Introduction to Twitter: Find Bite-Sized Answers to all your Questions!

Twitter is a powerful social media network, but it can be a bit confusing when we’re just getting acquainted with it. If you’ve been looking for a simple but detailed introduction to Twitter, hopefully this article will give you the answers you’ve been looking for!

So… off we go:

WHAT’S A TWEET?

“Tweet” is the name we give to the messages we write on Twitter.

It’s like an “update/post” we write on Facebook. We can use them to share our thoughts, talk to other people, share images, videos, links… lot’s of things!

Unlike most other social media networks, Twitter only allows up to 280 characters per post/tweet, which, surprisingly, is the main reason why so many people (myself included!) love this platform!

WHY SHOULD I BE USING TWITTER?

For businesses and service providers, Twitter is a great platform to be in.

✓ You can use it to mingle informally with people who might be looking for your services, you can use it to share your expertise and to get yourself known in your niche;

✓   Twitter makes it easy to get in touch with strangers, journalists and even celebrities!

✓   Twitter is great for customer service, allowing you to respond quickly to your clients issues. Check this article to see even more reasons why Twitter is the best platform for customer service. 

✓   Twitter’s search capabilities are amazing – you can use not only hashstags but also many advanced search operators! These can (among other juicy things) help you find prospective customers/ partners/collaborators that are located in your area and that are talking about your niche.

DO I REALLY NEED TO USE TWITTER FOR MY BUSINESS?

Yes, if your customers are between the ages of 18 and 50. Gender-wise, Twitter is pretty much neutral, as both men and women like to use it.

Twitter is great for both B2B (business-to-business) as well as B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing and networking. It’s also one of, if not THE easiest social media platform to strike a conversation with strangers (even celebrities!).

WHAT CAN I DO ON TWITTER?

You can do some pretty cool things on Twitter! You can, for example…

✓ Embed a slideshare presentation with content that attracts your potential clients;

✓ Join a “Twitter chat” in your niche (or start your own!) so you can answer questions from your potential clients and network with your peers;

✓ Start a “Twitter thread” with your thoughts on a topic that interests you, and engage in conversations with people from all over the World!

WHAT DO I NEED TO START POSTING ON TWITTER?

✓   Create a Twitter account and write a keyword-rich bio so people know exactly who you are and what they can expect when they start to follow you;

✓   Add a profile picture picture (200 px X 200 px) and a big banner picture (1500px X 500px) with a great call-to-action that’s attractive to your ideal audience;

✓  Create tweets that attract your ideal audience, such as funny memes that they relate to, or interesting resources that can help them (here’s a great collection of tweets, for inspiration!);

✓  Create a handful of posts before you start following other people, so they can see if your’re tweeting things that interest them (the ideal size for Twitter images is 1024px X 512 px);

✓  Tweet/Retweet content that your ideal  audience will appreciate, as often as possible (the ideal number of tweets per day, according to research, is 15; I would aim for 3 tweets a day, to start, but the most important thing is to tweet consistently);

WHAT DOES AN IDEAL TWEET LOOK LIKE?

The ideal tweet is, first and foremost, one that is valuable/entertaining to your audience and that makes people want to connect and follow you on Twitter.

You should also aim to include most or all of these elements in your tweets, to improve their visibility and probability of being liked/shared/retweeted:

✓   Make sure your tweets won’t reach your 280-character limit (it’s best if you allow enough room in your tweet so that people can add their comment when they retweet you);

✓   Add an image (most Twitter users don’t use images when tweeting, so if you do it you’ll stand out in a sea of text-only tweets);

✓   Add a link to an external page/interesting article/etc;

✓   Include the source/location of where you found the original article (you can do it by using the author’s Twitter handle (e.g. ” via @authorname ” or “by @username”);

✓   Use 1-2 hashtags related to the article/resource that you shared (e.g. #marketing, #techtips );

✓   Add a call-to-action, a comment and/or a teaser, to entice your viewers to interact with your tweet, by clicking the links you’re sharing, retweeting them to their own Twitter accounts, etc  (e.g. “Please Retweet! “Check it out”, “Cool tips!”);

Here’s an example of a great Tweet:

HOW CAN I GET MY FIRST TWITTER FOLLOWERS?

✓   Make sure your profile pictures look professional and that you’ve written a nice, keyword-rich bio;

✓   Make sure the posts that you’ve created and shared from other sources are relevant to your target audience (your posts should educate/entertain/inspire);

✓   Try to use hashtags that are relevant to your business niche, so people can find your tweets when they search for those hashtags;

✓   Start following people that fit your ideal audience, whether fellow peers or potential customers and partners; (quick tip: go to your competitors’ Twitter accounts, and start following their followers);  

✓   Engage with the tweets you see to make people notice you: like their tweets, retweet some of them when you find they are interesting to your followers, and join & start conversations (reply to their tweets, add comments inside your retweets, etc…).

Phew! This was only an introduction to Twitter but it was a big one! Hopefully now you understand a bit more about this awesome social media platform. 

If you still have some pressing questions let me know in the comments below, and I’ll try to help you!

WANT ME TO WORK ON YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNT? Sure! Just fill this form and let’s chat about it! 😊