In today’s digital world, where the average person is bombarded with countless emails and text messages, Twitter influencer marketing stands out as a highly effective strategy. Unlike promotional emails and text messages that are often sent without much thought, influencer marketing on Twitter offers unique benefits.
By leveraging the influence and reach of popular Twitter users, businesses can effectively promote their products or services to a highly engaged audience. This targeted approach ensures that marketing messages are delivered to the right people, increasing the chances of success in a hyper-competitive digital landscape.
While email and SMS marketing can produce excellent results when done correctly, it’s important to note that no other digital marketing strategy has been quite as impressive as influencer marketing.
Businesses can expect a return on investment of up to $18 in earned media for every dollar spent on influencer marketing, with the average value being around $5.78.
92% of consumers have mentioned that they trust word-of-mouth recommendations. Roughly 49% of these consumers trust the advice of influencers. Additionally, over 40% of Twitter users have reported purchasing a product after seeing a product recommendation tweet from one of their favorite influencers. Of that percentage, 86% of women seek purchasing advice on social media platforms like Twitter. As a result, we’re seeing an increasing number of brands reaching out to influencers on various social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
With 211 million daily active monetizable users on Twitter globally, it makes sense for businesses to plan and implement strategic Twitter influencer marketing campaigns. These campaigns help them boost not only sales but also revenue, profit margins, and brand awareness.
In this article, we will be looking at some of the top PR influencers to follow on Twitter. Before we get to that, let us look at what influencer marketing on the platform entails, how effective it is, and why PR professionals and influencers choose to use it.
What is Twitter influencer marketing?
Like overall influencer marketing, Twitter influencer marketing is a popular digital marketing strategy in which brands contact and collaborate with influencers (mega, macro, mid-tier, micro, and nano influencers) to promote their products and services.
Consider it a collaboration between a brand and an influencer. Twitter Influencers are people who have a sizable and respectable Twitter following. Influencers will promote a brand’s products or services on Twitter to increase the brand’s visibility, sales, revenue, and profit margins. In exchange, depending on the terms of their contract, the brand can either pay the influencers or provide them with free products or services.
There are two main reasons why businesses should utilize the power of Twitter in their influencer marketing strategy. First of all, the platform is constantly growing. Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. Moreover, despite Apple’s Privacy Change initiative, Twitter saw healthy revenue and user growth in 2021 and 2022.
Twitter is expanding. While billions of people use social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, Twitter has seen exponential growth. And if the numbers are correct, Twitter intends to double its revenue and daily active users by 2023. Most brands are developing strategic influencer marketing campaigns and working with influencers on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and other popular social media platforms. However, few are entirely focused on Twitter, making Twitter influencer marketing an ideal opportunity. As it grows, we’ll see more brands allocating a significant portion of their influencer marketing budget to Twitter influencer marketing.
Secondly, Twitter influencer marketing helps boost sales and brand awareness. When an influencer in a company’s niche promotes the brand’s products or services, the influencer’s followers are eager to visit the brand’s website or landing page. This is because they believe the influencer will provide helpful advice and opinions. Strategic Twitter influencer marketing campaigns can increase sales and profit margins depending on the influencer a company contacts, their credibility, and their relationship with their followers. Additionally, influencer marketing can help businesses not only fuel their top-of-the-marketing funnel but can also help them increase brand awareness and credibility. Even so, this all depends on the influencers they approach and collaborate with.
Benefits of Twitter influencer marketing
According to Twitter, 61% of users follow at least one influencer, a figure that is higher than any other platform. Additionally, 40% of people purchased after seeing a tweet from a Twitter influencer. Similarly, 20% have recommended products to their network after seeing them linked on an influencer’s content.
Twitter’s real-time immediacy has made it a popular platform for following influential creators. Interacting with Twitter influencers is easy and offers numerous benefits.
Twitter explains it this way:
“For businesses today, the question is not “if” you should partner with influencers, but rather “why and how.” What’s more important for brands to understand is that each social media platform – particularly Twitter – has its own why and how.”
Building relationships with Twitter influencers whose niches match their products will benefit companies in the long run. When such influencers promote their products, it creates a win-win situation for everyone including the brand, the influencers, and the people who follow them.
1) They create great content
Influencers are influential because of the content they produce. They all have their own unique way of presenting information to their audiences.
When businesses work with influencers, the influencers will represent their brand in a way that will pique the interest of their followers. Since they are the kings and queens of producing high-quality, engaging content, their support benefits businesses because influencers will generate content that companies can use on their own Twitter handles.
However, businesses must remember that they cannot share, edit, or publish influencer-generated content without permission and approval from the influencer.
2) Enables niche targeting
People who follow influencers are interested in the type of content they create. They usually specialize in one area.
Companies will thus be able to attract the appropriate people and sell to a target audience that is most likely to be interested in their products or services by partnering with Twitter influencers. An influencer from their demographic can boost their chances of selling even more. For example, if a company sells athletic shoes, its ideal influencer could be an athlete or a fitness blogger.
3) Builds trust factor
People already trust and believe what influencers say or recommend because they have established credibility and relationships with their audiences.
The brand’s credibility is directly transferred when influencers promote a company’s product. The trust created in this manner can shorten the time it takes for companies to make successful connections and conversions. It also creates the impression that the brand is reliable and an industry leader.
4) Increases brand awareness
Any digital marketing strategy will boost brand recall and reach specific audiences. Nonetheless, influencer marketing delivers these in a targeted manner. Targeted advertising allows businesses to reach audiences based on their demographic and psychographic characteristics. However, creating buyer personas that help them identify and target various shopping preferences and purchase motivations takes time and effort.
The significant advantage of influencer marketing is that businesses can avoid all of that. Let’s assume they are introducing a new athleisure line or opening a new restaurant. Companies can quickly look up top fitness influencers or food bloggers and find top-engaging influencers in these niches with the help of an influencer agency.
5) Flexible pricing options
Twitter influencer marketing is a highly approachable method of word-of-mouth distribution that meets the needs of both small and large-scale businesses. Companies can choose campaigns based on their budget and goals, thanks to the flexible pricing options.
As mentioned previously, companies can choose an influencer that fits their criteria from the range of influencers available on the platform. They don’t have to spend much money to reach a large number of people by promoting their brand through micro-influencers.
6) Increases leads and conversions
The ultimate goal of any business is to generate leads, make sales, and make a profit. Influencer marketing can help enterprises to achieve this. When an influencer tweets about a company’s product, the idea of the product and the desire to purchase it are implanted in people’s minds.
According to one study, businesses earn an average of $7 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing. As a result, it is an excellent method of acquiring customers in a short period.
Companies can ask influencers to include a call to action at the end of their tweets as discount coupons to increase sales.
7) Supports Twitter content strategy
It is challenging to come up with new and innovative ideas. Creating content that engages the audience takes a lot of imagination. With influencer marketing, influencers do the work. Companies do not have to worry about consistently generating new ideas.
Influencers know what kind of content their audience likes. As a result, they expend enormous effort and ideas to create high-quality content. Companies can gain new perspectives for their marketing strategy and discover new ways to promote their products.
8) Finds audience insights
After an influencer promotes a company’s product, they can inquire about the types of people who expressed interest in the product by commenting or asking questions about it. Companies should not compel influencers to promote a product following their in-house marketing strategy. To achieve the best results, they must align their objectives with those of the influencers. At the same time, they need to maintain brand consistency while allowing influencers to contribute.
9) Improves SEO
Influencers drive organic traffic to a company’s website and social media platforms. They can also help in increasing the domain authority of their website.
We already know that social sharing has nothing to do with Google’s algorithm. However, links to a company’s products and website are valuable for said company’s SEO. They serve as backlinks to their website, thereby improving SEO.
10) Cross-channel benefits
The majority of Twitter influencers have accounts on multiple social media platforms. As a result, when they promote a company’s content on Twitter, companies can also ask them to share it on all other sites. This will help them gain popularity and followers on multiple social media platforms. It will also allow users to follow the brand’s updates on the platform of their choice.
11) Transparency
Influencers tend to use the hashtag #ad in their tweets. Alternatively, they will add a disclaimer stating that the specific tweet is promoted. When it comes to brand promotion, influencers are very forthcoming. They primarily work with brands that share their values and reject those that don’t. This is a good point because businesses will know they are working with someone who shares their vision.
Why PR pros use Twitter
1) Consumer interaction
Companies can quickly build and maintain relationships using Twitter as a PR tool. Twitter enables a company to interact and connect with its customers regularly while enabling real-time responses from the company itself.
The ability to communicate so easily allows for networking with other public relations professionals. It is easy to find others discussing similar topics using tools like hashtags. When communicating with customers and other business professionals, it is critical to review posts before posting. Remember that public relations professionals represent both their company and their clients.
2) Time efficiency
Twitter enables businesses to share information in real time. This is especially useful during times of crisis. In that case, timing is crucial. The ability to share information in such a timely manner can help to prevent the problem from worsening.
This also allows businesses to keep up with real-time news as it is posted live. Twitter has a “What’s Happening” feature that keeps companies updated on trending topics and significant events. There is also a search function for staying up to date on specific topics. This enables public relations professionals to monitor trends and engage in conversation in real-time, potentially attracting more readers and consumers.
Mistakes can happen when businesses try to ‘keep up with one another.’ While this is advantageous for public relations professionals due to the speed with which news is released, information on Twitter is not always accurate. Before posting, companies must review their knowledge to ensure that it is accurate and that their response is appropriate.
3) Building a reputation
Twitter, like other social media platforms, has the potential to alter how customers perceive a company drastically. One advantage of using Twitter is that it is one of the easiest platforms to use for networking. The more frequently an account posts and engages on the platform, the easier it is to attract followers and track trends. On the other hand, building a positive reputation is not easy. Consistency is required to build a following. This includes posting original tweets, retweeting (or sharing) tweets from other professionals, and interacting with consumers.
While consistency is important, being aware of what they post is equally important. Mistakes such as disseminating false information, speaking disrespectfully, tweeting inappropriate responses, and committing grammatical errors can all harm a company’s reputation. For this reason, companies need to think twice before tweeting and keep it professional.
Top PR influencers to follow in 2023
1) Michelle Garrett – @PRisUs
Michelle is a PR consultant, freelancer, and general media all-star who also co-hosts “PRLunchHour,” a live Twitter chat with guests from all over the PR world. She shares an impressive volume of work from her base at “the intersection of PR, content creation, and social media.” In this work, she comments on the essential subjects of the day and shares fascinating bits and pieces of daily headlines that catch her eye.
The “In the News” and blog sections of her website will have you wondering when she sleeps, and the content alone is reason enough to keep Michelle on your radar. Just be warned: Michelle’s PR tweets will likely make you feel like you need to seriously up your Twitter game right now.
2) Tamara Sykes – @baydiangirl
Tamara is a highly skilled marketing consultant, content creator, and public relations professional who excels at obtaining earned media coverage. Her specialty is helping women-owned businesses to develop the ideal public persona to support their digital and traditional marketing. She never hesitates to educate her followers on the best strategies to employ.
Tamara’s timeline is filled with digital PR tips, SEO insights, and heartwarming stories. She is genuine, knowledgeable, and relatable. In addition to her signature purple hair, you’ll notice she’s very passionate about work/life balance.
3) Mark Ragan – @MarkRaganCEO
As the CEO of Ragan Communications, Mark knows a lot about public relations. His daily news sites, PRDaily.com and Ragan.com, have massive audiences and are required reading for anyone trying to stay on top of the communications industry. His website is essentially a crossroads for everything you might need to know as a professional in the field. His content covers everything from industry news to training materials and everything a diverse range of business leaders needs to know.
He has built his Communications Leadership Council for communications executives. Likewise, his PR Daily Leadership Network is a must-join membership group for public relations, marketing, and social media professionals. Ragan also organizes Communications Week, a premier industry event.
4) Jennifer Berson – @JenerationPR
Jennifer’s agency, Jeneration PR & Jeneration Academy, specializes in baby, beauty, and lifestyle brands. Her expertise is in leveraging digital media to increase exposure and online profiles.
She has an exceptional talent for demystifying public relations and making it accessible to those with multiple responsibilities in small businesses. Jennifer has a way of eliminating the jargon and speaking in plain language to newbies trying to catch up on essential PR ideas. This is true with her collections of “must-haves” and tip sheets. It’s also true with her regular participation in live conversations about quickly learning the basics of brand communications.
5) Joe Robison – @josephrobison
Joe is primarily concerned with SEO. This goes beyond link building and the technical aspects of online visibility. Joe goes above and beyond by utilizing his agency to create compelling design elements such as visual data studies that engage readers.
In a world where most people assume that ‘content’ means ‘words,’ Joe is an excellent reminder that there is more than one way to get attention. Following him is a great way to get his thoughts on building the visual component of your content and be inspired by meaningful content.
Conclusion
Twitter influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for reaching out to new customers and establishing trust. When done correctly, it can also help businesses to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to their website or product pages. When developing a Twitter influencer marketing campaign, remember a few things. To proceed, businesses must ensure that they select the right influencers for their brand, create engaging content, and measure campaign results to optimize future efforts.
How Pressfarm can help with your influencer marketing strategy
PR agencies like Pressfarm help clients create newsworthy content like email pitches, press releases, guest posts, and press kits to distribute to relevant media professionals and influencers. In addition, their account executive creates a customized media list for each client. These lists are built from Pressfarm’s database of over one million journalists, bloggers and influencers. With these lists, companies can connect with relevant influencers to boost their online visibility.