An Intro Guide - How To Use Twitter For Business
An Intro Guide - How To Use Twitter For Business
An Intro Guide - How To Use Twitter For Business
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HOW TO USE
TWITTER FOR
BUSINESS
AN INTRODUCTORY GUIDE:
Master the
Essentials to Better
Share, Engage, &
Market on Twitter
A publication of
O
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Introductory content is for marketers who are new to the subject.
This content typically includes step-by-step instructions on how
to get started with this aspect of inbound marketing and learn its
fundamentals. After reading it, you will be able to execute basic
marketing tactics related to the topic.
INTRODUCTORY
IS THIS BOOK RIGHT FOR ME?
Not quite sure if this ebook is right for you? See the below description to determine if
your level matches the content you are about to read.
Intermediate content is for marketers who are familiar with the
subject but have only basic experience in executing strategies and
tactics on the topic. This content typically covers the fundamentals
and moves on to reveal more complex functions and examples.
Once youre ready, feel free to dive into this level of content with
our free guide, How to Attract Customers with Twitter.
INTERMEDIATE
Advanced content is for marketers who are, or want to be, experts
on the subject. In it, we walk you through advanced features of
this aspect of inbound marketing and help you develop complete
mastery of the subject. After reading it, you will feel ready not only
to execute strategies and tactics, but also to teach others how to
be successful.
ADVANCED
This ebook!
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... brings your whole marketing world to-
gether in one, powerful, integrated system.
HUBSPOTS ALL-IN-ONE
MARKETING SOFTWARE
Get Found: Help prospects fnd you online
Convert: Nurture your leads and drive conversions
Analyze: Measure and improve your marketing
Plus more apps and integrations
Request A Demo Video Overview
EMAIL
MARKETING
M
SOCIAL
CONTACTS
w
WORKFLOWS
;
SMART FIELDS
n
CONTACTS
DATABAST
U
ANALYTICS
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AN INTRODUCTORY GUIDE: HOW
TO USE TWITTER FOR BUSINESS
By Brittany Leaning
Brittany Leaning is HubSpots Social Media
Manager. She is responsible for creating,
managing, measuring, and scaling organic
social media efforts across HubSpots various
accounts in order to generate leads and grow
reach. Brittany is also a regular contributor to
HubSpots award winning Internet Marketing
Blog, where she writes about various inbound
marketing topics.
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
@BLEANING
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CONTENTS
TWITTER 101 /7
TWITTER VOCABULARY /9
TWITTER FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE /17
6 STEPS TO SETTING UP & OPTIMIZING YOUR PROFILE /19
SIGN UP FOR TWITTER /20
PERSONALIZE YOUR COMPANY PROFILE /26
START TWEETING /36
FIND PEOPLE TO FOLLOW /38
GET PEOPLE TO FOLLOW YOU /42
ENGAGE WITH YOUR NETWORK /45
USING TWITTER FOR BUSINESS /48
CONCLUSION & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES /57
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42% of Twitter users follow
brands or companies.
Follower
A follower is a person who has subscribed to receive
your updates. You can view your total number of
followers on your Twitter profle page.
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@Reply
An @ sign in front of a Twitter handle is a public message
sent from one Twitter user to another by putting @USERNAME
anywhere within the body of the tweet. These replies dont
appear in a users stream (an upcoming vocab word).
q
Status Update
A status update is also
known as a tweet. Each
update can be no longer than
140-characters. (Later we
will talk about different types
of updates.) You can post an
update in the white text box
under Whats Happening?
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Twitter Stream
A Twitter stream is a list of a persons
real-time updates. Every time you
post an update, it goes into your
Twitter stream, which is found on
your account page also at http://
twitter.com/USERNAME.
Direct Message (DM)
A DM is a private message sent from one Twitter user to another by either clicking
the message link on their profle or typing D USERNAME. Think of it as Twitters
version of an email inbox.
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Hashtag (#)
A hashtag is a Twitter tagging system used to
aggregate the conversation surrounding an
event, topic, or theme. Hashtags can easily
be created by combining a # with a word,
acronym, or phrase (#WORD) and used as a
tag within tweets.
Tweet-Up
A tweet-up is an event specifcally organized for Twitter
users to meet up and network, usually informally.
#
l
Example:
One list HubSpot has created displays tweets from
HubSpot employees who tweet: https://twitter.
com/#!/list/HubSpot/hubspotters
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Trending Topics
Displayed on the right-hand side of your Twitter homepage, trending topics are
words, phrases, or hashtags that are popular (trending) on Twitter at a given
time. These can be organized by location and are updated in real time.
Promoted Tweets
Promoted weets are tweets that have been supported and promoted
by paid marketing efforts. Think of them as the pay-per-click of Twitter.
G
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In short, Twitter is a relationship-building and relationship maintenance tool; the most
obvious business use of Twitter is to meet potential customers and leads the same
way you would at networking event or tradeshow.
2
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TWITTER FROM
A BUSINESS
PERSPECTIVE
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However, You Can Also Use it To:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Develop and promote your brand
Interact with your customer base
Create buzz around upcoming events
Help individual employees act as liaisons to the public
Promote other content youve created, including webinars, blog
posts or podcasts
Generate sales leads for your business
B
This ebook will frst explain the steps to get involved
in Twitter and then explore how to fully utilize it from
a business perspective.
Develop direct relationships with bloggers and journalists for
potential PR placement
Track what people are saying about your company and brand
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CHAPTER 2
6 STEPS TO
SETTING UP &
OPTIMIZING
YOUR PROFILE
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Lets get started with Twitter! The frst thing youll need to do is get signed up for an
account. Before signing up, decide whether you want a personal or a business Twitter
account. Both are good for a company to have, but each serves different purposes.
SIGN UP
FOR TWITTER
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Company Account
O
Your company account represents your company as a whole. Use this type of account
to:
Keep your customer base up-to-date on your events
Promote recent blog articles or news
Update your consumers about products/services
Give real-time updates at conferences and events
Offer customer service and support
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Personal Account
A personal account used by an individual employee. This account type is more
personalized, can be used to talk about non-company related subjects, and is better
for direct relationship building. Use this type of account to:
Act as a liaison to the public for your company
Update people on what youre working on
Share tidbits about your personality
Expand your companys network and make connections
U
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For the purposes of this ebook, well walk through the steps for creating a company
account. The setup for a personal account works almost exactly the same. However,
the username and picture for the account should be something more personal --
something that refects your individual branding, including personal information.
To get your own account, go to http://twitter.com and click the Sign Up button.
Clicking this button will bring you to a page where you will select your username and
password.
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-
?
Your companys username is very important. This name will be how people refer to
your company on Twitter, so this should simply be your companys brand name.
Twitter Handle DONTS:
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After you choose your username and click Create my account, Twitter will launch
a screen that gives you the option of choosing people to follow based on your topics
of interest. We actually recommend that you personalize your profle Step 2 and
start tweeting Step 3 before you start following people. Refer to those sections
frst. You can always come back to this step by accessing the Who To Follow Link in
your Twitter toolbar. Well also cover this in more detail in Step 4.
TIP: If you have Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, or LinkedIn accounts, you
can check to see if anyone you know is already signed up for Twitter,
which can be useful when searching for people to follow. If you do
decide to check, be aware that Twitter will ask if youd like to invite
these contacts to Twitter. This will send a message all your contacts.
Only do this if you want to.
The next step in the Twitter setup process will ask you to check if any of your email
contacts are already on Twitter. This is not a required step, so feel free to skip it if you
desire.
Finishing Up Your Profle
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Now that you have your account, you need to personalize it! Its important that you
personalize your account before you begin interacting with and following people.
Before you add your information, your account will look inactive -- and if you start
following people without a personalized profle, your chances of being followed back
will decrease dramatically. Other users may even mistake you for a spammer, which
is defnitely not something you should shoot for.
PERSONALIZE
YOUR COMPANY
PROFILE
2
P
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Click Edit Your Profle on your
profle page, which can be found
at http://twitter.com/USERNAME
(Insert your Twitter handle in place of
USERNAME).
The frst order of business is your
picture, also commonly referred to
as your avatar. Its very important to
put a face to the name, if you will.
For this step, click on the Browse
button and select the best photo to
represent your company. This should
generally be your companys logo.
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Next up on your profle is your companys name. Always list your companys branded
name when using Twitter for business. If you couldnt ft the full name of your
company in the limited amount of characters you had for the Twitter handle, now
is your chance to list it here. Then, add your location so people know where youre
based!
For your URL, or web address, its always a best practice to include a link to your
companys website. If your company does not have a website, you can include your
companys blog, Facebook account, LinkedIn Company Page, or dedicated Twitter
landing page (more on this in Section 3 on using Twitter for lead generation) instead.
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v
Youre only given 160 characters of room to write your description, so consider it a
snapshot of your companys background. You can include:
Your companys position
What your company sells
A snippet about your industry
Any special projects or events your company is a part of
Something your company is proud of
In the Bio section, be as
descriptive as possible. This is your
elevator pitch your opportunity
to convince people to follow your
company.
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The last option under the Account
tab within your profle settings is the
Protect my tweets box. By clicking
this, your Twitter stream will become
private, and no one will be able to
see your updates without following
you. We do not recommend checking
off this box to protect your updates.
Many people judge whether to follow
someone back by evaluating that
users tweets. Your company is as
valuable as its updates, so dont keep
people from getting a peek!
If youre worried about the level of transparency your company experiences when
youre on social media, remember that you are in complete control over everything
your company tweets. At the same time, you should feel comfortable showing your
brands personality.
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How to Customize Your Background
As a business that wants to use Twitter to drive revenue, you have to take your
presence to the next level. While anyone can quickly set up a free account, few take
the time to customize that account.
Customizing the actual
background of your Twitter profle
is a signifcant step in bolstering
your credibility and educating
new and potential followers to
the content and products your
business provides.
One of the great things about social
media is that many of the tools are
free. This also happens to be one of
the worst things about social media.
Free tools mean the barrier to entry
to use a platform like Twitter is low.
This low barrier attracts spammers
and other less than reputable
people.
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