In part four of our ‘Setting up your Business for Social Success,’ we’re tackling Twitter: the network with more than 300 million users with real-time updates about the world. In short snippets, Twitter users share thoughts, news, and media on a simplistic, tangible platform that’s been an industry leader since shortly after its incipience in 2006. Businesses from every sector flock to Twitter for a variety of reasons, making it a staple in any small business’ social media marketing strategy. The experts of content marketing of Pittsburgh - Responsival - is here to help you get started with setting up your Business’ Twitter, starting with a brief overview of the value Twitter adds to your marketing strategy, followed by a step-by-step setup, and some suggestions for getting started.

Why Your Business Needs to Utilize Twitter

A Conversational and Brand Recognition Necessity

Every social network has its own advantages, disadvantages, and uses. The magic of twitter, specifically, is the brevity and simplicity of the platform after doubling is maximum character count, Twitter allows messages at a maximum of 280 characters to maximize readability. This forces users to get creative with the messages they share - and twitter users have taken on the challenge, sending over 500 million tweets a day. The demographics for twitter are unique from the young Instagram and older Facebook in that is garners attention from the middle ground, with 80% of its users being affluent millennials.

Twitter users use the platform to discover new and interesting things, read news, or connect with people in real time. This desire leads to a high concentration of people looking to learn about and interact with some of their favorite brands. Of account who follow their favorite brands, 78% of them have retweeted from a business and nearly 69% of them have purchased something from a business after following them on twitter. With a large audience and seemingly limitless possibilities, businesses supplying a little creativity are guaranteed to succeed on twitter.

So let’s get started! Here’s some tips from Responsival, the best in content marketing in Pittsburgh, on how to set up your Twitter for success.

Profile Building Basics

Images

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Much like the other platforms we’ve reviewed thus far in our ‘Setting Up Your Business for Social Success’ series, profile and header images are an important yet simple aspect of building a business for twitter. For your profile image. The consistent best practice is using a high quality, brightly-colored logo. Your idea image size on Twitter is 400x400 pixels (which can, of course, be resized on the site).

In addition to your profile image, you will need to upload a header image. Like Facebook, you have more freedom with this, but should still use a bright, high-quality image that represents your brand in some way. Your header image should be much larger - 1500x1500 pixels - but will be cropped to a 2:1 aspect ratio on mobile.

Because of the cropping, we recommend trying out a few different images for your header image prior to choosing. If you don’t have anything that fits quite right, you can design a header on Canva or another design site.

About Section

Much like tweets, your twitter bio thrives with brevity. You want to use this space to not only tell followers who you are, but as a place that encourages them to interact with your account. As you see in Whole Foods Market’s bio, they introduce their brands in a laid back tone. They then invite page visitors to interact with them through the branded hashtag, “#MakesMeWhole” (fun fact: the capitalization used in that hashtag, as opposed to ‘#Makesmewhole’ is known as Camel Case. You should use camel case).

Brands that don’t utilize their own hashtags will often add industry related hashtags in their about sections. These hashtags are searchable and make it possible for people interesting in your brand to find your tweets and your account.

In the space provided, be sure to add your name, location, and a link to your website. From those simple steps, you’ve built a strong Twitter profile for your business. Pretty simple, right?

Settings to Maximize Interactivity

Even though Twitter profile setup is easy, there are a couple small details in your settings you want to be sure to adjust. To ensure that your profile is ready for people to interact with, you have to change a few settings. Under “Privacy and Safety,” be sure the following settings are selected:

• Tweet with a Location (not completely necessary, but great for local businesses)
• Allow anyone to tag you in photos
• Let others find you by email address
• Receive Direct Messages from anyone

This way, people will be able to interact with your account as easily as possible.

Getting Started with Followers

Once your profile is completed, it’s time to start growing your followers. There are several ways to begin growing your followers, and we recommend utilizing all of them:

• Promote your twitter on other social media: Post a Facebook status with your Twitter handle -- and if you’re REALLY serious, offer a giveaway of a giftcard or free service once your reach follower benchmarks (100, 500, or 1,000 followers).
• Start following accounts that may be interested in your account: Search for accounts that are tweeting about keywords your company uses. For us at Responsival, we would search “web designer” and follow accounts which, based off their tweets, may be interested in our services.
• Invite your email list: Under ‘Settings,’ select ‘Find Friends’ and invite your email list to follow you. Since these people are already on your email list or have already interacted with your business in some way, they likely want to follow you on Twitter.
• Explore industry hashtags: There are TONS of hashtag tools out there to help you find top hashtags, expand your hashtagging abilities, and analyze how effective your hashtag use is. Use hashtags, follow other accounts using these hashtags. Easy-peasy.

Get Tweetin’: Approaches to Take While Tweeting

Tips for Tweeting with Best Practices and Strong Personal Voice

Because of how different Twitter is from other platforms, it’s important to understand the best practices for garnering interactions, reaching new people, and sending messages to potential customers. That’s why we recommend keeping these five things in mind when tweeting:

• Timing & Frequency are key: For best practice, look to tweet at least 3-5 times a day. The best time to tweet is 3pm on weekdays.
• Post Evergreen Content: While posting timely content is great, you primarily want to tweet evergreen content, or content that is valuable or interesting at any time.
• The 80/20 Rule: Your interactions on twitter should be 80% conversational and 20% promotional. Since Twitter is extremely focused on interaction, make sure you dedicate time to interacting with other brands and your followers.
• Know your Followers: Keep in mind your demographics when tweeting. If you have a younger following, use humor and fun content they may be interested. For older and more professionally-driven followers, look to tweet information that pertains to careers or adulthood. As shown above, the bar Gene’s Place looks to attract attention from their college student clientele through humor and tweeting specials (and it’s really working!).
• Utilize Images: Tweets containing images are 35% more likely to be retweeted. Because of this, share your important tweets with graphics or video that attract attention.

Twitter is a vital piece of every business’ social media strategy. With the ability to interact with followers and other brands, your business will be propelled into social success in no time. For more help with your social media management, get in touch with Responsival - the experts of content marketing in Pittsburgh - to learn about how we can help grow your business.