How to Find Local Customers With Twitter

Do you use Twitter for your business? Looking for ways to connect with local customers? There are tactics you can use to improve the visibility of your local business and identify potential leads.

#1: Add Location Data to Your Tweets

Enabling location data on your tweets lets Twitter users recognize when they’re in close proximity to your business. They may be ready to buy from you at that point, after all, and turning it on will let users click on the location marker icon on your tweet to find out where your business is located. That’s one step closer to a sale.

#2: Find Leads With a Local Hashtag Search

One way to find local customers on Twitter is to use a tool like Hashtagify to search for people using specific hashtags. Then after you’ve compiled a list of potential leads, add them to a private Twitter list and start engaging with them.

Here’s how to get started.

Search for Hashtags

First, use Hashtagify to find out which Twitter users are using local hashtags, whether they’re in your local area or intending to travel to it in the near future.

For example, people tweeting the hashtag #lovedublin may be planning to visit the city, so they would represent potential leads for businesses in Dublin, Ireland.

To search for Twitter users tweeting that hashtag, open Hashtagify and enter your local hashtag in the search field. Click on the gear icon to deselect Instagram from the dialog box so that only Twitter results are returned.

Hashtagify then returns a list of users tweeting that hashtag, which you can view on the right side of the page.

Click on Show More at the bottom of the Top Recent Media list to view a full screen of tweets where the hashtag has been used.

Now go back to your original search results and click Table Mode at the bottom of the screen. This will let you see trending hashtags related to your hashtag. Look through the table for related hashtags and find relevant ones for your business. Then do a search for those hashtags to find even more prospects and compile a list of leads from the users.

After you’ve compiled a list of leads, you can then segment your leads from the hashtag search into Twitter lists and start monitoring their conversations.

To add leads to a private Twitter list, go to each user’s Twitter profile, click on the gear icon on the right side of the page and select Add or Remove From Lists.

#3: Target Customers With Promoted Trends

If you’re a large business with a significant advertising budget, Promoted Trends are another option to generate leads. Promoted Trends are featured at the top of the Trending Topics list for an entire day. These campaigns require a budget of around $200,000 per day, and if you want to set up a Promoted Trends campaign, you need to work with a Twitter ad specialist.