Where do I start with this 'ere Twitter thingy then? (Part 1 - The Basics)

I attended a business meeting last week where a large amount of discussion surrounded the use of social media in business. It would seem that there is still a lot of reticence about the place of social media when it comes to business. Does it have a place or is it just another distraction that we don't need and doesn't add any value?

Personally, being B2B, I can't comment on Facebook. I use it for personal stuff but I haven't got my head around its commercial use. Where I do see value is in Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging, especially as I find they can work well in conjunction with each other.

I'll focus on Twitter first....

Twitter has a reputation for being about gossip and tittle-tattle and therefore being a waste of valuable time. It can, of course, be all of those things and there have been times (I hold my hands up!) when Twitter has provided me with a great 'opportunity' for procrastination.

However, used correctly Twitter can be of benefit to your business in a number of ways: 

• It can be a route to market and a way of finding your customers. 
• It can be a way of gauging opinion about your business. 
• It can be a way for your customers to give you feedback.
• It can be a way of researching and testing your market. 
• It can be a way of broadcasting your expertise or offering. 
• It can be a way of finding new suppliers. 
• It can be a way of 'breaking the ice' with local businesses.  
• It's great for giving customers and potential customers a valuable insight into your company, how you work, your approach, your ethos, your personality, even what you do outside of the business - in a world where customer loyalty is becoming harder to win against cheaper and cheaper prices, I believe that 'letting your customers in' can be a driver to building relationships that stick.
  
• It provides an opportunity for a dedicated marketing campaign, as printing.com's hugely successful Shameless Plug competition demonstrated.  
• It's excellent for SEO on your website (speak to im3 about this).

So, should you use Twitter in your business? The first thing I would say to anyone thinking of including any social media in their marketing strategy is don't do it if you can't commit!

There's nothing worse than going onto a company's Twitter account to find that the last time they tweeted was 8 months ago. Twitter is a reflection of you and your company and an out-of-date Twitter account is no different to an out-of-date website or old posters in your shop window. It doesn't look good.

Clearly not that excited - last update in September!

By 'commit' I mean tweeting at least 2-3 times a day, with a good mixture of topics (more on this later). Some tweet significantly more than this (although there is software out there that can create the impression of frequent tweeting) and others are more intermittent. For me, it drifts between the two approaches and I'm mindful that I need to be more consistent to make Twitter work better for me.

So, let's start with some basics.

1) Choose your Twitter name. I went for SheffieldPDC because I wanted the place name reference since my strategy is to connect mainly with local businesses rather than national/international. However, in retrospect, I wish I'd just gone for my name. This would have been more flexible as my business develops since I will remain the constant! You live and learn.... Fortunately, people can still find me if they google my name.

2) Get an avatar (the little picture next to your name). Since this is about building personal relationships to drive business, I believe that your avatar should be a picture of you, not your company logo. Make sure the picture is well shot, interesting or eye-catching. Don't go for an iPhone pic of you out on the lash with a cone on your head... it won't reflect the right image. I'm also not keen on boring 'shirt & tie' business shots. But most importantly, don't just stick with the standard avatar that Twitter give you - it makes you look like a spammer and will stop people following you! I like to use the same picture across all of my social media to create a personal brand.

3) Write a catchy profile bio. This is the snapshot of text that people will see when they view your Twitter profile. For me, the bio helps me to decide whether to follow back or not. I'd not quite realised the branding power of the bio until I decided to change my own bio last month and had people contacting me to ask where my 'smart and sassy' trademark text had gone to. Hence, it's back! Your bio should tell people what you're about and provide some insight into your personality (assuming this will be a compelling reason to follow!) 

4) Sort out a tailored background. Twitter has plenty of backgrounds to choose from but having a tailored background is so important to your overall brand recognition. I use our trademark brown paper and polaroid photo-style, along with Rockwell font for the testimonial. This matches with our printed marketing materials, website and blog and therefore supports our brand. 

Next article: What am I supposed to talk about then? (Part 2 - What to tweet about and how to get followers)