So you have registered your Twitter Profile, now what?
1. Customize your Profile
Choose a background skin that compliments the colors of your business from a wide selection Twitter offers or upload a personally created background. The steps are easy to follow but can be time consuming, so we offer graphic design packages to get a number of backgrounds and profile pictures done for all your Social site needs if you’d prefer. For a business profile picture, it is best to use your company logo or popular product image that people are already identifying you with. You should then add relevant and interesting information about yourself or your business in the Twitter profile areas on display. If you are not sure what to write, search through other businesses similar to your own.
2. Who To Follow & Get Followers
To search for who to follow look at the list of who other businesses in your niche are following – not all will appeal to you but it is a good place to search for businesses to network with but not be in competition with. Another solutions is to use the # key in front of keywords eg #property investing if you are Real Estate Agent, to find people who are tweeting that term. then choose the people to follow.
Getting people to follow you back will take time but generally if you follow some
one they will follow you back. Encourage interactivity by tweeting messages that will encourage direct responses and comments from those following you. This, as well as learning how to use the @reply and #tag in your tweets will lead their friends to follow you if they show an interest, which is the best way to build a targeted list of followers.
Also include your Twitter link or latest tweet feed on your website, blog, and in your e-mail signature or newsletters.
3. Making Sense of @ and # Symbols
It’s important to know how to use these symbols in order to expand your reach of potential followers. The @reply is used in your tweet when you want to respond to another persons tweet but have all your followers see it. An @reply will be saved in the other person’s @Replies tab for them to view if they miss it live. You can send an @reply by clicking on the icon next to the persons tweet or typing @username before your tweet message e.g. @SocialMediaBabe I loved that video too!
@Replies are also used at the end of tweets to show the tweet is relevant to (or about) another Twitterer. E.g. If I promoted to my followers that I was speaking at Social Event, then I would add @Social Event to the end of my tweet. This means people can easily find the event and details about it. Or I could use it to promote someone else eg I just read a super article, thanx @Harry. The marketing aim in using @replies is to get them back because it means a link to you is then being tweeted to the other users followers.
The # symbol is important to Twitter’s search engines as it helps them sort tweets by topic or keywords. Use the # tag in front of words that are relevant to your niche, or keywords you want to be found by when people are searching the term. The best way to find what # tags are most relevant to your niche is to search Twitter like you did to find Followers. Ultimately this is why you use the # tag because others will search by terms and hopefully find your tweets because you tagged them. Big warning is not to #tag every tweet or use too many #tags in one tweet, it will start to look spammy, which could deter followers.
4. Pick a Management Dashboard System
Realistically you can’t be watching your Twitter account or other social profiles all day and logging into each individual social site and posting or replying can end up very costly in time. So choose a management dashboard system – there are plenty systems and they vary depending on your needs. Some will allow you to add multiple social accounts such as Facebook, LinkedIn as well as Twitter. Pick one based on your needs – not on the number of accounts it holds. There are also usually desktop or web based versions of each depending on how you want to be updated or viewing them. This past post mentions my top 5 favorites “Choosing The Right Social Media Dashboard” and although it was written in September last year I still believe these are the best choices except I wo
uld also consider Ping.fm and the Seesmic app for a dashboard system on your iphone if you want to tweet or post to multiple accounts while on the go. Everyone’s different and that is why there are so many choices.
5. Start Tweeting
Be informative – give your followers a reason to stay connected to you. Always display a friendly attitude and admit error because one disgruntled customer can turn into many unfollowers…
Be consistent – update your Twitter status every day. Respond to direct responses regularly.
Most of all be socially interactive if your purpose is to build a list full of ‘active’ followers and not just a list of names. There are many automatic tools which will tweet for you based on keywords you enter but these don’t allow you to add the @replies or #tags which obviously will build you targeted followers. Keyword based tweets generated from an automated service often leaves you with a list of people who are following you having using automated twitter following services based on the very same keywords. Lots of followers – but no interaction.
Not to discourage you from using automated systems though – they have their place and one free service I will mention if you have a blog is called Twitterfeed which will automatically send your blog update headings to Twitter by entering the RSS feed. Very useful – especially if 
you plan to go away and take some time off.
The other option is to have us babysit your account if you’re away for a month or more – especially if it’s a business profile! Because one of the worst things you can do is engage in Social Media Marketing with people and then stop delivering – if you decide to use Twitter or any other Social Media strategy be aware it is for the long-term.
Okay New Twitterer – go start Tweeting! Make sure you find me by sending me a @reply – show me how clever you are!