Terrific Tweeting: Being Successful with Twitter

Whether you’re using Twitter for business networking, social listening or lead generation — you’re going to want to avoid the pitfalls and protect your own reputation, as well as your company’s. This guide will help you do it right and keep things professional. So you end up more Richard Branson and less Katie Hopkins.

Welcome to the Twittersphere

It’s well recognised that Twitter offers huge opportunities for education, lead gen and networking. It holds a huge volume of information. And both businesses and individuals interact with the platform, and with each other, every day. But when there’s such a huge volume of information at your fingertips, it’s probably not surprising that Twitter can be daunting to some.

With c.500 million posts per day all competing for a share of voice, how can you cut through the noise and access information that actually helps you?
Luckily, there are tools at your disposal that will help you do just that. This article is your introduction to the world of Twitter. It will not only help you put your best foot forward online, but will also help you use the huge volume of information to your advantage.

Your first, essential steps

First impressions mean everything. If you’re just starting out, or even if you’ve been using Twitter for a while but aren’t seeing much success, a great starting point is reviewing your profile.

When you’re sharing content and networking on Twitter, the people you speak to will want to know who you are, and what you do. Your areas of expertise. Your specialisms. Your location.

Get the following steps right and you’ll be off to a flying start:

Profile Picture 
No one wants to follow faceless accounts. And you’re not a brand so using a logo is also a no-no. What they do want to see is the person behind the profile. Social media is all about engagement, and people want to engage with other people. So use a professional head-shot, maybe the same one you’re using on LinkedIn.

Header Image 
Try to be visually engaging, so when someone comes to your Twitter profile for the first time you make a good impression. Consider using something that reflects your personality. If you need inspiration, there are some great sites that can help, such as www.twitrcovers.com

Keep it professional and make sure the image is big enough so it doesn’t pixelate or become fuzzy. And avoid using words and phone numbers… they only get cut off most of the time.

Concise and Descriptive Bio 
You only get 140 characters for your elevator pitch to tell people what they will get if they follow you, so make it count. Write something interesting and convincing. Consider including specialisms and locations and don’t be afraid to include a hashtag or two. “#Bristol based #Social #Media specialist” is a good example.

Location 
If your networking activity is focused in a particular area, be sure to include it in your profile. Failing that be sure to list your country.

Website 
Include a link back to your website so people can easily see where you work. Your marketing team will thank you for it.

Great Tweets 
Last, but by no means least, when people are deciding to follow you, chances are they are going to do so based on your most recent tweets. If the last thing you posted is three months old, visitors are not going to think you are actively networking.

In the next section, I cover guidance for finding, curating and creating winning content to share with your network and promote your personal brand. But for instant access to a steady feed of well-written, targeted content, check in with your marketing team and the articles they write. And when you see something you like… share it!

Start the conversation

Once your profile is looking sharp, it’s time to get out there and get involved in some conversations. Or even start some of your own.

When tweeting, as a rule of thumb, try to be about 50% nicer online than you already are offline. It’s easy to blurt out something deemed innocent, which later causes offence. So give it some thought. However long you spend thinking about your tweet, remember that the internet is infinite. Things said cannot be unsaid.

When using Twitter, you can use the following tactics to gain more reach for your content, massage the egos of those you are trying to attract, or enter into more one-on-one conversations with specific members of your network.

Favourite
A favourite on Twitter is the equivalent of a like on Facebook or LinkedIn. It’s a non-committal head nod to the person sharing the original content. This is a great way to let people know you have read their work and think it’s good. But it is non-committal so if you want to make more of an impression, a retweet is your next best move.

Retweet 
Mimicking is the sincerest form of flattery. Retweeting someone else’s post is a form of mimickery. It’s a great way of telling people that you’ve read their content and it was so awesome you just had to tell your contacts about it. Retweeting also makes you look good. It shows that you have the finger on the pulse. That you’re educating yourself with the latest in your industry. Not everything you share on Twitter needs to be your own.

Quote
Quotes are Retweets v2.0. You’re still taking awesome content and sharing it with your network. But by quoting the content, you have the opportunity to splice in some of your own thoughts. Like adding a comment on LinkedIn, by quoting and adding you’re a bringing a little of yourself to the discussion.
Hashtags allow you to get the content you are sharing to people outside of your immediate network. Hashtags link together topics and are a great way for users to see everything that’s being said on a subject. This might include specialisms like #Marketing. Or locations like #Manchester. When tweeting, it’s worth considering what hashtags you might be able to use to extend your reach even further.

Mentions 
These help you direct your tweet at a particular connection. Maybe you’re retweeting a post on #engagement after talking to @contentguy about it. Including their ‘twitter handle’, their twitter name prefixed with ‘@’, notifies that connection directly. But be careful where you position their twitter handle. If you tweet starts with the ‘@’ symbol, only that person will see your content. If you want your share to be further reaching, be sure that your tweet starts with text, or at least a full stop. This will make the content public so others in your network can see what you’re sharing and to whom.

Communities and networking

Now that you’re active, with a steady stream of trailblazing content being regularly shared via your profile, you’re going to want to expand your network.

Much like networking on LinkedIn, randomly following anyone and everyone is unlikely to prove that useful. You’ll just end up with a feed full of noise, preventing you from spotting key opportunities for discussion and lead nurturing in your chosen area of expertise.

The following ideas will help you make more of your network:

Finding people 
Finding quality accounts to follow and interact with is as simple as reverse engineering the steps you’ve taken to be discovered. Searching for hashtags on topics or locations will help you to uncover accounts of note. Twitter’s search function will look for your search term in both tweets and profiles, giving you an overview of everything on a topic. For example, a search for #Bristol returns a host of information. Everything from Bristol based businesses to events to services available in the areas. To refine your results even further, under the heading ‘More options’ you can select ‘Advanced Search’. This will allow you to be even more specific in the results you see. You can include or exclude addition search terms, select a language, look for tweets mentioning specific accounts, specific geographical location, specify a date range, even search for posts under sentiment. Have a play with this feature. It really can reveal some interesting finds.

Chats and scheduled discussions 
Another option for you to find and interact with key people on Twitter is to keep an eye out for ‘Tweetchats’ or search for scheduled discussions. Simply put, these are scheduled times that focus on a particular topic or location, all tied together with… you’ve guessed it… a hashtag. These can be as wide ranging as the famous #FollowFriday used every week to recommend choice accounts to follow. Right down to the very specific #MidlandsHour, held every Wednesday from 8–9pm where local businesses promote their services and answer questions.

Using lists 
Inevitably, as your network grows, so will the amount of content in your feed, making it harder for you to cut through the noise as see key information. Luckily, Twitter offers a list function to allow you to segment your ever-increasing network into groups, giving you different ways to look at your feed. And you can segment in whatever way suits you, by topic, by location, by opportunity. To add someone to a list simply go to their profile and click the cog icon, then select add to lists. You will then be presented with existing lists you have set up or you can create a new one. When creating a list, think about whether or not your list will be private. In some cases, a public list is fine. “Amazing Businesses” for example. But a list named “Hot Leads” or “Clients” should probably be private.

Summary

Above all else, Twitter is a social platform. While it’s important to be professional, it’s equally important to be personable. Approachable. Human. Remember, Twitter isn’t a place to sell. No one wants to read tweets ‘buy from me’. It is, however, a great place to develop valuable relationships and demonstrate your expertise.

What are your experiences of using Twitter? Have I missed any tactics that you use to start the conversation? Tell me below…