If the last few weeks taught us anything it’s that Twitter is a powerful and impactful tool to connect with what’s happening. It’s a way to reach valuable audiences and start conversations, and no one said it has to be a one-to-many model. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have made it a habit for businesses to connect with their entire audience at once but there are more personal relationships you can build with your followers.
This is especially true for Twitter where things move very quickly. Enter Twitter Direct Messages. They are a way to start a one-on-one conversation with anyone who follows you, creating a bit of a deeper connection. The question is: How to use Twitter DM for business?
We got the 5 best ways right here.
1. Welcome Messages
On Twitter, welcome messages can be used to do one of two things:
- Greet people as they enter a Direct Message conversation with your profile.
- Start a chatbot experience to be the first one messaging.
In both cases, they are an opportunity to express your brand voice and demonstrate your expertise. As a business, you can also create multiple welcome messages for the different entry points to your business, be it moving a follower from a public Tweet to a private conversation with a specially-formatted link or a default message to anyone who enters Messages from your profile. There is also the message to greet people coming from a Direct Message Card from an ad campaign. We talk about the last in just a bit.
2. Direct Message Card
Direct Message Card is a Twitter ad format designed to move conversations from public to private with an image or a video, and customizable CTA buttons. The tweet copy should be a maximum of 256 characters and the button a maximum of 24 characters, including emojis.
A Twitter Direct Message Card can also have up to 4 buttons, each redirecting users to a different part of your chatbot experience. To create a Direct Message Card:
- Log into your account and find Creatives and Cards.
- Click on Create Card, and choose whether you want an Image Direct Message Card or a Video Direct Message Card.
- Upload your media; Videos should be 15 seconds or less, in MP4 or MOV, images should be at least 800 pixels wide and in JPEG, PNG or non-animated GIFs.
- Indicate the number of CTAs you want to use and enter the text for each.
- Indicate the Welcome Message ID for each button.
- Choose a card name and create your card.
3. Customer Support
If you run a business, you would know: One of the main reasons why customers reach out to brands on social media is to ask product and service questions. On Twitter, you can turn this into an opportunity to take a public tweet to a private conversation and build a meaningful, more personalized relationship.
You can do this every time a Twitter user tags or mentions your account, acknowledging the tweet publicly and asking the user to send you a DM, or you can tune in to conversations related to your niche. We see this one in just a bit.
4. Lead Generation
Related to customer support, Twitter Direct Message is also a great way to reach out to leads. You do this by finding people talking about your industry on Twitter, and when you do, you reach out to them via DM and offer a solution to their problems.
The trick is catching conversations that relate to your niche, like mentions of your competitors or hot industry topics and that’s where a social listening tool comes in handy. Set it up for industry terms and variations of your brand name. After all, sometimes people look for a product with no specific brand in mind, and if you react quickly to these types of situations, you could win new clients.
5.Connecting With Key Influencers In Your Sphere
And finally, influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to expose your brand to a new audience. This starts with identifying the opinion leaders in your industry and striking up a conversation via DM.
Just make sure your message is carefully crafted; Influencers receive hundreds of DMs a day so to stand out, you need to position the partnership as a mutually beneficial relationship.
Closing thoughts: The need for a Twitter Direct Message Chatbot Twitter users coming to your profile with a question or concern are potential leads and you need to design an experience that steers the conversation down your sales funnel. You can automate this whole process by setting up a Direct Message chatbot with specific rules and criteria, and predetermined messages that go beyond the “Hi there! How can we help you?”. To build a Direct Message chatbot, you can choose a vendor or build one in-house with Twitter’s handy developer documentation.
