4 Tips for Driving Sales on Twitter

When Twitter first entered the scene in 2006, few people imagined that the social network with the constant stream of flippant status updates would ever turn into a powerful force for brands looking to engage customers, showcase creativity and build affinity. Today, it's clear that Twitter isn't just a hotbed of brand engagement, but also a bona fide driver of sales. And finally, brands are catching on.

Take Black Friday for example. In 2014, Twitter users posted more than 3.65 million tweets about Black Friday, nearly 2 million more than in 2011. More significantly, however, is the rise in the number of major retail brands dominating the Black Friday conversation. Four years ago, brands were pretty much MIA from the Black Friday chatter. Today, they're leading the charge, as you can see in this infographic.

There's a reason for that. According to a recent report from Twitter, which uses data from my company, Crimson Hexagon, there was a significant correlation between conversation volume on Twitter and actual retail sales in 2013. For example, as the number of tweets about buying televisions increased on Twitter, so did the weekly sales volume of TVs. Same goes for laptops. Twitter is taking note of this trend. Back in September, the company announced that it was testing a "Buy" button to allow users to make purchases directly from a tweet.

As Twitter embraces its new role as an e-commerce and mobile shopping player, brands would be wise to follow in the company's footsteps and start thinking more seriously about how to use the platform to drive sales. Here are four quick tips to help you get started:

1. Try limited-time offers and giveaways. Crimson Hexagon analyzed tweets about Halloween this year and found that Welch's was one of the top-mentioned Twitter handles. The reason? Welch's Fruit Snacks Halloween Giveaway spread like wildfire in the Twitterverse. Research from Twitter indicates that the majority of users would take advantage of a limited-time offer they learned about from a tweet. This makes sense, given the real-time nature of the platform.

2. Find your influencers. You can tell your followers to buy a product all you want, but the message will resonate more strongly if it comes from a third-party influencer that your audience trusts. Do the research to determine which Twitter users have the strongest pull with your various target audiences, then reach out to those influencers to engage them with your product and encourage (or pay) them to share with their followers.

3. Identify buying patterns. One of the best ways to drive sales on Twitter is to get in front of your audience when it's already thinking about making a purchase. Of course, that's easier said than done. To gain a better understanding of when your customers might be ready to buy, listen to social data and use some good-old common sense.

For example, if you sell athletic apparel, pay attention to the times that your audience tweets about trips to the gym. If you sell to tweens who love music, analyze the days of the week that this demographic is mostly likely to tweet about the songs they're downloading. Spending time finding patterns about how and when your audience is more likely to be thinking about a purchase will pay off in the long run.

4. Test, test, test. Whatever you do, don't forget to monitor the results of your efforts. Set up a dashboard before you start any campaign so you can have a clear sense of what you're testing and measuring. Test different days, messages, influencers and offers to see what's resonating with your audience and what's falling flat. And don't just look at how many times your link is getting clicked; pay attention to how frequently that click results in a user actually making a purchase. Collect the data, analyze it and optimize accordingly.

With Twitter slated to become a hub for mobile commerce in 2015, there's no question that users will continue to make tweet-inspired purchases for years to come. Brands can get ahead of the game by investing time today to analyze when, how and where their audiences are most likely to click the "Buy" button.

John Donnelly III is senior vice president of global sales and marketing at Crimson Hexagon, a provider of social media monitoring analysis services.