How to use Twitter for Link Building

If you’ve been following digital marketing at all, you know that link building is a critical component. Link building is the practice of securing links with high-authority online publishers. Many times, that’s easier said than done.

That’s where Twitter comes in. To procure those high-authority links, you need to connect with journalists, authors, contributors, and thought-leaders. There are a variety of ways to attempt that, and Twitter is one platform that can help. Twitter is based on creating communities of like-minded people through hashtags and trending topics making it an excellent networking too. Just check out #LawTwitter on the network and you’ll see what we mean. Now, let’s explain specifically why Twitter can help in this arena.

• There is a theory of interpersonal communication called the “mere exposure effect”. It means that unconsciously, people assign more trust to others they encounter on a regular basis, even if they don’t directly interact with them. You don’t need to know people personally to find them credible, as long as you have been exposed to them before – vs. strangers.
• Next, the anonymity-and-identifiable-other theory means that you like people better and assign more trust to them if they have personality traits that align with your own. For example, if you’re an avid gardener and encounter two people – one who states they love to garden and one who lives in a high rise with no green space – you are more likely to prefer doing business with the first person.

Now that we have uncovered some psychology behind why Twitter can help with link building, here’s the how-to.

1. Build out your Twitter profile and add detail. Give people the opportunity to see you, and personality traits they might relate to. Ensure you have added your full name, a relatable bio, photos, and a full timeline. It’s important that once you reach out to potential partners, they don’t see a sparse timeline when they research you. Pro tip: to increase recognition, use the same avatar for all of your social media.
2. Create Twitter lists. This is an easy way to keep track of who you’ve reached out to or who you’ve gotten a favorable response from. You should also create a “wishlist” of people who you’d like to make contact with, and build lists for specific campaigns. Ensure you’re interacting with people on the lists organically and building relationships.
3. Interact! It’s time to spark some relationships. It’s important to do this organically – that is, be authentic. Be yourself, and let your real personality show with your actions on Twitter. Easy ways to begin interacting are to follow or favorite an author and their tweets. This shows appreciation, and also gets your name out there, which those authors will hopefully recognize over time. Retweeting and replying take a little more time and effort. This will get you more exposure, but you have to have interesting and relevant responses. It’s especially important to be authentic here. However, the payoff is often worth it as responses can lead to natural conversations which build relationships. A simple, effective tactic is to reply to one of your favorite journalist’s articles, and try to begin a conversation about it.
4. Timing is everything. It makes sense to attempt to interact with a blogger or writer about 2-3 days before you send them an official pitch to help with your content. Remember that the more they recognize your name or avatar, the more likely they are to seriously look at your email when it comes through their inbox.

Takeaway

While Twitter might not be the first platform that comes to mind when you think of SEO, it can be a valuable tool for link building. We can’t stress enough how important link-building is for all things digital, but how are high authority online publishers going to find your content if you don’t have a great online presence? Twitter is one of the many ways for your law firm to make itself known and heard which in turn can encourage others to share your content and link back to your site If you’re having trouble employing a strategy to build credibility and get your firm noticed online, we can help.