When social media first came on the scene as a way for businesses to market themselves directly to customers, it took some time for companies to jump on the bandwagon.
Once these companies started to get comfortable using Facebook, setting up a page and interacting with customers through a "wall," Twitter arrived to shake things up.
Companies started using Twitter for business, learning a whole new set of lingo, including phrases like "following," "tweeting" and "trending topics.
" With its 140 character limit, hashtags and handles, Twitter may seem like a foreign language best left to texting teenagers.
But don't disregard it so fast.
In reality, Twitter is an incredible social networking tool with the power to transform your business simply, quickly and for free.
There are few other marketing avenues that can boast such great incentives.
As soon as you've gotten past the initial learning curve and you've started learning how the system works, you'll find it's easy to send off a tweet in a mere matter of seconds.
You can build a targeted following of customers who are interested in what you have to say in anywhere from a few days to a few months.
Twitter will also help your business to engage more directly with customers.
Best of all, it's a cost-effective way to advertise.
Now that you've decided to set up a Twitter account, consider the first few things you'll need to do to get started.
With this guide, you'll be tweeting in no time at all.
1.
Create an Account Just like joining any other social networking site, it shouldn't take you too long to set up your Twitter account.
You'll need to choose a name for your handle, which is designated with an "@" sign.
This handle, like a username, is how people will send you tweets.
When you want to send someone else a message, you begin it with "@thename," followed by the message.
2.
Set up Your Profile Next, you should set up a Twitter profile.
You'll need to fill out some brief information about yourself that appears on the front page, such as a short biography and your location.
Choose a profile picture and a background that is relevant to your company.
There are many free designs to choose from, or you can have a custom background made.
When selecting a picture, it's often best to choose one of an actual person rather than a logo or design.
This will help your customers to relate to your tweets on a more personal level.
3.
Start Following People After you've set up your profile, you can begin to follow other people.
"Following" is the term used to describe people who are on your favorites list.
This is the best way to begin getting followers yourself, as many people will follow you back after you've followed them.
As you follow people, however, keep in mind your "following" to "followed by" ratio.
Your business will look more professional if you are followed by a significantly larger number of people than you follow.
Once you've gained some traction, it may be a good idea to condense the list of people you follow.
4.
Practice Brevity Practice brevity as you begin Tweeting, because you only have 140 characters to get your message across! If you're posting a link to an informative article or a resource for customers, use bit.
ly or another URL shortener to clean up your links.
This allows you to simplify a link to fewer characters, giving you more room for your message.
5.
Begin Tweeting When you start tweeting, it's best to begin by offering content and information to your audience.
Customers will be more interested in following someone who regularly posts valuable resources rather than someone who is always offering a sales pitch.
Once you've gained trust from your audience members with a proven track record of helpful information, you can begin to integrate sales messages or informative content about your own products.
Be sure that anything you tweet about has your customers' best interests in mind.
6.
Search for Popular Topics Another great way to engage with customers through Twitter is by searching for trending topics.
A trending topic is one that people are talking about through large conversations.
They keep track of the messages with a symbol called a hashtag, which is designated with the "#" symbol.
In tweets where you are discussing a trending topic, you will post your tweet followed by a "#topicname" hashtag.
The hashtag will show up as a link.
When people click on this link, it takes them to other tweets that mentioned it, so they can see what others have to say.
Starting trending topics of your own is a great way to use Twitter for business and to start meeting other new people.
Once these companies started to get comfortable using Facebook, setting up a page and interacting with customers through a "wall," Twitter arrived to shake things up.
Companies started using Twitter for business, learning a whole new set of lingo, including phrases like "following," "tweeting" and "trending topics.
" With its 140 character limit, hashtags and handles, Twitter may seem like a foreign language best left to texting teenagers.
But don't disregard it so fast.
In reality, Twitter is an incredible social networking tool with the power to transform your business simply, quickly and for free.
There are few other marketing avenues that can boast such great incentives.
As soon as you've gotten past the initial learning curve and you've started learning how the system works, you'll find it's easy to send off a tweet in a mere matter of seconds.
You can build a targeted following of customers who are interested in what you have to say in anywhere from a few days to a few months.
Twitter will also help your business to engage more directly with customers.
Best of all, it's a cost-effective way to advertise.
Now that you've decided to set up a Twitter account, consider the first few things you'll need to do to get started.
With this guide, you'll be tweeting in no time at all.
1.
Create an Account Just like joining any other social networking site, it shouldn't take you too long to set up your Twitter account.
You'll need to choose a name for your handle, which is designated with an "@" sign.
This handle, like a username, is how people will send you tweets.
When you want to send someone else a message, you begin it with "@thename," followed by the message.
2.
Set up Your Profile Next, you should set up a Twitter profile.
You'll need to fill out some brief information about yourself that appears on the front page, such as a short biography and your location.
Choose a profile picture and a background that is relevant to your company.
There are many free designs to choose from, or you can have a custom background made.
When selecting a picture, it's often best to choose one of an actual person rather than a logo or design.
This will help your customers to relate to your tweets on a more personal level.
3.
Start Following People After you've set up your profile, you can begin to follow other people.
"Following" is the term used to describe people who are on your favorites list.
This is the best way to begin getting followers yourself, as many people will follow you back after you've followed them.
As you follow people, however, keep in mind your "following" to "followed by" ratio.
Your business will look more professional if you are followed by a significantly larger number of people than you follow.
Once you've gained some traction, it may be a good idea to condense the list of people you follow.
4.
Practice Brevity Practice brevity as you begin Tweeting, because you only have 140 characters to get your message across! If you're posting a link to an informative article or a resource for customers, use bit.
ly or another URL shortener to clean up your links.
This allows you to simplify a link to fewer characters, giving you more room for your message.
5.
Begin Tweeting When you start tweeting, it's best to begin by offering content and information to your audience.
Customers will be more interested in following someone who regularly posts valuable resources rather than someone who is always offering a sales pitch.
Once you've gained trust from your audience members with a proven track record of helpful information, you can begin to integrate sales messages or informative content about your own products.
Be sure that anything you tweet about has your customers' best interests in mind.
6.
Search for Popular Topics Another great way to engage with customers through Twitter is by searching for trending topics.
A trending topic is one that people are talking about through large conversations.
They keep track of the messages with a symbol called a hashtag, which is designated with the "#" symbol.
In tweets where you are discussing a trending topic, you will post your tweet followed by a "#topicname" hashtag.
The hashtag will show up as a link.
When people click on this link, it takes them to other tweets that mentioned it, so they can see what others have to say.
Starting trending topics of your own is a great way to use Twitter for business and to start meeting other new people.
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