Twitter Tips Infographic

Twitter Tips [Infographic]

Twitter – with its 140 character limit and real-time flurry of activity on the Twitterstream – is confusing and overwhelming for most social media newbies. While most of my clients can get on board with social media marketing for their business using Facebook or LinkedIn, they just can’t wrap their head around using Twitter for business.

I understand that – on the surface, Twitter isn’t as user-friendly as Facebook, and not as straight-forward as LinkedIn appears (which is quite deceiving, since the power of LinkedIn lies beyond uploading a boring resume).

How about a brief summary on how to get started using Twitter:

1. Set up your profile. Don’t forget your profile photo or avatar (of you, not your logo), and to add your bio. Use keywords in your description. If you are a business, make sure you upload a background with branding and company details on the left. (You can visit Bright Spark Media on Twitter to see an example of what I mean.)

2. Follow people with similar interests. (It’s tough in the beginning, so if you’re stuck, you can check out the lists that other people have made, and subscribe to those.)

3. Join the conversation – that’s right, just jump in. Even if you’re new to the Twitter neighbourhood, just get out and start talking…I mean, tweeting.

4. Tweet daily. But don’t spam – social media is not about selling or advertising. Be helpful. Share your knowledge, photos and links.

5. Integrate Twitter with your other social networks. You can set up your Twitterfeed on your blog or website, and share it on your Facebook Page. But don’t just “auto-post” the same message to both networks. Twitter is meant for real-time interaction.

Those are just a few basic steps. It will take a bit of practice to figure it out, but Twitter is just one of those things that you need to just jump in and participate to appreciate it.

Here is great visual representation explaining in simple terms how to use Twitter. [Infographic by Cheryl Lawson, social media marketing specialist.)