Because of the real-time nature and character limits per post, Twitter can often have a casual, off-the-cuff feel. It may seem that most Twitter users come up with their posts on the spot and post incredible content as the inspiration strikes. But that is definitely not the case. In order to create impactful content on Twitter, you need a content strategy. Creating a great content strategy for Twitter requires some planning in advance but will be well worth it in the long run.

Make sure you’ve articulated your goals

Setting goals might seem like a basic step, but many businesses overlook this step or don’t spend nearly enough time on it. When creating your content strategy, it’s important to take stock of what it is you want to accomplish and what your brand is all about. Ask yourself questions such as:

• Why am I using Twitter in particular?
• Who do I want to reach?
• What does my audience want to hear?
• What kind of content do I want to produce?

Once you’ve answered a few of those questions, set goals over the next few weeks and months. Your goals can include things like create more video posts, increase number of tweets, increase retweets and engagements, etc. Make sure the goals are measurable and you can easily track what is working and what isn’t when you look at your data later. Make sure your goals are realistic and manageable for your available resources. If you have a fairly large social media marketing team, you’ll be able to produce far more content than someone who is a small business owner and running their Twitter account on their own. Set realistic goals.

Curate and create excellent content

When thinking of your content, don’t limit your plan to only things that you produce. Part of creating Twitter content is promoting content that others have created. Sharing other people’s content will build trust with your audience and your community. Building a plan to curate relevant content will get you noticed by others and help your audience by connecting them to resources and content they will enjoy.

When looking at the types of content you want to create, make sure there is a variety built into your strategy. Pictures, videos, quotes, articles, promotions, and simple text quotes are all types of content you can create that will keep your audience engaged. You can also build mini strategies inside of your larger content strategy, such as contests, giveaways, or sales promotions.

By creating smaller campaigns inside of your larger content strategy is a great way to not only promote certain products or ideas, but also will help you test which kinds of media and content your audience connects well with and you can use those strategies in the future. For example, if your audience responds exceptionally well to a poll, you can know to use more polls in the future. It’s also a good idea to create and schedule your content in advance to make sure that you always are prepared with content that meets your goals.

Engage with the community

Perhaps the single most important part of your Twitter content strategy isn’t even your content – it’s who you’re connected to. Twitter relies heavily on connection and conversations with others. You can curate a flawless feed and have content on your page that is relevant, funny, or useful, but if no one sees it or interacts with it, it’s useless to you. When looking at your Twitter community, there are two different categories you need to look at.

The first category of fellow-Twitter users is your audience. You’ll want to focus on attracting an audience that is filled with people who love and interact with your content. This can be one of your goals – find and build your following. These are the people that you’ll want to focus on when you’re deciding what kind of content you create. This is will often coincide with the target audience of your company, but your mission is to find where they are on Twitter. You can do this by using social listening to find out what your target audience likes, needs, and responds to. Find what hashtags they’re using, what accounts they follow, what kind of content is popular with your target demographic, and use some of those tools.

Once you’ve begun to find your audience, follow their accounts and interact with them. Respond to their posts, reply to their comments, and generally interact with them in the communities they already occupy. Once you’ve interacted with them authentically, they’re more likely to follow you back and realize that you’re someone worth listening to. The second category of Twitter user you should focus on is influencers. These are people who are already established in your niche category and have a large following. Influencers are people that are trusted in their communities and niches. Identify a few influencers in your niche and start building a relationship.

You can learn a lot from their content and hopefully the influencers will also begin to share and interact with your content as well. A great Twitter content strategy can be as simple or complex as you need based on your experience level and company goals. You can have a successful strategy whether it’s just you tweeting between meetings for your small business or you’re a part of a social media team for a large company. Regardless of your situation or experience level, a Twitter content strategy that follows these basic principles is sure to elevate your social media presence.