Twitter isn’t simply a battlefield for the politically-minded, nor is it just a soapbox for talkative celebrities. Believe it or not, Twitter is also an incredibly effective platform for sales lead generation—and you can easily learn how to use Twitter to your brand’s advantage. 

Never used Twitter before? That’s understandable. But with the right tools (and a little help from us at Wrk), you’ll be connecting with potential leads effortlessly through social selling. 

Let’s take a look at 3 tips on how to use Twitter for sales lead generation. Your account will be flooded with likes and retweets in no time at all!

1. Build a following of prospects

Sales lead generation, or just lead gen, is all about landing those potential sales prospects—and though Twitter is an unassuming platform on the surface, it’s a seriously untapped lead generation resource. Plus, everyone’s on social media these days; it’s never been a better time to use Twitter for marketing.

Meet your prospects exactly where they are, and where they are is online!

Why? Because Twitter is all about who you follow and who follows you back. With the right engagement strategy, you can collect a large pool of prospects by simply following those accounts that match your target demo and start social selling!  

The most successful accounts on Twitter get an average follow-back rate of 37.95%, and you can achieve that too. Here’s how:

  • Search for keywords and Twitter hashtags relating to your target audience (e.g., a makeup brand might search for ‘MUA’, ‘makeup artist’, ‘beauty’, ‘content creator’) and follow the users matching your search

  • Use Twitter Lists to find users similar to your target demographic

  • Put stand-out keywords in your bio to grab the attention of the accounts you follow

  • Use advanced business tools to find trending hashtags on Twitter related to your industry, and follow the accounts interacting with those tags

The market research process can take some time, but it’s much more reliable than using pay-per-follower services. Just make sure your account is looking tip-top before you start following prospects and building relationships.

2. Create value-packed content

Many brands try to mask their ads behind ‘cool and relevant memes’ or articles that claim to offer helpful advice, but don’t be fooled—your audience isn’t easily convinced, in fact, these days with so much noise out there, they are downright skeptical.

Instead of trying to pull the wool over prospects’ eyes, create genuinely valuable content that is relevant to your target audience. 

Lead magnets are super effective for this if you craft them well. Is there a PDF resource you could create and share? An interactive quiz? A helpful video tutorial? Something so useful that your target audience can't help but click the link to your website (and, of course, enter their email address)?

Industry research reports are incredibly valuable lead magnets for the B2B space. For B2C companies, you might offer freebies or create an eBook related to your product. 

3. Optimize your account for sales lead generation

Now, we dive into the world of SEO and sales optimization. Your Twitter account leaves plenty of space for personalization—and if you want to pull those prospects in, you have to make it look as enticing as possible. 

Your profile and header images are a great place to start. They should be high quality, on-brand, and help prospects understand what your company is all about at first glance. 

Other key optimization strategies for your account include:

  • Use keywords in your bio to ensure you come up in relevant searches

  • Pin a tweet to the top of your profile that links to your lead magnet or website 

  • Use Twitter Cards so that people can easily share your content 

  • Add strong visuals to your Tweets that distinctly match your branding and capture your audience's attention

Twitter analytics can also help you figure out which strategies work best to bring in good leads. Then you can make the most of other lead gen strategies, like investing in ads to promote your Tweets and using ad versioning to target specific customer demographics. 

You have the followers, but now what...

Once you've got a healthy following with plenty of engaged prospects, don't forget to make use of our Lead Nurturing Wrkflow. We make it easy to jump from lead qualification to engagement, complete with lead research and personalized email generation!

Don't shy away from using a very valuable tool just because you're not 100% sure how to use it or where to start. A few years ago if we had heard that social media would be one of your greatest tools to close deals and enrich your sales lead generation, we might have laughed ourselves silly. These days it seems to be quite the business tool. Don't be fooled by all the talk behind the political rhetoric, Twitter is still incredibly valuable, and people who use Twitter still mean business and social selling is here to stay!

Check out some more tips to leverage social media for lead generation and closing deals here.