Jonathan Casella - Bayshore Solutions Account Associate
By: Jonathan Casella – Bayshore Solutions Emarketing Team
Are you ready to start real conversations with your consumers? Are you ready to learn about your target market in a way that will allow you to tailor your marketing strategies to attract new consumers? Are you ready to Twitter?
You know Twitter will help your brand recognition. You know it will enhance your search engine optimization strategies; however, you may not know how to get started. Today, we will change that. Consider this a crash course in Twitter setup.
It all begins with a visit to www.twitter.com. From the homepage, there is a form to begin the account sign up process. Keep in mind, if you’re setting up a business account, use the brand name.
You will then advance to another page where you will be able to select your Twitter handle. A Twitter handle is basically your screen name, if we were talking in instant messenger terms. If you’re setting up a professional Twitter, you will want to stick with your name. If you’re setting up a company/brand account, use the brand name as the public identifies it. Often, your brand name will be unavailable, usually because someone has already claimed the handle. In this situation, use a variation of the name. For example, if Pepsi was claimed, I may choose Pepsi_Cola, Official_Pepsi, or Pepsi_Inc.
Now for the fun part: following people! With Twitter, you select other users to “follow.” This means if you follow Bayshore Solutions on Twitter, @BayshoreWebPros, then anything we tweet will show up on your dashboard. You can think of your Twitter dashboard as like a Facebook Newsfeed. For company pages, market research should be done to identify the types of users your target market is following. You will also want to follow users who are likely to retweet, or share your posts with their followers.
And finally, it’s time to add some flare to your profile. And by flare, I mean a profile picture, bio, and background design. Let’s cover these individually:
Profile image: The maximum file size allowed is 700K, which means you might be resizing your photo or reframing the image, so it displays as desired. With the large number of Twitter accounts, I put high importance on the quality of a Twitter image. I want the user to see a high quality image that they will immediately identify with the brand.
Bio: With Twitter, tweets cannot be more than 140-characters, so it’s fitting that your bio would have a maximum count, as well. Tell the tweeters out there just who you are and what you represent in 160-characters. And do not forget to include your website URL.
Background: If you’re the occasional tweeter, you may get by with a generic Twitter background; however, if you’re representing a brand, that won’t work. Twitter backgrounds should speak to the customer and accurately represent the company. It is also recommended to have seasonal backgrounds, or change the background with new promotions and special events. Are you ready to create your new custom Twitter background? Here’s what you need to know.
The background dimensions are a bit tricky because positioning text or graphics in the wrong area will result in that part being covered by the other profile components (i.e. the Twitter feed). I would begin with a background size of 2560 px. (w) by 1600 px. (h)—then make adjustments as needed. Taking full advantage of your profile space may prove to be a challenge, so consider hiring a professional web designer.
After the short profile setup, you should be all ready to begin your Twitter journey. Don’t forget to confirm the verification email that Twitter will send at sign up.
Twitter can be a powerful business tool, if utilized correctly; however, in order to use the platform to the fullest, you need to develop a social media strategy. For assistance in social media marketing, contact the Bayshore Solutions internet marketing team.
Jonathan Casella is an Account Associate at Bayshore Solutions—a Tampa Web Design, Web Development, and Internet Marketing Company.