Join my webinar tomorrow – “How to Use LinkedIn for Business”

If you’re not quite sure how to start using Twitter for business, just follow this checklist:

Just get started.  It takes only 5 minutes.  Have fun.  Don’t worry.  You won’t break anything.

Be sure to choose a good Twitter handle.  This is extremely important.  Try to use your full name or a variation of it.  You want people to recognize you and your company at an event.  Be consistent with your brand.  Avoid underscores and random numbers

Good:  SuperGeeks or AskSuperGeeks
Bad:   SuperGeeky123

Follow interesting people, thought leaders…even competitors.

Remember, Twitter is as much about broadcasting info as it is about receiving info. In fact, for many people, Twitter IS their primary news source. You can use Twitter to stay on top of events, market trends, new product announcements, etc.

Go to Twitter Search, wefollow and twitrratr.  Search on topics and find people.

Complete your profile details.

Click on the Settings tab located top right of your Twitter account and then click on Profile.  Fill out the requested information.

Include your domain name and a quick blurb about your company (think mantra).  Keep it succinct, warm and friendly.  Remember, Twitter is all about people.

Click on the Settings tab located top right and then click on Profile. Be sure to capture your company’s brand.  Color scheme, slogan, etc should be congruent and consistent with your website, biz cards, brochures, etc.  The visitor should know where he/she is in a blink.

Use a shortener.

Remember, Twitter limits your tweets to just 140 characters.  This can be troublesome when you’re trying to share a long URL or domain name.  Fortunately, there are many tools to help you shorten those long URLs.  And those shorteners include statistics, so you can measure how many people clicked on the link, where they are located, whether they retweeted the link, etc.  I recommend this free tool:  Bit.ly

Use a management tool.

Many people have multiple Twitter accounts.  One company may have multiple accounts. You can imagine how labor intensive it can be to send and reply to all those tweets.  These management tools will even let you preschedule tweets and resend the same tweet several times throughout the day for maximum exposure.

Try using TweetDeck.com and HootSuite.com.  Use the one you like.  They are free.

Add your Twitter icon (and other social sharing icons) everywhere.

Your website, business cards, newsletters, stationary, emails, doors, counters, receipts, packaging…everywhere!  The more it’s visible, the better.

It’s important to share your wisdom and knowledge. By maintaining a blog on your site and posting an article once a week, you will eventually build a dedicated following.  Blog posts should be useful, insightful, interesting and relevant.  You can post tips and tricks, case studies,  best practices, news, etc and use Twitter to help broadcast those messages.

Reposition your website.

All roads lead to Rome.  Think of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn as avenues back to your website.  It’s ok if those roads are unpaved, just make sure you’re everywhere on the internet and your website is the target destination.

Leverage all social media.

Twitter is just one way to reach your customers.  Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn are also very effective.  Take the time to create an account for each.  Be sure to keep your brand consistent.  Use management tools to reduce your labor.

You know the adage:  If it’s not written down somewhere, it’s not a policy.  This is especially true when defining acceptable and unacceptable use of company computers.

Take the time to map out your company’s policy pertaining to social media.  Are employees permitted to visut their personal Facebook accounts during working hours?  Are they permitted to represent your company on those pages?  And if so, what kinds of things can they share or not share?

James Kerr
Chief Geek
(808) 531-GEEK
help@supergeeks.net
Twitter:  supergeeks