Every once in a while I browse through my followers list and often find very poor business accounts. Here’s a few things that take very little time to do, but will really help make your Twitter account better.
1. Get a Better Username
Make sure your username will clue people in to your business. Adding information about location or services might be good for you, depending on how well people know your brand. Best Buy doesn’t need to create “BestBuyElectronics”, but you might need to add a descriptor to your name. Adding location information might get you more followers too, as people are inherently more interested in what is around them. I have no reason to follow a pet store in Oregon, but one in Charlotte could prove useful.
2. Change Your Background
This should be a no-brainer, and it’s near the top of the list for a reason. A custom background shows you’re committed to this “Twitter” thing, much more than a plain background, or poorly done one. Things to avoid are backgrounds which require a high-resolution display to read (keep the side content slim), tiled pictures, and pictures that are too small.
3. Change Your Avatar
Another no-brainer, many businesses don’t seem to understand how important a good avatar is. You want your avatar to be instantly recognizable as your brand, that is your number one goal. At the very least, tie it in to your background; I should click your avatar to find out more about you, and see what I’m looking for very quickly.
4. Give People Quality Information
Your bio is important. It is a handy place for you to tell me what your business does, and hook me into checking out your website or following you. Think of it as a 140 character pitch. If you don’t have me by the end of the bio, you’ve failed. Keep in mind that the 140 character pitch may not have to sell anything at all, just telling me where you are and what you do may be fine as well (a car repair shop, for instance).
5. Give People a Reason to Follow You
This shouldn’t be hard for most businesses, but you need to provide some incentive for following you. This incentive can range from some sort of discount, to simply providing quality information. If you go beyond simple self-promotion and start sharing information, you’ll be much more enticing.
6. Show People Something of Yours
Adding to your Twitter feed by retweeting others or using a tool like Twitterfeed is fine, but I’m following you, not someone else. Show me something you’ve been working on, link me to a blog post you’ve written, or take a few quick pictures of your workspace. You don’t need to go into hardcore content-creation mode, just show me something original every so often.
7. Ask Questions
Statements and re-tweets only go so far! You need to pose questions to your followers, and sometimes ask them specifically. You want to encourage conversation, not be a digital billboad.
8. Respond to People
A lot of businesses seem to shy away from responding to people who talk to them. Don’t do that! Twitter works because it is a conversation. When people ask you questions you can do 1 of 3 things: reply in your public feed, direct message them, or do nothing. Doing nothing is just wasting opportunity; direct messaging them is ok- but should only be used for one word answers or days when you’ve tweeted too much. Responding publicly is the always the best option, because it shows everyone who follows you that you’re helpful!
9. Follow People Back
If nothing else, it’s a nice gesture when to follow customers back. It’s like saying “You are a valued customer”, by letting them know you are interested in their input. Keep the following to real people though, you don’t want to waste your time following bots.
10. Use HootSuite
The web interface of Twitter is fine, if you are a casual user. If you have thousands of followers, are following thousands of people, and you’re starting to get lost in the flood of Tweets coming your way, you need to use HootSuite. Hootsuite will make managing your Twitter account far easier, and gives you useful features like Tweet scheduling. Hootsuite.com
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