Building a business online without a decent Twitter profile is like going to a construction site without your toolbox. What can you really do after you arrive? With that said, there are so many businesses and individual business operators who have yet to embrace the awesome power of this community.
While those individuals are still standing at the starting gate, the wise entrepreneurs and bloggers will be well down the road to whatever success they have set out to achieve.
Here is the thing about Twitter. It is a social network, so get out there and be sociable.
Here are some tips for building a great profile and using this tool to your advantage.
- Select your business or personal name if available. This is a key branding tool and what you will be known by for as long as you are on the internet. Multiple accounts for a single business should establish a naming convention. @ABCO_Bill, @ABCO_Linda, etc. Using an underscore as a separator may make the name easier to read. (Do not include the “@” in the name).
- Get yourself an avatar. No, not one of those bootleg copies of the movie, I mean a global image, a photo or a logo so that you are instantly recognized when people see you. That standard issue Twitter avatar is being sported by thousands of profiles online, so you have no real chance to stand out and build your own brand. A passport style photo with a smile works best.
- Begin the process of building your follower base. This will take some time to build and you want to do this organically by meeting people with a common interest. I do not recommend using auto-follow or other less personable techniques designed simply to increase numbers. This community is just like real life; you observe and get a feel for things, while making new friends as you go along.
The internet is loaded with sociable and helpful people, so finding friends and followers with similar interests will not be an issue.
- Be sure to complete the bio section of your profile so that people have some idea of what your interests are. When others land on your Twitter profile page, you have about 15 seconds to make an impression.
Some key areas that visitors will scan as soon as they arrive:
- That Bio, to see what your interests are. This section is limited to 160 characters so use the space wisely.
- Your web address, they will want to know what your website is and likely have a look. If you do not have a web presence, you need to get one as soon as possible.
- Number of Tweets. This is not to say that you need to reach some magic number to be successful, but obviously if you are following 300 people and you only have 3 Tweets, it leaves the impression that you will not be interacting with people very much.
- Your last couple of Tweets to see what you have been saying and how you have been engaging with others.
All of this occurs in that 15 second time span I mentioned earlier.
- Strike a balance between the number of people you follow and those who are following you. Following 300 when you have but 5 followers looks highly unbalanced and may even get your account suspended by Twitter. You do not want to take on any of the characteristics of a spammer. Follow 30 or 40 then wait for them to respond, keeping the ratio in balance. This is a slow growth, but more natural way to build a following.
- Tweet something of value. People are always interested in information that is helpful to them, so always ask yourself if someone can use what you are about to Tweet. When Tweeting to an individual, be cognizant of what you place into the main Twitter stream. It is sometimes best to DM (Direct Message) them. For instance, if someone’s website is down or you see a serious error in their blog post, do not place this in the main stream, DM the person and let them know.
- Pay particular attention to “replies” and “direct Messages”. You will want to respond to these in a timely fashion.
- Use a management tool like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite which provides greater flexibility and more features than Twitter’s interface.
- Observe what others do and learn from the top users in the community. You will know who they are, always actively participating in meaningful conversations and Tweeting out something of value.
- Learn the language of Twitter by observing the tweets of others. You may also use this “Twittonary” to look up various words from A to Z.
- Do not get hypnotized by this thing. Be sure to balance your time spent on Twitter and all social networking sites for that matter. They can be huge consumers of your time.
- Know when to hold them and know when to fold them. Inevitably, you will receive some negative Tweet from someone. Your best response may likely be no response, with the exception of an unhappy business customer. In the case of the latter, this could present an opportunity to address an issue and turn it into a positive. We all make mistakes and it is important to face them head on, make the adjustment and move on.
These are some of my recommendations for using Twitter to build your profile. Remember to grow slow but steady. For a more comprehensive look inside the workings of this community, you should visit this excellent Twitter 101 Guide.
I am more than happy to assist you as well; you need only drop me a line on my Contact Page, where I will respond as quickly as reasonably possible.
Happy Tweeting!
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