3. New Pricing
Shop Local CK Consumer Membership Cards will now be sold for $25 (plus applicable taxes) regardless of their colour.
Cards that were sold at the original price are still valid. If you purchased a Shop Local CK Blue Card for the original price of $39.99 and would like a refund for the difference in price, please send an email to info@shoplocalck.com. Proof of purchase date is required in order to receive your refund. If you purchased a Shop Local CK Red Card for the original price of $19.99 congratulations on scoring a great deal!
“The way Shop Local CK was laid out originally was ambitious. These changes are designed to streamline the program and make it easier for businesses and consumers to participate,” says Kennedy.
Businesses and consumers can learn more about the Shop Local CK program changes on the official Shop Local CK website. “The point of this program is to help encourage local commerce. We’re confident that these improvements will go a long way to reaching this goal and providing longterm economic benefits to the community.”
The term “call to action” means, well, just what it sounds like – it’s instructing someone to do what you want them to do, or calling them to action. For example, a successful call to action can motivate a customer to click on a link at the end of a blog post, reply to an e-mail, or “like” your post on Facebook. After your readers have finished reading your content, a call to action provides web visitors with the next step, leading them one step closer to converting from a visitor to a customer. Whether it’s completing a sale or downloading an article, a strong call to action is an important part of any marketing strategy.
Why is a Call to Action Important?
A call to action forces participation from a reader, either in the form of leaving a comment, sending a re-tweet, and so on. Some readers may only comment if they are told to comment, so a strong call to action encourages readers that it’s ok to share their thoughts. A call to action motivates people to respond to a post that they know the solution to or have a strong opinion about. When people see that others have understood the call to action and are expressing their opinions, they are more likely to do, as they know the site is trusted and fun to participate in.
How to Write a Call to Action
When writing your own call to action, it is important to keep things quick and simple with the addition of a question or comment. This way, people are not discouraged or confused by how to respond. The call to action should not take up a great deal of time or require instruction, as users should be able to easily respond without any confusion. Make your call to action obvious; let your users know exactly what you are asking of them
Call to Action Techniques
When creating your own call to action, remember to keep it simple. It is important to make it obvious what you are asking the reader to do and make it clear where the call to action is. Your call to action should also be obtainable, as the simpler it is the more likely that people will participate. Your call to action should stand out, and encourage readers to interact with your article or website. It is also helpful to put the call to action in bold or even use a different font or a quote box so that it will stand out and look different from the rest of the text. A call to action is also effective when it is urgent, and demands the readers to do what you want, when you want them to do it. Using phrases like “buy now”, or “click here”, encourages readers to respond immediately.
A call to action is a fantastic tool to generate traffic on your website and to gain opinions and comments from your readers. How have you mastered the art of eliciting a response? Share your techniques below!
