Stop poo pooing Twitter and sign up already

I hold my hands up and confess that I was one of those people who actually said: “Twitter? What a load of old rot. It’ll never catch on.”

Well, what do I know?
Not only has it caught on, but is one of the fastest growing digital sites and is about to take over the world . . .

Twitter is a fast moving and very effective way of talking to an audience; of sharing news and links and interesting information.
However, in order to maximise its use and reach and to ensure that you are not operating as an ‘island’, you need to build up a following so as many people as possible can see what you write.
And in order to do that there are certain essential elements which must be adhered to, to ensure you communicate and engage with other twitters in the best way possible.

Twitter works on our desire to be social, to keep up with what’s going on with people we are interested in. This means if you want to promote what you’re doing, the way you do it is of the utmost importance.

It was actually through Twitter that I discovered Michael Jackson had died. Long before any TV channel had picked it up.
It was through Twitter that I acquired my accountant. Someone recommended her, I followed her, liked what she had to say and the way she engaged with people and so contacted her and now do business together.

But, you’re thinking, how on earth can Twitter help my business?
Well, it can. If you approach it properly and don’t do what some hugely annoying people do and turn it into a spammy billboard for their wares.
It is an investment in time, but it could just add an extra dimention to your social media outreach.

As with any social media site, there are rules and guidelines for engaging with others. Follow these and you will find Twitter will work for you.
Fail to follow these and you will just annoy people. And possible do your company or your brand damage.

So what are the rules? What do you need to know to ensure you don’t make a fool of yourself?
Read on to see what basics you need to put in place before you kick off your Twitter activity.

5 ways to make Twitter work for your business:

1. Have an appealing home page
If it is dull and boring it will never give possible followers anything to hint that you would be a good person to follow.
The home page acts as almost a shop window and should make people WANT to follow. At the very least you should have a logo or a picture on there. There are plenty of sites offering free customised backgrounds now. Some also allow you to add other links such as Linkedin, Facebook etc.

Also your bio is very important as it offers another incentive to follow. If it doesn’t grab attention, or ‘speak’ to your audience, why should they bother following your tweets? Don’t be too corporate with it – make sure it’s something you think about rather than something you just throw together at the last minute.

2. Advertise your Twitter account.
Let people know that you are twittering. Add your Twitter address to your email footer and any other channels (blog, social network profile, websites, internal news items). Tell people it’s there! Be as committed to getting the word out as you would be say your mobile phone number or email address.

3. Follow more people.
Twitter works like a series of veins and capillaries, spreading word far and wide. But this only works if you have a large and relevant following.
You can use Twitter’s own search tool to find others to follow. Media channels, relevant companies, individuals, key words, brand names etc
When you start following these relevant people you then have access to all the people that they follow who will probably be in the same field. You can find these on the right hand side of a person’s home page at the top. It takes time to visit their follows to see if they are worth you following, but they are more likely to be your target audience, so it is worth the extra effort.
If you click on the picture of someone you fancy following, it takes you to their home page where you can read their full bio and see their recent tweets and who they interact with.
The general rule of thumb is: follow where you want to be found.

4. Use key words in your Tweets.
This is what can draw followers in to see who you are and what else you have to say.
On the Twitter search you can type in any word or phrase and it will bring up all the twitterers who have used that word recently. So words relevant to your field - keep fit, personal training, work at home, cupcakes - will help people find you.
And think about what you would want to read if you were one of your customers looking in.

5. Tweet more
Once or twice a day just isn’t enough. You need to tweet early and tweet often.
Regular tweeting is an investment to your company’s public profile and can give great returns. And by giving regular updates you are staying fresh in the minds of your followers and helping with brand recognition.
So, ask questions, join conversations, make comments, offer information. Engage with the Twitter community rather than expect them to come to you.

You can upload Tweetdeck onto your desktop so the conversations are always there, but you can keep it in the background while you work. Notifications pop up in top right hand corner of your screen when something is posted on there and you can either chose to go and see what is being said or just ignore until later.
It is easy to use and you can personalise it with searches for keywords if you need.

6. Retweet
Sharing interesting things you see out there from others will show that you are interacting and not just operating as an island. Give, give, give.
If you see an interesting tweet or one that links to an interesting article that you think your follows would also like to see, pass it on to them by retweeting it.
To retweet you just need to copy the original tweet and put RT at the start of it.
Eg: RT @bbcnews: Local firm bucks the recession
You can also add your own comment too, if you wish.
Eg: Really interesting read: RT @bbcnews: Local firm bucks the recession

7. DO NOT be overtly ’spammy’.
If you are blatantly marketing people just won’t follow. But if you do it in an interesting and engaging fashion, they will.
Twitter is like Facebook updates but for grownups! It needs to be engaging, fun, interesting and ‘human’. Try to put yourself in a reader’s shoes and think what you would find interesting.
If you just post link after link to the company resources people will switch of.
If you just blurt out “Click here to see XXX!” then you closely resemble the people handing out crappy pamphlets at the train station, that end up in the bin seconds later.
So drop the advertising tone. You don’t talk to your friends like that, so don’t do it on Twitter.

8. Don’t be a link bore.
Sure you can put links to company assets in (Facebook, jobs page, Linked In profile etc) – just don’t do it all the time. That way you are only talking at your followers and who wants that?
You can start to sound cold and premeditated and people will start to overlook whatever links you out because they will assume it’s nothing of value.
Give a compelling reason to click through. Add humour, be interesting. You don’t always have to link to anything either. Just inform.
If you make sure this is your every day practice then you can actually get away with a few generic links dotted here and there. But if you fill your stream up with links then you are really of no value to your followers.

9. Have fun.