So, you’ve decided to give Twitter a whirl and see what it can do for you. You may or may not have a specific objective in mind and just want to see if Twitter is a fit for you. That’s perfectly fine, and the way I approached it. But however you start, and for whatever reason, there are few simple things you must do if you want to give yourself the best chance of developing relationships with real people.
Of the many options that should be configured in your Twitter account settings panel, there are four essentials that should be tended to right away. For arguments sake, I’m going to assume you want to use Twitter for business.
- Name: Use your real name when registering a personal account. Using a false persona makes it difficult to develop a long-term relationship especially if one of your goals is to using Twitter as a marketing tool for business. A real name builds confidence and trust which is critical for a meaningful relationship whether online, or offline.
- Picture: Like your name a picture of yourself will strengthen trust, and represent you in the best possible light. The most common Twitter photo is a cropped photograph of your face. Sometimes people use their Twitter Photo to make a statement, overlaying their image with symbolic graphic additions such as ribbons or borders. The free site Twibbon (http://tibbon.com) has many design choice suggestions. Visuals are powerful so use this feature wisely.
- Weblink: Insert a link to a website home page, blog, Facebook personal or business page, LinkedIn profile, or any other link that you think would provide useful information about you, your company, and your offering. Eighty percent of your tweets should be useful information rather than self -promotion. The URL you have listed on your Twitter homepage will serve as your proxy giving people the option to chose for themselves whether or not to find out more about your. Remember, Twitter is about meeting people, not forcing yourself on them
- Bio: In keeping with Twitter’s character, the bio line gives you a chance to further define yourself, in 160 characters or less. This could be strictly business, or personal, or a combination of both. Or empty. I’d recommend filling it out though.
Happy tweeting and remember: it’s not the number of followers you have or the number of people you’re following but the quality of the tweets and the relationships you build. Give Twitter a chance to produce results, and for that, I would suggest working it for a year, at least. The results will come, but you must be active with your engagement.
Follow me on Twitter: @johnsutton4
Recommended reading: ‘Twitter Marketing An Hour a Day’ Hollis Thomases
Illustration: Leyla Torres
