Twitter Quick Start Guide Twitter Quick Start Guide 1
So, you want to expand your business by using Twitter, but you re not sure where to start? Well, the first thing is that you need to sign up for a twitter account! Luckily, signing up is quick and easy! The first thing you need to do is go to twitter.com and register by clicking on the big green Sign Up Now button on the right. The next screen is pretty self explanatory: Twitter Quick Start Guide 2
Full Name - Enter your firstname and lastname here Username This is the username that will be shown on Twitter and will be part of your url (http://twitter.com/username) so choose wisely. You can type in the name and then it will show you if that name is available. If your chosen username is already taken, you could try using hyphens or adding numbers like 123 to the end. Password The password you want to use when you login to twitter Email the email address you want associated with your account Twitter Quick Start Guide 3
When you are done, enter the captcha code and click the Create my account button and your account will be instantly created! Making Your First Tweet Now that you have signed up, you can make your first tweet! If you thought the signup was easy, then you are really going to like tweeting it s even easier! First of all, let me explain a little bit about microbologging. Microblogging is the name given to the type of posts that are made on Twitter and it is simply a pared down version of blogging. Basically you sum up what you want to say in 140 characters or less. Needless to say, it might require some thought to get your message across in this limited space but the great thing about it is that instead of making a verbose 350 word post, you only have to type in a few words and you are done! Once you get the hang of condensing your message into a tweet then you will see why so many people love this platform for communication. Now, depending on what you want to do with your Twitter account, I advise you to go sparingly with the promotional tweets. One good way to approach this type of social media marketing platform is to post mainly messages that are informative to your niche. You might try setting up a google alert for your niche and when breaking news comes in be sure to tweet it out. That way you won t be seen as a spammer that only tweets self promotional messages. Twitter Quick Start Guide 4
OK, enough of the lecture and on to the tweeting. Go to Twitter.com and login by clicking the Sign In button at the very top right: Enter your username and the password you used when you signed up. You will be presented with your home page which consists of your tweet bar (that s where you type in your tweets) and, below that, your tweet stream which consists of all of your tweets along with those of the people you are following. If you have just signed up and are not following anyone yet, there probably won t be anything there. To make your first tweet, you simply type your post into the space and when you are done hit the Update button. It s that easy! You can enter text as well as URL s so if you want to send someone to a blog post to get more info, then you can add the URL here. The only thing is that the URL s count as part of the 140 characters so if you have a really long URL, you might want to shorten it with a service like tinyurl in order to have more room for your post. Twitter Quick Start Guide 5
Completing Your Account Information While you are logged into your account making your first tweet, you might want to take the time to fill in some of the information. Click on the setting tab on the top right and you will be presented with a screen where you can enter things such as your email, timezone, website url and a short bio. It s a good idea to fill these out especially the website address and bio since this is your opportunity to sell your product and yourself. The other tabs allow you go do basic functionality: Password change your password Mobile - setup text messaging Notices - tell twitter if you want it to email you when people follow you or when you receive a direct Picture upload a picture that will be associated with your account a really good idea if you are trying to brand yourself! Design change your background design and colors for your twitter account. Twitter comes with several default designs and you can change your color scheme to be anything you want. The best part about this section is that you can upload your own design so you can have a fully customized twitter account that matches your website! Twitter Quick Start Guide 6
Getting Followers You can customize your account and tweet all you want, but if you don t get followers, it s not going to do you much good! The best way to get people to follow you, is to find like minded people in your niche and follow them and also to make great informative posts that will entice people to follow you. Now, I don t mean to go in and just randomly follow hundreds of people every day in the hopes that they will follow you back. What you should do is carefully select the people who you follow you want to look at their profile and their tweets and choose people who you think would benefit from what you have to offer. So, how do you find these people? One way is to search twitter for people tweeting in your niche. You can search from the search bar on the right hand side of your account, or go to search.twitter.com. Just type in your niche and browse through the tweets. Another way to find people in your niche that are on Twitter is via a website called Twellow. You can search through this site using the different categories to find people with your same interests and people in your niche. You can also add your account to Twellow so that like minded people can find you! To search, you can browse the categories on the home page, or use the search feature to search for your keywords. When you do, a page will come up with all the people who are listed in the category or with the keywords you have searched for. Twitter Quick Start Guide 7
There are millions of profiles so you are sure to find plenty of people that you think might be prospective leads. You can also look at their details to find out more about what they are about and How active they are on twitter. Another tactic you can try is to look at the people who are following you and find out who else they are following. You can also check out the people you are following and find out who is following them. One thing you might want to do is find someone who sells a similar or complementary product and check out who is following them chances are those people could benefit from your product too so you might want to follow them as well. Twitter Quick Start Guide 8
Conclusion Despite it s short messages, Twitter is an extremely powerful Social Media Networking platform that any business can benefit from. The key is to use it properly and not just make a half hearted attempt to blast out promotional messages. As with any other Social Media platform, you need to participate and be a part of the community in order to get the most benefit from Twitter. The beauty of it is that microblogging is such a quick way to get a message out that you don t have to slave over a lengthy blog post to reach your audience. With over 10,000 new people signing up every day Twitter offers a huge potential to grow your customer base use it wisely and your efforts at fostering a giving relationship within the community of your chosen niche will surely be rewarded! Twitter Quick Start Guide 9