What about Twitter?

 

What about Twitter?

If you’re familiar with Facebook, Twitter is basically just the status update part

of Facebook. It’s a short update (or “tweet”) that tells the world what you’re up

to, or indeed any message, as often as you like, in 140 characters or less. Twitter

is described as a “microblogging” site, which suggests it is a content tool, made

up of very short blog posts. While true, the way in which Twitter is now used is

much more social, which makes me think of it as more of a social network and

therefore an outreach tool. The truth lies somewhere in between.

“Twitter is basically just the status update part of Facebook”

Why does Twitter work for business?

The value of Twitter is in its ability to reach a vast yet niche audience of people

who are interested in what you have to say. You can build a following as an

authentic, trusted voice in your field. Its real-time “breaking news” aspect, plus

its widespread use on mobile devices makes it a medium for providing valuable

information for your community of interest where and when they want it. You

can let people know what is going on right now, tweet breaking news, plus more

commercial messages such as time-limited discounts and special offers.

Twitter becomes more or less useful depending on who you follow. For example,

I follow a number of other social media enthusiasts on Twitter. At any one time,

they are attending international conferences and live-tweeting from them,

discussing latest trends and developments in the field and sharing links. It helps

me keep current. If you can provide similarly useful information to your

community, you will build a loyal following.

“Twitter becomes more or less useful depending on who you

follow”

Twitter’s usefulness is similar to building an email list and it is an opt-in list

since people have sought you out and chosen to follow you for the valuable,

interesting content you provide. This may sometimes include news of your latest

products, special offers, and relevant links to your blog or website.

Get up to speed with Twitter

In this chapter we’ll look at the essential steps you need to take to use Twitter

effectively for your business.

1. Create your Twitter account.

2. Familiarize yourself with Twitter.

3. Get tweeting!

4. Build your followers.

Create your Twitter account

You can start to get a feel for Twitter at http://twitter.com without even creating

an account. You can see what the current “trending topics” are (i.e., what people

are tweeting about most often) and do a search yourself. But the best way to

learn about the possibilities is to sign up and start tweeting.

1. Register an account at http://twitter.com/signup. You can change your

“Full name,” password and email later if you want—but think carefully

about the username you choose since this will appear in the URL (e.g.,

http://twitter.com/jonreed). It’s a bit like registering a web address. You

can also change this later, but you’re unlikely to want to once you build up

a following. You can create a personal account, a business account, or

both.

2. Upload a profile picture. The most essential graphical element is your

profile picture. You must have one of these. If you stick with the default

Twitter bird icon, you will not be taken seriously on Twitter, and it will be

hard to attract followers. There is evidence to suggest that people like to

see a person rather than a company logo, but it’s really up to you.

3. Add a biography. You can also include a short (160 character)

description, or biography. You might choose to make this a personal

biography, or a description of your business. You can also keep changing

this if you want, perhaps to focus on a particular project, product, service,or offer.

4. Include your web address. This appears prominently on your profile.

page. Think carefully about where you want to link to, and again you can

change this whenever you want. You will probably want to link to the

home page of your business site, but you may also want to link to your

blog or to a special offer or a newly launched product or service. Many

people will click this link to see who is behind the Twitter profile, so use it

wisely.

5. Do NOT protect your updates. There is an option for you to pre-approve

your followers, by selecting “protect my updates.” Don’t do this unless you

want to be invisible on Twitter.

6. Customize your background. It is fairly easy to customize your color

scheme: Just go to Settings, Design, and Change design colors

(http://twitter.com/settings/design). You should choose colors that match

your branding. But you can also click on Change background image from

this screen and include a customized, branded background. There are

advantages to doing this, including the opportunity to add a graphical

sidebar that contains more information about your business. There is

further information on how to do this at

www.getuptospeed.biz/twitterback. But don’t worry if you don’t have a

customized background, at least to start with a lot of people will never

see your Twitter page anyway since they’ll follow your tweets on their

own timeline, or via a smartphone or desktop application such as

www.tweetdeck.com.

Familiarize yourself with Twitter

Finding your way around

Now, get to know the different elements of your Twitter page. This is the Profile

page for this book’s Twitter account, which is what you’ll see if you go to

http://twitter.com/getuptospeed.

Get Tweeting

You can tweet in the “traditional” way, to post updates about whatever you’re

doing this minute. But there is so much more you can do with Twitter, including

tweeting your business blog, using the “real-time web” aspect of it to tweet latest

news and time-limited discount codes, and—especially—to create a useful news

feed for your community of interest. This will make them want to follow you,

build an opted-in mailing list for you, and draw them on to your website. As

with any form of social media, it’s the usefulness of your content that will attract

followers.