How do you use Twitter?

I’m working with a couple of clients who have not used Twitter before; they’re unsure of how the platform works or how to leverage it to raise brand awareness. I’m also mentoring someone new to the world of marketing and advising how they can use Twitter to help build their professional profile.

I thought it may be helpful for others new to Twitter or who want to make better use of Twitter to have a crib sheet - no jargon, just basic info on how to tweet, what to do and what it all means.

(Buckle up - it’s a long blogpost.)

Why do people use Twitter?

Many reasons! Professionally - to create their work profile and network, for fun - sharing what they think about Saturday night’s Strictly performances, to create awareness around a brand, to follow their football club, to sell a product, to post pictures of their cat (I am guilty of this), to share tips and tricks on a subject… the list goes on.

Whether it’s for work or play Twitter creates engagement and that’s what you want - people who want to talk to you more about what you’re saying, be it football, your brand or your cat.

How does it work?

Think of it like a room full of people sharing news and information. Some people want to know more about what you are sharing, others prefer to know more about the person next to you. Same goes for you - you’ll not want to hear about everything. You can eavesdrop a bit and learn more, maybe see what’s going on. All of you at any time can shout about anything someone else has said.

Imagine this online. People can say “Yes I want to hear more about you” and they can share what you are saying to encourage others to want to know more. This is called “following” in Twitter and sharing content, often heard of as “tweeting”, “re-tweeting” and “liking”.

How do I start?

You need an email address to create an account. There are three things you need to think about.

Firstly, your ‘handle’, that starts with an @ symbol - how people find and talk to you - and your name that supports your @handle. Mine is the same for both but you can pick what you want if it isn’t already being used. If you are starting a professional/work Twitter account I’d advise you use your name for both, or close enough, rather than something cryptic.

Secondly, you need to consider whether your account is public (everyone sees everything except for direct messages or ‘DMs’ - think Facebook messenger or a text that is private to you and the person you are messaging) or whether you lock your account down. If you do lock it down people won’t see anything you share unless they ask your permission to ‘follow’ you.

Twitter walks you through the process and introduces you to how the platform works by offering accounts for you to follow based on your hobbies/interests.

What about my profile?

This is the third thing you need to consider and quite important, particularly if you are building a professional persona. You have 160 characters to play with to tell people who you are, what you do etc. Think carefully as the words you choose will appear if someone searches for them. For eg ‘gin lover’ or ‘professional copywriter’.

The ideal profile photo should be 400 x 400 pixels (px) and your header photo (landscape) 1500 x 500 px. Even if your Twitter account is locked down people can view your profile photos and your profile text.

How do I get going?

Get following!

Follow people you know and then look at who they are following - their “followers”. You may want to follow TV shows or other brands that weren’t in Twitter’s setup. Following is similar to being in that room full of people and honing in those you want to learn more about.

Share and share alike

From there it’s taking the plunge and having confidence to share some content you think is worth sharing. Retweeting (“RTing”, the two arrow icon under a tweet) is the easiest way to share something in your stream of tweets; you can do a quick RT or you can “quote”.

By now people you know who you have started to follow will probably follow you back, so these people will see your RT in their stream of tweets. You have one of these streams and you’ll see your tweet among the other people’s you are following. (Try saying that sentence after a few gins.)

Create engagement

You may want to take a RT a step further and hit “quote tweet” when given the option. This allows you to write your opinion on the tweet you are sharing. For example sharing a recipe and stating, “A great recipe for pumpkin pie!” or you may want to create engagement and ask others what recipes they prefer. You may have an article on how workplace learning needs more buy-in from managers - add in your thoughts and ask a question. Everyone who follows you will see this.

Reply to a tweet

You’ll notice a speech bubble under a tweet. This allows you to reply directly to the Tweeter and whoever may be “mentioned” (their @handle included in the tweet). The @handles will appear at the start of the tweet you’re replying to - your message appears afterwards. Your tweet will only appear in the streams of those people that follow whoever you are replying to. (This gets a bit confusing…)

140 characters?

Each tweet now gives you 280 characters to play with, whether that’s your own tweet or a tweet you are quoting (it's been 140 characters up until recently - touchy subject, I shouldn't have mentioned it). You may want to share your own content - a link you have found to an article or a thought, perhaps a picture. A clever thing to do is shorten any URL you are sharing so you make use of the 140 characters; try bitly or goo.gl.

When you create a tweet of your own think about mentioning someone pertaining to the content ie the author- using a @handle. Twitter offers suggestions based on the name of the person you are typing, your followers and verified Twitter accounts (those with a blue tick - typically big brands and famous peeps). You may want to throw in a hashtag…

Hashtags

You’ll see these everywhere. Words with the # symbol. Hashtags are a great way of searching for subjects you want to learn more about. They are used to manage a discussion, curate content and bring f2f conversations online (think a conference with a set hashtag and you tweeting your thoughts on the keynote speaker).

They are also used for humour. #YOLO - you only live once, #FOMO - fear of missing out, #TFW - that feeling when. I still to have to Google to figure some of them out… #I’mNotDownWithTheKidsAnymore

Liking

You’ll see a heart symbol bottom right of a tweet; this is to “like” a tweet. You can like a tweet for different reasons. To say you appreciate the content (similar to a RT), to end a discussion, or to tell the other person you’ve read the tweet.

You can also use it to save content to read for a rainy day. On your profile you’ll see your tweets, who you are following, who your followers are and what you have liked to date.

Similar to RTing your likes are public and will show up in your followers’ streams and for everyone else to see if you haven’t protected your tweets (locked down your account).

Lists and Moments

What? Yeah, these can often be forgotten about but can be very powerful.

You can create a list of people and group them under a heading (digital people in Brighton for eg); others can add you to a list too. Twitter walks you through the process - you create the list then add @handles. Lists are viewable from your profile - so public if you haven’t protected your account.

Moments are a way of curating content into one moment. This is used particularly for news reports or events. If you are going to create a moment Twitter also walks you through this process - you add in a title, description and then populate it with the tweets you want to include.

Trolling

There are some nasty people on Twitter who can be downright horrid; they are called trolls. Don’t be the person that hides behind a Twitter account and tweets negative comments. It’s not nice and it’s not acceptable. #justsaying

Is that it?

If you are a person raising their profile and wanting to develop engagement on Twitter my advice will start you off. It takes time so don’t expect to have 100 followers by dawn and engagement like a pop star; it doesn’t work that way.

If you’re a brand your marketing team/marketing support should integrate your social media approach with your overall marketing strategy. At first you need to build brand awareness but thereafter Twitter aligned with other social channels, and as part of a campaign, can be very a powerful tool in creating engagement with your customers, establishing relationships and building trust. This then feeds in to generating leads, converting and making sales as part of your overall strategy.

Ooh that’s clever…

A few things I have learnt along the way that may help.

1. If you want to start a tweet with “@HayleyMaisey has blogged about Twitter - it’s not a bad read” insert a full stop or a / symbol in front of the @handle. If you don’t do this Twitter thinks you are sending me a direct tweet, similar to a reply. Only those following you and I would see it in their stream. If you insert a character ahead of the @handle it is a tweet that broadcasts to your followers.

2. People notice a tweet more if an image is attached - it attracts attention. Some links you share will populate the tweet with an image (“thumbnail”) used on the corresponding webpage. Often this is not the case so think ahead and save the image they use and attach to the tweet. Or use whichever one you prefer.

3. Create engagement with your new followers. Thank them for the follow - it is a decision someone has made and taken. You may want to follow them back. Think of it as if you are meeting them in a room for the first time. Introduce yourself, build engagement from the start, look at their profile. If you are using Twitter to build a professional profile and network online then it is worthwhile to do this.

4. Don’t feel pressured into following someone just because they followed you. I can have half a dozen new follows and by the end of Sunday they’ve unfollowed me because I haven’t followed them back. These are brands trying to create more followers for the sake of creating more followers - in my opinion they don’t want to build relationships for the long haul.

What tips would you suggest? Is there anything I haven’t covered or a topic you would like me to hone in on? #LMK