Are you looking for a way to step up your business’ marketing with Twitter? Do you want to boost retweets and increase engagement across the board? In this article, I’m going to critique 10 of the top brands on Twitter, giving you concrete examples of how to maximize Twitter in your social media strategy.

1. 10 Awesome
Twitter
Examples with
Critiques and
Best Practices

3. 10 Strategies to Maximize Twitter for Business
Use Humor
Make it Shareable
Ride the Trends
Go Exclusive
Do a Q&A
Run a Customer Service
Make Teaser Videos
Make A-Day-in-the-Life Videos
Run a Contest off Twitter
Run a contest on Twitter
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4. Use Humor1

5. Use Humor to Entertain your Followers
Find some humorous puns,
jokes, or quotes related to
your business and tweet
them.
Post a picture of a baby or
pet with something
related to your business
and ask your followers to
caption it.
Remember your marketing
personality. Do you use
geo-targeted language or
sector-based jargon?
A Humorous Tweet by Doritos
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6. Make it Shareable2

7. Make your Posts Shareable to Extend your Reach
Are there common-sense facts
related to your business? Combine
them with a great photo for some
quick and easy retweets and
favorites.
Inspire your followers with a re-
tweetable quote or statistic. Try to
keep them business-related, but it’
s okay if they’re not.
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A shareable post by LG

8. Ride the Trends3

9. Ride what’s Trending
Find out what’s trending
and work with it:
‘#TGIF, we’ve been
working like a dog!’; with a
photo of a sleeping puppy.
‘Did you see Peyton
Manning’s twisted ankle in
#SuperbowlXVIII? Should’ve
been wearing our
#AcmeOrthotics’; with a
link to the product.
A Trendy Post by Coca-Cola
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10. Go Exclusive4

11. Social Media for NPOs: Twitter
Offer exclusive behind-the-scene peeks into your business’ events, conferences,
board meetings, etc.
Hype your events or upcoming product launches with an exclusive look at ‘the
making of’.
Make a video of your boss brainstorming, developers coding, the marketing team
typing and the sales team on the phone.
An Exclusive Tweet by Hoot Suite
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12. Do a Q&A55

13. Do a Q&A
Bring in an expert on your business: ask them about best practices, changes they’ve
seen in the business, where they think it’s going in the future, etc.
Ask your company’s CEO about about their hiring process, what kind of applicant do
they like? Interview tips? How did they get where they are?
Talk to the heads of your business’ departments and release a weekly Q&A on their
insights into PR, Marketing, Sales, Admin, IT, etc.
Q&A Hype by The Guardian Newspaper
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14. Run a Customer Service6

15. Run a Customer Service
Test out a weekly Twitter
customer service session:
Hype it a week or so in
advance on all your social
media platforms
Determine what level of
engagement is worth
implementing the practice
Measure the response on the
day
If it’s successful, make it a
more permanent part of your
Twitter profileCustomer Service by KLM Airlines
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16. Make Teaser Videos7

17. Make a Teaser Video with Vine
Teaser Video Tweet by ModCloth
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Vine is optimized for sneak-
peeks. Have a product coming
out, an event you’re running, or
a new dessert on your menu?:
Compose a six-second video
clip of the box being delivered
and unwrapped
A behind-the-scenes look
before the event
A quick glimpse at how the
dessert is put together

18. Make A-Day-in-the-Life Videos8

19. Make A-Day-in-the-Life Videos
Make ‘A Day in the Life at
Smith Pharmaceuticals.’ Post
it on Twitter and use it to
bring in other employees.
‘A Day in the Life of a Sales
Manager’?
Make your videos entertaining;
If they’re popular, try hyping
them on your social media
platforms and making them a
weekly or monthly thing.
Day-in-the-Life by the Indianapolis Colts
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20. Run a Contest off Twitter9

21. Run a Contest off Twitter
Run a Sweepstakes to increase
your Following: Users submit
their email address, click
‘Enter Contest’ and they’re
entered into a random drawing
for a prize.
Run a Photo Contest to
increase engagement: Users
upload a photo and have the
community vote on their
favorite to win. To maximize
entries, choose a photo theme
that is easy for most users to
get a photo of.
Off Twitter Contest by ELLE Magazine
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22. Run a Contest on Twitter10

23. Run a Contest On Twitter
Run a recurring contest to
keep your Followers engaged.
If they miss the prize the first
time, give them the
opportunity to win again.
Don’t give up! If you’re
confident in your contest,
stick with it. You may have to
run a recurring contest three
or four times before you see
solid results.
On Twitter Contest by Sephora
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