Five ways Twitter can help with link building

1 – #JournoRequest

#JournoRequest is not just another hashtag on Twitter – it’s a way to quickly reach those who might be able to offer relevant information or a contribution for various media articles. Additionally, there are hashtags such as #PRrequest and #BloggerRequest which serve a similar purpose, but note that the audience for these is slightly smaller.

#JournoRequest is a commonly used hashtag for journalists and content creators to connect directly and enable collaborations easily. It also comes in with a handy free email sign-up that delivers a daily media request round-up to your inbox, provided by well-established media database Response Source.

How it can help with link building:

#JournoRequest allows you to engage with journalists and offer relevant content – this can be a recent campaign, commentary about the latest industry trends or data that a journalist is looking for. Also, by going through requests daily, you will be able to start following people who are relevant for your clients’ sector, which makes managing media relations much easier. Keeping an eye on tweets with this hashtag on a regular basis helps you stay on top of active media requests and pitch relevant content and client contribution to achieve coverage and links.

2 – Media relations

Twitter, since its early days, has been a favourite for users looking for the latest news. Naturally, journalists have taken this onboard and are actively using the platform for sharing their stories, requests and opinions.

This makes Twitter a free database that can help you analyse what your target media and journalists are writing about, as well as a tool for engaging with those whose attention you’d like to attract. And by this, I don’t mean spam their profiles but definitely do follow on Twitter those journalists with whom you’re trying to establish relationships. As a result, you’ll be able to better understand what kind of stories they cover and tailor your pitches to their needs.

Remember, journalists receive hundreds of pitches per day, and your chances to stand out are slim ­–especially if your story is aimed at the wrong person!

How it can help with link building:

Paying attention to what your target journalists are writing about and engaging with their articles and requests raises the likelihood of your pitch being noticed. At the same time, understanding what they are writing about will allow you to factor observations and feedback from journalists into your content planning.

3 – Blogger and influencer relations

When talking about influencers, Instagram is probably the first platform that comes to mind. However, every social media platform has its niche and Twitter also has an important role to play in influencer relations, especially when it comes to micro-influencers and bloggers.

Besides #JournoRequest, a less frequent but also widely used hashtag is #BloggerRequest that, as the name suggests, gathers requests from bloggers and influencers. The hashtag is also used by brands looking for collaborations – specific requests from brands can also be found under the hashtag #BloggersWanted.

Figuring out where to start when it comes to finding the right people to collaborate with can be challenging. Twitter provides you with a way to share your enquiry easily and access relevant contacts quickly by using the hashtags.

How it can help with link building:

If you’re looking to collaborate with influencers, using these hashtags in your tweet will land it straight in front of the eyeballs of your targets. By engaging with bloggers and influencers on Twitter you’ll be able to check the quality and tone of their previous work, which in turn will help when it comes to deciding if they are the right match for your client and link building strategy.

4 – Trending topics

In order to effectively understand the media landscape and plan campaigns and flexible link building strategies, content professionals need to regularly pay attention to trending topics.

With its trending topics sidebar, Twitter has been leading the way when it comes to spotting hot topics worldwide, resulting in this feature gradually being introduced to Facebook and other social media platforms. The great thing about Twitter trends is that you can change your location and look into global, country-specific and town-specific trends, which can help with tailoring content to specific regions or understanding which topics have global appeal.

How it can help with link building:

Creating topical content brings you one step closer to landing coverage and links. If you’re following your target media publications and journalists on Twitter, you’ll be able to see who tweeted about trending topics which can give you a good indication of their interests.

Regularly following Twitter trends and marking down days of relevance for your clients helps with creating a content calendar and developing a proactive outreach strategy focused around specific dates. All of these actively increase chances of producing relevant content that publications are willing to talk about.

5 – Twitter Archiver

Twitter Archiver is a handy Google Sheet add-on that does the job of compiling relevant tweets for you. It runs in the background following the rules you set up.

For example, you can use this tool to pull all relevant tweets containing #JournoRequest into a Google Sheet. You can then specify keywords or phrases – for example “investment” or “personal finance” – to filter the results down to only those tweets relevant to your needs. The results are refreshed every hour and, depending on how specific your search is, it can generate as many or as few results as you need. The free version of this tool allows you to set up Twitter Archiver for only one Google Sheet, but you can change the rule as many times as you like which will result in new tabs in your sheet.

How it can help with link building:

The results pulled by Twitter Archiver can be used to follow relevant Twitter conversations around your client’s keywords, which can help with proactive outreach as well as content planning. If you don’t have time to check Twitter regularly for #JournoRequests, this tool does it for you and can help you with spotting opportunities.

These are a few examples of the ways in which Twitter can help content creators take an active and informed role in conversations with journalists. By ensuring that your content and recommendations are always backed by an understanding of the media landscape your clients are in, you create a regular news beat which increases the likelihood of a successful link building strategy.

Have you used any other social media platforms for similar purposes? Have you tried any of these tactics? Let us know how they worked for you!