Twitter, Love it or hate it, is becoming one of the most sought after marketing tools throughout every sector of the business world. Whether, you're a Big League Business man, a small time Business Owner, or a freelancer, twitter can be used to spread your message, make connections, and broaden you horizons. There are many aspects to Twitter, too broad to cover in one article, so i have composed a three article series on the importance of twitter, and how to maintain a steady twitter account, gain a following, and ensure that your back is covered in the social media world.
To begin your journey into the twitter world, your first step would be to make an account. Make an account with an appropriate name, Picture, small biography or other information you would like to include, and a link to your personal website, be it a Myspace for musicians, a LinkedIn for business, or whatever else you may have. In the biography section, try to be as short and concise as possible. As a rule of thumb, people get bored easily, so in order to keep their attention, you have to make sure your message is short, sweet, and to the point.
Once you're in, your next move would be to find everybody you may know or that is pertinent to your cause and follow them. This is easily done by searching a name or their twitter username in the search bar, going on their page and clicking the big green follow button. You will notice that the people you now will almost always follow you back, but the ones you don't will go check out your profile to see if they wish to grant you the favor of a followback. Lesson Learned: Keep your Profile Clean & Accessible.
Now you've established an account, set up your public profile, and linked up with any friends or connections. You are ready to begin tweeting. Depending on the goals you wish to accomplish with Twitter, your tweeting strategies will be different. Unlike the general public, a business will strategically plan their tweets to attract the most attention and to gain what they wish to take out of the experience. For example: If you are a musician, some of the things you would post to twitter are messages to fans, an email to send music and fan mail to, pictures of where you record, tour schedules, concert photos, links to new music and so on. If you were a business entity, you would consider posting: discount offers on your product or service, information about a new product or service, services or products that you provide or sell with links to their descriptions and pictures, and other insightful information that will allow customers to connect more easily with your business.
The TRICKY PART: Twitter only allows a total of 140 characters to a tweet, so whatever it is that yo have to say, make sure it stays clear and concise, otherwise, your tweet would be ineffective. posting two tweets as a continuation of another tweet, or a series of tweets on the same subject is possible, but it looks rather unprofessional, and can be taken by some as "Annoying" which would lead to unfollowers, which is twitter hell. There are ways of avoiding over complicating the matter and frustration over the 140 character limit. Twit longer, a Twitter sub service, allows you to post a longer tweet which will appear on your profile as whatever you tweeted under 140 characters and a link to the rest of your tweet. Although useful, this also looks rather unpleasant to the eye and unprofessional. Another service one could use to make their twitter posts more concise is Tiny-URL. It is a website that turns any link into a shorter, more concise link, saving you character space in your twitter post.
There are, of course, more complex aspects of Twitter, but unfortunately, I will have to reveal them in another article at a later time. Stay on the Lookout for Part 2 of this article, and until next time, I wish you the best of luck in starting your Twitter experience.
-Philly
