Most brands measure the success of their engagement with how many Likes and Retweets they receive, while these factors are important, Mentions IMO are also equally as important!
What are Twitter Mentions?
Mentions are simply when users mention your brand in their tweets. Mentions can be direct mentions, by them typing in your @handle within their tweets or a reply to your tweet by clicking the reply button.
Why Mentions are important for Brands?
When users mentions your brand, they send signals to Twitter that shows interest in your brand, and that prioritize your tweets on their timeline. Meaning, they will be seeing more of your tweets “organically” as they previously showed they are interested in your tweets by “Mentioning or Replying” to your brand. The key here is your constancy, your brand must maintain a certain level of engagement with these users for Twitter to keep prioritize your tweets.
Here’s a list of 7 ways to get more mentions on Twitter
1. The GIF/Screenshot technique
Ask users to take screenshot of a certain scene of a GIF you posted and ask them to reply to your tweet with their capture!
Here’s a cool one from a travel app @TajawalSA, asking users to Retweet, Follow, take screenshot and reply with your shot.
https://twitter.com/tajawalsa/status/787991592674222080
This one from Toyota Saudi Arabia, promoting their Fortuner car, asking users to take screenshot when the 3 photos matches each other forming the Fortuner
وقف السهم على الفورتشنر .. صورها وشارك #لأنها_تويوتا pic.twitter.com/xHFuOaOIvT
— تويوتا السعودية (@ToyotaALJ) October 13, 2016
and that one is the same but for Avalon…
وقف الافالون بجوانبها المختلفة و شارك معنا #لأنها_تويوتا pic.twitter.com/q3wy4oND96
— تويوتا السعودية (@ToyotaALJ) October 6, 2016
I’m sure you get the idea.
2. Ask users to mention their friends
Mobily asked users to mention their friends who they took photos with using Huawei P9 Plus Device
#عيديتك_من_موبايلي_هواويP9بلس
فولو+لايك+منشن خويك الي بتصور معاه بالعيد بالهواوي الجديد 😎 pic.twitter.com/2krGmn9qak— موبايلي (@Mobily) July 3, 2016
3. Use emojis to get more replies
Mobily again, brilliantly asked their users to guess the emoji and “reply” with their guess!
تبي تربح معنا؟! 🎁💰
علمنا ايش #الايموجي_يقول
لايك+ريتويت+رد على هالتغريدة بجوابك وادخل السحب pic.twitter.com/hvCQrKAafS— موبايلي (@Mobily) October 17, 2016
4. Use Incentive tweets, make it clear, ask for a reply to win something
By partnering with @ittihad, @Mobily asked their users to like, retweet, reply for a chance to win free tickets
توقع نتيجة مباراة #الاتحاد_التعاون⚽
لايك+ريتويت+ رد على هالتغريدة بتوقعك وادخل السحب🎁— موبايلي (@Mobily) October 13, 2016
5. Use Twitter Conversational Cards
During one of the important games in Saudi League, Toyota Saudi Arabia asked their users to vote for their favorite team using conversational cards.
شارك توقعك لمباراة #الأهلي و #الاتحاد بين اصدقائك ⚽ واربح معنا جوائز قيمة 💚💛#الديربي_مع_تويوتا اثارة و أكثر
👇👇https://t.co/tGS8pCq39q— تويوتا السعودية (@ToyotaALJ) March 31, 2016
The idea here is, when you click the hashtag to vote for your team, the pre-populated tweet already has @ToyotaALJ mentioned within it, and that increased the mentions of the brand massively, 56k mentions to be exact on that day! resulting in considering that campaign a Case Study and now on Twitter Marketing Website.
Massive increase in mentions using Twitter Conversational Cards6. Twitter Instant Unlock Cards
As part of the conversational cards, Instant Unlock feature allow of reveling different content when the call-to-action button is tweeted
For example, I ran a pop quiz on a #TwitterChat for #IOTTT about Twitter Tips, I asked users interacting on the hashtag to either answer my quiz or click the call to action to see the correct answer
Q2.Do you know how many people can be in one DM group? Unlock to see the answer 👇 #TwitterTips #IOTTT https://t.co/f03e7ZAsNG
— Amged (@Amged) August 10, 2016
My average results almost tripled using Instant Unlock cards — here’s what I got in just 9 days in Aug
My average results almost tripled using Instant Unlock cards – here's what I got in just 9 days in Aug pic.twitter.com/7cCSh5BFSM
— Amged (@Amged) August 10, 2016
7. The ‘Let Us Know’
Yes, clearly ask users to let you know why are they voting or doing something
Let us know why you're ✔️voting Green🌱 this year!
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) October 10, 2016