Using the news to create customer engagement

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24th of October 2017 Article by Laura Napper

Laura Napper, managing director of Twilight Cleaning and Facilities Management, continues her series of exclusive blogs about social media for the ECJ website. Here she talks about staying abreast of the news can help your social media activity.

Staying on top of the news can at times be overwhelming. At times there's so much going on, not just in the UK, but Europe and the US. Not a day goes by without some controversial standpoint or political issue being discussed all over the internet.

It can be hard to use the news to stay aligned with your company's marketing strategy. But, sometimes, there might be an area which not only can be used to galvanise your customers but also win new ones.

Let's look at how to use Twitter to take advantage of the news stories.

I suggest starting every morning with a look at Twitter's trending hashtags. The majority of these are hard-hitting news pieces, but some of them are running jokes, or sports news. Some of them use hashtags, some of them might not.

Think about how to craft a tweet using one of the hashtags in your first tweet of the day. We tweeted once about our toilets being #fantasticallyclean, not #fantasticallycorrupt, which was in reference to a trend that day. We had many likes and retweets, including from a well-known TV actor! By using hashtags you are showing that you are aware of what's happening right now in the world.

Another way is to join in conversations with leading twitter users. By replying or retweeting some interesting topical news, you generally find yourself in a more interesting conversation with followers of that user. By being personal, you are engaging and at the same time, being topical.

Finally, think about ways to use press releases and industry news to start conversations. Use tools, such as Buffer, to automate posts to increase the chance of people seeing your post - but remember to reply to every tweet!

Tell us how you engage on social media! Email us on laura@twilightcleaning.co.uk or tweet us at @tenterdentwcc!