Twitter overload...
I was reluctant – VERY reluctant – to write this post. Do we really need another post about Twitter? I’ve run across some Twitter users (for biz) lately that tells me perhaps we do. After all, some people are just now signing up, and may not have read any of the twizillion “Twitter 101″ posts available.
So… here we are. How to set up and use Twitter for business.
1. Use your real name.
When you sign up your account, include your real name. It can be your username or not, but include it in the “name” field at the least.
If you don’t want people to know who you are, social media probably isn’t for you.
2. Fill out your bio.
In general, I don’t follow people who don’t have a bio, and I’m not the only one. Why? Because the only reason I would want to follow you is because of who you are. If I don’t know who you are, I’m far less likely to follow.
Beyond just telling other people who you are, the bio can also help explain why you’re on Twitter in the first place. Many people use Twitter for business, so they naturally include their occupation and position in the bio, along with interests pertaining to their field of work.
If you don’t want people to know what you do, go ahead and skip Twitter.
3. Fill in your location.
Some people are leery of this because of privacy issues. But consider: 1) if you’re using the internet, your location is already compromised, and 2) no one really cares where you are except that it somehow relates to themselves.
In other words, the fact that I am in Rapid City, South Dakota only matters to other people in this area, and can already be found out through other means (see: Google).
The advantage of posting your location is it will be much easier to network with locals, and associates you with your region in searches. So use your city and state (not GPS coordinates, you geeks – no one knows what those mean!)
If you don’t want people to know where you are, avoid the internet. And mobile devices. And electricity.
4. Don’t protect your tweets.
This is bad enough for personal use, but for a business? You might as well not bother with Twitter.
So many people will say “no one gives a crap what you think,” and maybe there’s some truth in that, if all you are posting is a useless stream of narcissistic minutiae. But I think people are more interested in each other than we’re willing to admit, provided what you have to say is relevant to others.
Tweets I can’t see are not relevant. Part of how I decide whether or not to follow someone is by looking at what they’ve been talking about. If I can’t see that, I’m just not going to bother.
If you hop on Twitter and protect your updates, it’s like walking into a mixer and standing in a corner whispering. Are you here to network, or what?
If you don’t want people to hear what you have to say, don’t bother with the internet at all.
5. The only thing that matters about your avatar is consistency.
People will tell you to post your real picture with a smiling face, and they’re not wrong. But if you can’t bring yourself to do that (I’m working on it), then at least make sure whatever you post as your profile picture is something you want to keep there for a while.
Your profile photo should reflect your company somehow, to keep things consistent. A variation of your logo is a good choice. Just try not to change it often.
When I scan my Twitter feed (at a certain point you will have to do this), I find myself stopping at specific tweets because of the person’s avatar. Either the picture stands out, or I’ve grown accustomed to paying attention to that person’s tweets. Either way, the avatar is what keeps me from overlooking that person.
The problem is these people may change their profile photo frequently. Now I don’t recognize them, and am more likely to overlook them when scanning the feed.
If you don’t want people to know what you look like… uh… you’re probably like me.
6. Use a custom background.
The default backgrounds make me sleepy. Change it to a solid color, if you have to, but PLEASE use something custom. You can Google search for pre-made backgrounds, too, but keep in mind the background should also fit your company or brand.
Change your background under Settings, in the Design tab.
If you use the default backgrounds, you’re boring. Or lazy.
7. Engage!
Now you’re set up so people know who you are, what you do, and where you are coming from. These are all good things when you’re networking, especially for business.
Twitter isn’t a role-playing game. Be real or begone, ye foul beast!
Use Twitter search to find others like you or people having conversations about topics of interest to you. Find people to learn from. Find people to teach. Find people to laugh with, argue with, or people you can help or who can help you. Use TweetDeck, Seesmic or Hootsuite to streamline your efforts.
And have fun.
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The Mothership:
