We all know how useful Twitter can be for finding out about current events, and as one of the world’s most popular social networks, many businesses consider the platform to be a key marketing tool. It can be easy to forget about the different ways in which the site’s many features can be used by businesses, so here’s a round-up of everything Twitter has to offer.

 
Twitter lists

If you follow a large number of people on Twitter, it’s almost impossible to keep up with all of their tweets during a busy working day. Twitter lists are a useful way of keeping track of users of interest and ensuring you don’t miss anything important. Whether you follow a user or not, you can add them to a list – public or private – and have all of their updates flow into timelines of your choice. You might want to curate your lists by sectors relevant to your business, or by levels of priority. You could even compile a private list of competitors to keep an eye on what similar businesses are up to. A tool like Tweetdeck is great for seeing your lists as panels and organising them with ease.
 
Live streaming

With live video becoming increasingly popular on social media platforms, it’s no surprise that Twitter decided to add a live streaming feature for users. The company purchased live streaming app Periscope in 2015 and integrated it into Twitter iOS, but the site recently upped its game with live video content.  This year, they launched Twitter’s Live API, which allows companies to hook up their own professional broadcasting and editing equipment for their video output. Live streaming on Twitter doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down, with Wimbledon broadcasting matches live on the site this year, and the BBC teaming up with the social network to live stream two of their biggest General Election debate shows in June. While Facebook might still be the go-to outlet for businesses to live stream their content, it’s certainly worth checking out what Twitter has to offer.
 
Pinned tweets

If you’ve tweeted something and don’t want it to get lost in your timeline, you can pin your tweet to ensure that it’s always the first thing people see when they visit your page. It might be an event you’re running, a piece of news about your business that you’re especially proud of, or something you posted previously that received a great response – whatever it is, you can keep it where it will receive top exposure for as long as you like.

Advanced search

Twitter’s advanced search option offers search filters that could help your business to identify focused and localised information. You might want to search for people asking for recommendations relating to your business and then filter these by your location, or you might want to target your search to words or phrases mentioned in people’s user bios. Focusing your search will allow you to find what you’re looking for more quickly, and avoid getting lost in the sea of results that a regular search would throw up.

Polls

Polls are a great way to get your audience to participate in and respond to the content you’re putting out. You could use polls to conduct market research of your followers, gain an insight into their thoughts about developments in your industry, or simply to ask fun questions. Asking these questions are an easy way to interact with followers and get them to engage with your brand.

Twitter moments

Twitter moments are stories curated from people’s tweets to create a snapshot of a particular event. Initially curated exclusively by teams at Twitter, anyone can create a Twitter moment, and they can be formed from your own tweets as well as tweets of your followers or other users on the site. They can be a great way for your business to create a buzz around a story, such as a new product launch or an event, without spamming your followers with multiple retweets that they are likely to ignore. Creating a Twitter moment allows users to easily find out more about the topic you’re talking about, without them having to hunt around and scroll past countless tweets in your timeline. They can be a useful opportunity to present your followers with a clear and concise overview of whatever you want them to know about.

Do you have a favourite Twitter feature? Let us know @mucklemedia