Twitter Set-up Guide How to Optimize Your Profile

WHY TWITTER IS VALUABLE TO YOUR

BUSINESS

Before You Get Started Consider if you want a personal or a business Twitter account. Both are good to have but serve different purposes.

Act as a liaison to the public for your company Update people on what you’re working on Share tidbits about your personality Expand your company’s network and make connections Build better direct relationships

Represents the company as a whole. Use this type of account to: Keep your clients up-to-date on your events Promote recent blog articles, news, or other content Update your prospects about services offered Give real-time updates at conferences and events

Company Account Personal Account

Used by an individual and is more personalized. Use this type of account to:

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In short, Twitter is a relationship building and relationship maintenance tool; the most obvious business use of Twitter is to meet potential customers and leads the same way you would at a networking event or tradeshow. However, you can also use it to: develop and promote your brand, interact with your clients, track what people are saying about your company and brand, create buzz around upcoming events, allow individual team members to act as liaisons to the public, promote other content you’ve created, and even develop direct relationships with bloggers and journalists for potential PR placement.

Step 1: Sign Up for Twitter

1. Fill in your name, email, and the password you want to use for your account – then select “Sign up for Twitter.”

2. Once inside, create your username or, as Twitter likes to call it, your handle. Here are a few tips:

Personal account Your full name or a variation of your name A combination of your name and your company A combination of your name and your industry

Company account Your full company name An abbreviation of your company name Your company tagline (if well known)

3. Click “Sign Up” and invite email contacts to build your network if you want to. This is not required.

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Step 2: Personalize Your Profile Now that you’ve created an account, you’re official! However, to get the most out of your personal or company Twitter profile, a few things need to happen before you follow others or promote yourself. Let’s tackle one task at a time by starting with your profile page. Click on “Edit profile” on the right-hand side of your Twitter page and follow these tips to ensure you have a profile that impresses:

1. PROFILE PHOTO Once in edit mode, go to your

profile photo and select the camera icon to insert an image of your personal picture or your company logo.

2. HEADER PHOTO This image will cover the top

portion of your profile page so it should reflect your brand appropriately. Use our Twitter Cover Photo Template to ensure your image is big enough to fill this space.

3. NAME/SUMMARY Located just below your profile

photo, fill in your company name, a brief description of what you/your firm does, and your URL so those looking at your page can easily go to your website to learn more.

4. THEME COLOR Carefully select a theme

color that reflects your firm’s branding. The color picker is located just below the URL field. Once this is done, click on “Save Changes.”

5. SETTINGS Go to your profile icon located in the

top, right-hand corner of your profile page and select “Settings” from the drop-down menu. Here you will have the ability to change privacy settings, request a Twitter archive, change your password, and set your notification preferences.

Step 3: Start Tweeting

Types of Tweets 1. Observations: about what you’re doing, thinking, or feeling (typically for personal accounts) 2. What You’re Reading: post a link to an interesting blog or article 3. Videos: post a link to your cool new video driving traffic back to your site 4. Events: share links to your next client or prospecting event and encourage RSVPs 5. Content: post your blogs, news mentions, infographics, or downloadable tools 6. Conversation: send messages directly to another person/company by using an @ sign 7. Retweet: If you like what someone else shared or said, compliment them by retweeting

Before finding others to follow on Twitter, we recommend tweeting a few things of your own first to give everyone else an idea of the type of content you will be sharing. Remember, your most valuable asset is the information you share and, the more others see that, the more popular you will become.

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Step 4: Follow and Get Followed

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Building your network is the most challenging and time-consuming part of using Twitter. Expanding your network doesn’t happen immediately; you need to commit and take the time to use Twitter effectively. By following people, you will receive their updates on a regular basis in your Twitter stream. This is your chance to learn about their lives, check out the blog posts they are reading, and meet the people they interact with!

1. #DISCOVER Use the #Discover tab at the top of your Twitter

account or click on the “Who to Follow” button to immediately see what’s trending in your network and see who you can follow.

2. FOLLOW TWITTER’S LEAD When initially setting up your account, simply follow

Twitter’s step-by-step suggestions on how you can find relevant individuals and companies to follow.

3. SEARCH The search bar at the top of your Twitter account is a

universal search tool, so leverage it when scanning for certain handles or keywords.

4. WHO’S FOLLOWING THOSE YOU FOLLOW? Twitter has a helpful window off to the side of your

stream to let you know who your followers are following. Chances are, these people are those you want in your network.

FIND FOLLOWERS INCREASE FOLLOWS 1. LOTS OF TWEETS = LOTS OF FOLLOWS The more active you are, the more others will see your posts.

2. BE A NEEDED AUTHORITY Post valuable content and refer to yourself or your company as the

expert in a particular area by mentioning it in your handle or your bio.

4. USE HASHTAGS The best way to remain relevant and timely is by participating in a

conversation that involves a hot topic. Post updates at events or insert your stance on a specific trend affecting the industry.

5. RESHARE OTHERS’ CONTENT The more you promote other’s tweets via replies or retweets, the

more they will promote yours.

6. FOLLOW OTHERS It’s the ultimate compliment and often results in reciprocation, i.e.,

following you.

7. THE BUTTON OR THE WIDGET Drive traffic to your Twitter profile by promoting it via your website

and educating your clients and prospects about what’s out there.

Step 5: Engage and Analyze Now that you’re increasing the amount of activity and impressions you create on Twitter, you need to begin looking at how your tweets are performing. Gaining insight on what content is resonating with your audience is extremely valuable as you continue to improve your social media strategy.

1. SIGN IN TO YOUR TWITTER ANALYTICS DASHBOARD: analytics.twitter.com

Step 5: Engage and Analyze

2. MONITOR YOUR BRAND Using the Twitter Search tool (http://search.twitter.com), you can search and track what people are saying about your company, services, competitors, or any other hot words in the industry. If you find someone tweeting about your services or a person who is looking for a product solution you provide, let them know! 3. PROMOTE YOUR EVENTS Tweet-ups are a great way to get to know your Twitter community offline. The next time your company holds an event, fundraiser, or open house, tweet about it. Best practice is to send people directly to an event sign-up page which can be hosted on your website. 4. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CLIENTS Designate a specific person in your firm to track your company name and products in Twitter Search. That team member can address any negative comments, give feedback, and help clients solve their challenges in real time. The speedy response will impress the client. Also, be sure to follow back everyone who follows your firm and use Twitter as another way to update clients of any downtime regarding office hours like a holiday or market activity. 5. ANALYZE ENGAGEMENT AND ACTIVITY Track these main Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) in your Twitter dashboard:

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Reach: total number of followers. This is your raw distribution power. Response Rate: average number of @replies per tweet. Branding Mentions: How often are people referencing your company or services. Sales Leads: Number of visitors from Twitter who take action with your brand.

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SECURE TWITTER HANDLES Create appropriate and evergreen company Twitter profiles. This applies to your personal, business, and any other sub-groups like client service.

POPULATE YOUR PROFILES Give followers the information they need to interact with your business. Include info like your website URL, a brand description, office hours, and contact information.

ASSIGN RESPONSIBILTY TO TEAM Decide which team members will be active on Twitter and clearly define roles, responsibilities, and escalation procedures for timely engagement.

SELECT A MANAGEMENT TOOOL Streamline the management of your Twitter profile and other social profiles by choosing the right tool to engage, publish, and analyze top performing content. Hootsuite is a perfect example of this type of tool.

SET YOUR SUCCESS METRICS Before you begin, set goals for Twitter engagement based on your larger firm goals, available bandwidth, and desired actions from your Followers.

CREATE A CONTENT CALENDAR Keep your social team organized and on point with structured content, drafted Tweets, and regularly scheduled posts. Use our Digital Content Editorial Calendar to get you started.

INCORPORATE MULTIMEDIA Videos, photos, infographics, and other visually appealing content will draw more attention and traffic to your posts – and encourage sharing.

FORGET YOUR FOLLOWER NUMBER Bigger communities don’t mean bigger and better results. Be authentic and strategic with who you follow and your audience will grow organically.

SCALE TO SEARCH Identify keywords related to the industry, your geographic area, and your firm’s niche. Search Twitter around these terms and discover new connections and opportunities to grow your follower base.

CHECKLIST

TEST AND LEARN Monitor Tweets to see engagement levels; assess which messages are working and which are falling flat. Course correct to ensure you hit your goals.

TALK TWITTER HANDLE: Also known as a username. This is the name you select to represent yourself. FOLLOW: To subscribe to someone’s updates on Twitter. You do this by clicking the “Follow” button on that specific person’s Twitter page. When you follow someone, their updates will be displayed on your Twitter page so you know what they are doing. FOLLOW BACK: To subscribe to the updates of someone who has recently started following you. Whenever a new person follows you, you receive an email alert from Twitter. In the email, there will be a link to that person’s profile. By clicking the link, you can check out who they are and decide to follow them back or not. FOLLOWER: A person who has subscribed to receive your updates. You can see your total number of followers on your Twitter profile page. @REPLY: A public message sent from one Twitter user to another by putting @USERNAME at the beginning of the tweet. DIRECT MESSAGE (or DM): A private message sent from one Twitter user to another by either clicking the “message” link on their profile or typing D USERNAME. TWITTER STREAM: A list of a person’s or company’s real-time updates. Every time you post an update, it goes into your Twitter stream. TWEET-UP: An event specifically organized for Twitter-users to meet up and network, usually informal. HASHTAG (#): A tool to aggregate the conversation surrounding an event or theme. Created by combining a # with a word, acronym, or phrase (#WORD). RETWEET (or RT): To repeat what someone else has already tweeted. People do this if someone has said something especially valuable and they want their own network to see the information, too. (Example: Retweet @USERNAME: Check out this cool resource).

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TWITTER