In the past few weeks, I created a campaign to add followers and gain visibility on Twitter. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way:
(1) Take a few moments to create a nice home page on Twitter. Create an image that looks professional and friendly. At the very least, change the background color.
(2) Create a profile with your URL. When deciding whether you’re “legit,” strangers may check out your website. They may be curious about your business. Of course if you’re networking for business, you want lots of visitors to your site, so this is a good thing.
(3) Add a photo to display with your Tweets. If you use the default Twitter avatar you might as well hang out a sign: “I am a flake.” Even if you’re not.
(4) Before reaching out to anyone, look around to see what others are posting. To get started, identify 2-3 people who have twitter accounts and go to their sites. Look at the conversations. Click on the names of folks who are doing the postings and you’ll be led to their sites.
(5) Think about why you are Twittering. Are you looking for friends or creating a professional network? Twitter is good to get acquainted with lots of people and to create an image. So get very clear on what you want to communicate.
(6) Be selective with personal tweets. Do you want to tell the world you had tuna fish for lunch? Or share the gory details of your latest visit to the doctor?
It’s very tempting but I would encourage my own clients to choose their “warm and fuzzy” image carefully. It’s part of your brand, too. Choose 2 or 3 social topics that add to your imageabout your dog, mention visits from family or share your appreciation of nature. When in doubt, opt for discretion.
(7) Your next step is to write 6 to 12 tweets. Pick topics that will communicate your desired personal and professional image. When potential followers come to your site, they will scan your tweets (and maybe your profile). If you have no tweets, they will be suspicious.
(8) Now you can go out and recruit some followers. Just find some Twitter dwellers who seem to be good candidates for a connection. They might be colleagues in your field, potential clients, or just interesting people. Click on their “follow” buttons. That’s all!
You’ll see why you went through Steps 1-7. You probably won’t want to follow someone who shares lots of posts on topics you don’t find interesting or relevant.
(9) Keep an eye on your numbers. Ideally you will have a balance of followers and follows. If you follow a lot of people but nobody follows you, you will raise a flag. But if you have thousands of followers and only a few follows, you need to have important content that others will enjoy.
Now you get to go to advanced topics: using Twitter to earn money through posting affiliate links and links to your own products and services. But that’s another article.