This document provides guidance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on using Twitter effectively for business purposes. It discusses creating a Twitter account and profile, personalizing it with a photo and bio, finding people and organizations to follow, engaging with your audience by tweeting regularly, and getting others to follow your business's account. The goal is to build your network and brand on Twitter while conveying a casual, conversational tone.
2. 2
Get Started
Understand how Twitter works so your business can actively and
effectively join the conversation.
1 - Creating a Twitter account
- Personalize your profile
- Start Tweeting
3. Access Twitterâs website by 3
Creating a Twitter account typing the following address in
your web browser:
http://twitter.com
Company account: Represents the company as a
whole. Use this type of account to:
âą Keep your customer base upâtoâdate on your
events
âą Promote recent blog articles or news
âą Update your consumers about products/services
âą Give realâtime updates at conferences and
events
4. DO!
Ideas for Twitter Handles: 4
1) Your full companyâs name (i.e. BerrisSA)
2) A variation of your name (i.e. Berris)
3) A combination of your products and your company (i.e. BerrisCookies)
ïŒ Making your Twitter handle as close to your companyâs name as possible will make it easier for people to
recognize you at a conference or event.
ïŒ Using your real companyâs name on Twitter helps your company looks like real and authentic.
DONâT ïŒ Donât make your Twitter handle something completely random (i.e. CatWoman).
This is a lost branding opportunity for you and your company.
!
ïŒ Donât use numbers (i.e. DMOD123). Unless there is a reason for the specific
numbers, it looks juvenile. It also conjures the old AOL chat room days. It gives you
the appearance that you arenât putting thought into your username.
ïŒ Donât use an underscore (i.e. DMOD_Lab). Using an underscore generally is never
done. Use at risk of seeming unaware of the âsocial norms.â
5. Adding your interests and your friends 5
Find
people &
companies
Follow a
profile List of profiles
that you follow
You can now start to customize your profile. Twitter will suggest you topics that might
interest you, and you can also search for other topics. To follow a profile, click on the
âfollowâ icon next to it. If you change your mind, simply click on the âfollowing/unfollowâ
icon.
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After you choose your handle and click âNext,â it will bring you to a screen asking to check if
your email contacts are already on Twitter. If you have a Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL
account, feel free to see if anyone you know is already signed up. (However, this is not a
required step. Feel free to skip.) If you do decide to check, beware of the prompt asking if
youâd like to invite them all to Twitter. This will send a message all your contacts. Only do
this if you want to.
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Confirming your account!
You should now have received an email from Twitter to confirm your email address. To
finalize your account, make sure you confirm it by clicking on the link you were sent.
8. Design every element of your profile 8
Personalize your profile to best reflect your business. Your
name, bio, website and profile picture
should all work together to tell your
story.
With millions of accounts already activated, to stand out
from the crowd, you must create an original account to
attract followers.
3
1. Click on the âProfileâ thumbnail and select a picture
from your computer that will be used as your profile
1 picture, for instance the logo of your company.
2. Write a few words about your company in the âBioâ
field. Remember this can only be up to 160 characters.
Write about your business, the kind of messages you will
post and about yourself. Keep it short and appealing.
2
Having a well-written, appealing bio is very important.
It is generally the first piece of information other users
will see.
3. When you are done, click on âDoneâ.
9. In the top right corner of the main
page, you can see an âgearâ icon. 9
Clicking on this opens a
menu, click on âEdit profileâ.
Your profile is where you can reference your company, your blog, talk about your interests and list your location.
The first item in your profile is your name. Always list your real name when using Twitter for business.
You wouldnât introduce yourself with a fake name at a tradeshow. Why should you do it here?
For your URL, or web address, itâs best practice always to include a link. Put a link to your:
âą Company website
âą Blog
âą Personal website
âą LinkedIn Profile
Also make sure to list your location. Many people follow back those located in their geographic area to expand
their local network. Put it in standard City, State format so it can be picked up by lists for your area. Donât lose
out on this opportunity.
The last option in profile settings is the âPost your Tweets to Facebookâ. By clicking this, your Tweets will
automatically post to your Facebook wall.
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Select a photo of yourself or
We recommend putting your your companyâs logo! Avoid
real name in your profile to look like spammers!
List your City and State. This
is a great opportunity to Be descriptive in your bio.
connect with people in your Put your companyâs
geographic area. name, your position or
hobbies.
We recommend to click this
Add your blog or company button that will allow you to
website here. If you donât quickly and easily link your
have one, list the address to Twitter account to your
your LinkedIn profile. Facebook account. The
button, when clicked, will ask
you to enter your Facebook
credentials and then link the
two accounts, allowing your
Tweets to cross-post to
Facebook as status updates.
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To further personalize the look of your Twitter profile, go to the Design to create a customized
theme or background. Play with the different colors that represent your companyâs logo!
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Establishing guidelines
By now, your Twitter account has a nice customized outlook and is
ready to be shown to the world. Because Twitter users need to keep
interacting with each other, it is important that there is always
someone in your company managing your Twitter account and its
updates. If more than one person is in charge of updating your posts
on Twitter, you need to establish clear guidelines in order to ensure
consistency in the tone and the type of information you want to
share. Furthermore, you need to keep a log of your posts â or âTweets
â to prevent the posting of the same piece of information several
times or that some are never published.
13. Bring your account to life 13
Over time, your Tweets will convey your own voice and style. Donât be afraid to let your
personality come through, or that of your employees. Of course, business styles vary. As you
keep using Twitter, youâll find your voice.
Itâs very likely that your employees are tweeting from their own personal accounts. As a
business owner, you can retweet or mention them when what they are tweeting about meshes
nicely with your businessâ interests and goals.
When youâre
tweeting on behalf
of your
company, write in a
casual and friendly
tone.
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Start Tweeting
Types of tweets:
1) An observation: Tweet about what youâre doing, thinking or feeling
2) What youâre reading: Post a link to an interesting blog post or news article
3) What youâre watching: Post a link to a cool video from Hulu or YouTube
4) What events youâre going to: Share a link to the next conference you plan to attend
5) Promote your content: Post a link to your most recent company or personal blog article
6) Promote someone elseâs content: Post a link to someone elseâs blog article as a helpful resource
7) Chat with someone: Send messages using an @ sign (to be explained later)
8) Retweet what someone else has said: Retweet (using RT or Retweet in the beginning of the
message) to repeat what someone else has said
Remember that everything you say is public! Donât say anything you wouldnât say at a networking
event. Even if you delete a tweet, it might still be archived on the Internet and could be found.
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2
1
3
Start tweeting by typing into message box (1) or by clicking the blue button on the right
top of your page (2) and then type into message box (3).
Tweet what youâre thinking/ doing/ observing/ reading etc.
16. Anatomy of a Tweet 16
Tweets are the building blocks of your communications on Twitter. Youâll be surprised by
how much you can say with 140 characters or less.
1 2
A direct message
(DM) is a private
message. You can
only send a DM to
individuals you
follow who also
5 follow you.
4
3
3. REPLY
1. HASHTAG
You can respond to a Tweet by hitting the reply button. When you
A hashtag is any word beginning with the # sign.
reply, your response is public, and will show up in your home
People use hashtags to organize conversations
timeline and the timeline of the person to whom you are responding.
around a specific topic. Clicking on a hashtag
The reply will also be visible in the home timelines of people who
takes you to search results for that term.
follow both you and the person to whom you sent the reply.
2. MENTION
Meaning, someone not in the conversation has to follow both of the
Sometimes you want to bring a Tweet to
people replying to be able to read both sides of the conversation.
someoneâs attention, but you still want all of your
4. RETWEET
followers to see the message. So instead of a
You can pass along someoneâs Tweet by retweeting it. Just hit the
reply, use a mention. Include the @username of
retweet button to send the original message to all of your followers.
whomever you want to mention in your
5. LINKS
Tweet, and it will appear in the Mentions section
Twitterâs link-shortening feature allows you to paste a link of any
(in the Connect tab). All @username mentions are
length into the Tweet box and it will automatically be shortened to
clickable and link back to the mentioned
19 characters. This makes it easier to fit long URLs into the 140
individualâs profile. character limit.
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Engage your audience
The right content converts people into customers, and turns
customers into advocates.
2 - Find people to follow
- Get people to follow you
- Your voice
- Make it a habit
- Tweet something sharable
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Find people to follow
Building your network is the most challenging and timeâconsuming
part of using Twitter. Expanding your network doesnât happen
immediately; you need to commit and take the time to use Twitter
effectively. By following people, you will receive their updates on a
regular basis in your Twitter stream. This is your chance to learn about
their lives, check out the blog posts they are reading and meet the
people they interact with. Following a goodâsized community can be
valuable and fun!
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But where can you find people you would want to follow?
Search keywords Use advanced search to
Select People results to Follow and learn from
associated with your limit the results to a
see a list of accounts that other businesses
business location
match your search
You can save
your searches by
clicking on the
options wheel
and choosing
âsave search.â
Your saved
searches are
available
anytime.
When you first join Twitter, itâs a good idea to follow and observe businesses similar to yours to
see what they are doing well, and to learn from their mistakes.
âTo followâ someone means that you are subscribing to their stream of Tweets, and will
automatically receive their Tweets in your timeline. When someone follows you, your Tweets
will show up in their timeline. Twitter has an asymmetrical follower model, which means that
you do not need to âapproveâ of the people who follow you, and they do not need to âapproveâ
of you. However, you will likely want to follow back most of the people who follow your
business. This acknowledges them, and enables them to send you direct messages.
20. DO!
20
ïŒ Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com): This free resource is a search function that helps
you find people who are tweeting about specific words. For example, you can find people who
have tweeted about âpublic relations.â Follow people talking about the topics you enjoy.
Also, use Twitter Search to see who has tweeted about your company.
ïŒ Follow People Your Followers are Following: Once you begin receiving updates from a
handful of people, watch to see whom those people chat with using an @reply. Maybe that
person would be fun to follow as well!
ïŒ Follow Thought Leaders and Bloggers: See if any of your favorite bloggers are on Twitter.
Many bloggers include a link to their Twitter account in their sidebar or personal info section
on their website.
ïŒ Collect Peopleâs Twitter Names at Events: Many social media people will include their Twitter
handle on their nametag at an event. Write down their names and follow them later. You can
find their Twitter account by adding their handle to the end of http://twitter.com/USERNAME.
ïŒ Follow Hashtags (#) at Events: At many events, the organizer will establish a hashtag (i.e.
#IMS08 was the 2008 Inbound Marketing Summit), so anyone tweeting at the event can
include the hashtag (#) in their Tweet. Follow those people who are at the same event as you
who you may not have met in person yet.
21. DONâT!
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ïŒ Donât follow too many people at once: Best practice is to follow no more than 25â50 people a
day, because there will be a time gap between following people and having them follow you
back. If your profile says you are following 2,000 people and only 30 followers have followed
you back so far, it appears that 1970 of those who you followed chose not to follow you back.
This unfavorable ratio makes you look like a bad person to add to oneâs network. Wait a little
bit to give people the chance to follow you back before finding a new batch of people to add
to your network.
ïŒ Donât follow hundreds of people at once and remove all who donât follow you back:
Although many people do this in order to have a âvaluable ratioâ (or more followers than
people youâre following), it is artificial network building and not a best practice.
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Get people to follow you
Following people and receiving their updates is great, but in order to
have valuable twoâway conversations, you need people to follow you
back and receive your updates too. This is why it is so important to get
your profile fully set up before reaching out for new connections. If you
follow someone who doesnât already know you, you need to have
sufficient information about you in your profile so that person can make
the decision whether to follow you back or not.
Having followers is important, because they are your network who will
see your tweets. Think of your total number of followers as your Twitter
reach.
23. DO!
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ïŒ Make your companyâs Twitter usernames easy to find. Create a page that lists all the
Twitter handles of the people in your company. By giving your customers an easy way to
interact with individual people, it helps them get to know the type of people who work at
your company. It also gives insight to your brand!
ïŒ Make your tweets useful resources so people need you. You are what you tweet. People
will want to follow you if they think they will get value from your content. You want to avoid
making your Twitter account purely a promotional tool. Would you subscribe to a newsletter
if it didnât have anything useful to say? What specialty knowledge do you have that you can
share?
ïŒ Interact with those people you follow who donât follow you back yet. Make sure to
monitor your Twitter stream, and comment on what people are saying. Give feedback;
compliment people. The key is to engage.
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Your voice
Too often, businesses are
Be yourself.
overly formal on Twitter.
Your Tweets should
reflect your personality.
People respond best to
friendly, conversational
Give them Tweets.
something more.
Use Twitter to convey
insights and
information about
your company that
your customers canât
find elsewhere.
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Your Voice
Be responsive.
Reply when people tweet about you. Favorite and retweet positive messages, and
thank those who are praising you. Promptly address critical Tweets about your
business.
Some conversations need to be taken offline. If there is too much back and forth
between you and your customer, or the exchanges become too specific for your
timeline, ask the follower to send you a direct message (DM) with contact
information so you can communicate further by email or phone.
Download Twitter for your mobile device at twitter.com/download so
TIP you can stay engaged with your customers on the go.
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Make it a habit
People wonder how often they should tweet, but there isnât one ârightâ answer. Tweeting
every five minutes might be too often and tweeting only weekly is very likely too infrequent.
At first, make a goal of tweeting once a day. Over time, youâll see what works best for the
amount of content you want to share and for your particular business.
Small ideas work as
well as big ones for
tweeting. You
might retweet
someone, thank a
customer or talk
about whatâs
happening in your
community.
Just because Twitter happens in real time, it doesnât mean you canât look ahead.
Think about your important upcoming events â product launches, holidays or
seasonal events â and see how you can incorporate Twitter into your plans.
Follow reporters and news outlets that cover your topics, and retweet
TIP their relevant comments and insights. Not only will you provide
interesting content to your followers; some of those reporters will
follow you back.
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Understand why people share
Tweet something sharable things to create better Tweets.
People tend to share INCLUDE A PHOTO
positive Tweets that A descriptive Tweet with a photo will not only get clicks, it will inspire retweets. Think
solve a of the words in the Tweet as a setup and the photo as the punchline.
problem, answer a
question, entertain QUESTION + ANSWER
or inspire. On Pose a question in your Tweet and then answer it with a link. For example:
Twitter, we see the - âWhat are the top ten reasons that people buy a new car? Answer: link to a blog
most retweeted
content tends to
post about the subject.â
contain - âWho wore it best? Fashion experts explain: link to fashion website or magazine.â
links, photos, videos - âImprove your golf swing in ten minutes! Hereâs how: link to professional golferâs
or quotes. When tips and tricks.â
you Tweet
something SHARE VIDEOS ON TWITTER
interesting, it has Add a video to a Tweet automatically by including the URL. Links for YouTube, Vimeo
the potential to
travel to many
and many other services will play directly in an expanded Tweet.
prospective ADD A QUOTE
customers.
Before you write a Inspire your followers with a pertinent quotation from history, literature, pop culture
Tweet, consider
or your own industry. Youâll encourage retweets if you choose a quotation that your
how your followers
will respond. Will followers see as helpful or inspirational for their followers.
they want to
reply, favorite, wat Follow people from outside your industry to get ideas about interesting
ch or share that TIP content. Be sure to give writers credit when repeating their content in a
Tweet? Tweet.
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Amplify your impact
Grow your audience to extend your reach.
3 - Promote your Twitter @username
- Use your followers to get more followers
- Work with others
- Measure your impact
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Promote your Twitter
@username
There are many ways to promote your Twitter @username online and offline:
business cards, signage, advertising, delivery vehicles, product
packaging, storefronts, email, your website, etc. Anywhere your customers interact
with your brand is an opportunity to encourage them to follow you on Twitter.
Feature your @username on your website and blog. Visit twitter.com/about/resources
TIP to download Twitterâs logos and see our brand guidelines for use.
30. When your followers retweet 30
Use your followers to get your content -or when they
more followers tweet about you- they extend
your reach to their followers.
Offer an incentive. Create Tweets that encourage your followers to retweet. One simple method is
to announce that youâll offer a discount to everyone who retweets your
offer, but only if you get a total number of retweets (like 10 or 25).
Offer your customers a reward if they mention your business â a discount, free
trial, or extra service â whatever makes sense for your company. Itâs a good
idea to include a link to the terms and conditions of your offer in the Tweet.
If you have a store, ask people show you the Tweet on their phones at
checkout. If you sell online, DM the follower with a discount code that you can
track at checkout.
People are more likely to retweet an offer that provides value to their own
TIP followers.
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Work with others Connect with other businesses
online.
Create a
conversation.
When the 2010 World Series was played in Arlington, Texas and San
Francisco, California, it was no surprise that the baseball fans from both cities
tweeted up a storm. Surprisingly, so did each cityâs major art museum: San
Franciscoâs Museum of Modern Art challenged Fort Worthâs Kimbell Art
Museum to a tweet-off. Texas responded, mentioning both baseball teams and
using hashtags that were a part of the larger sports conversation. Then the
competing teams started retweeting the museumsâ Tweets, and fans of both
joined in the fun. Through local pride, the museums found common ground
with the ball clubs and the competitive fun that comes with a major league
sport.
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Measure your impact
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUâRE SUCCESSFUL?
One common way to track success on Twitter is to look at the growth rate of your
follower base. This number shows that youâre increasing your audience -and your
ability to connect with more customers. But there are other indicators of success to
consider:
âą See if people are retweeting or favoriting your Tweets.
âą Use Google Analytics to see how much traffic is coming from Twitter, which show
up as t.co (this is Twitterâs link-shortening service).
âą Create special Twitter-only promotions to bring in new customers, or bring
regulars back more often.
âą Finally, ask your customers: Are they following you on Twitter? Do they enjoy it?
By measuring and monitoring your impact on Twitter, youâll develop more effective
ways to engage your audience, and ultimately grow your business.
Weâll present you a number of monitoring tools that you can use to measure
your Twitter impact in the next Tutorial.
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Using Twitter
Communication and Marketing.
4 - Twitter for Marketing
- Twitter for Public Relations
- Twitter for Customer Service
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Twitter for Marketing
1. Use Twitter to drive people to your companyâs website. Tweet about interesting resources your
employees have posted on your blog or website. Have you recently published a white paper that people
can download for free? Tweet about it, linking back to the download page on your website. If the content
on your site is truly remarkable, people may start tweeting about it on their own! They can share your
resource to their friends on Twitter.
2. Monitor your brand on Twitter. Using the aforementioned Twitter Search tool, you can search and track
what people are saying about your company, products, competitors or any other hot words in your
industry. Set up an RSS feed to receive all search results in Google Reader. If you find someone tweeting
about your products or a person who is looking for a solution that your product provides, let them know!
3. Use the Twitter âFavoritesâ feature as a list of company testimonials. To the left of each tweet in your
Twitter stream, there is a little star. When you click the little star, that tweet gets added to your Favorites
Tab. As you track what people are saying about your company in Twitter Search, favorite all of the
positive tweets. Thirdâparty testimonials are valuable by showing the public what other people think of
your company. The next time someone asks about your company, send them the link to your Favorites
page. The URL for this page will be http://twitter.com/USERNAME/favorites.
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4. Use Twitter to promote events. Tweetâups are a great way to get to know your Twitter community
offline. The next time your company holds an event, fundraiser or open house, tweet about it! Best
practice is to send people directly to an event signâup page. Think of a hashtag for your event before you
start tweeting about it. Selecting a hashtag for your own event will be beneficial in a few ways:
a) During the event, people often use the hashtag while liveâtweeting, or tweeting what they see/hear in
realâtime. The hashtag will aggregate the event tweets, building an online conversation around the
event.
b) People who are not at the event will see your hashtag and perhaps use it too. A popular #hashtag
often sparks curiosity, and people will go to http://search.twitter.com to follow the conversation around
the event.
5. Use Twitter to promote new tools. Twitter users love new toys, especially if they create some sort of
outcome, grade or analysis of the person using the tool. Make the results of your tool/grader as easy to
Tweet as possible. Perhaps you could add a âTweet this gradeâ function. Make sure your tool is as easy to
share as possible!
6. Establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. By tweeting about useful resources and
thoughtful tips, you and your company will eventually develop thought leadership, and people will
consider you an expert in that particular subject. Be sure to link to your own resources as well as others.
36. 36
Twitter for Public Relations
1. Develop relationships with reporters, bloggers and other media people through Twitter. Reporters and
bigâtime bloggers are incredibly active in social networks, especially when gathering information for
stories. Two resources that have a great list of the media people on Twitter are:
Media Outlets: https://twitteringjournalists.pbwiki.com/Media+Outlets+Using+Twitter
Media People:
https://twitteringjournalists.pbwiki.com/Media+People+Using+Twitter, http://mediaontwitter.pbwiki.co
m
2. Watch for tweets about editorial opportunities. Because the nature of Twitter is very quickâresponse, itâs
a great place for media people to look for lastâminute, additional resources for their stories. When
following bloggers and reporters on Twitter, keep close track of their tweets and scan for any
opportunities. Itâs also a great idea to send reporters tips to other links and resources simply to be helpful
and improve your relationship with the media person, even if itâs in regard to another company. The
media person will be thankful for your help and more likely use you as a reference when the subject is
applicable to you!
3. Direct Message reporters instead of sending them an email. By sending a direct message, you are forced
to create a short concise pitch that a reporter is more likely to read. Also, direct messages are very
casual, and some media folks prefer DMs to email pitches. Also, it saves you the time it would normally
take to write a lengthy pitch. Remember, you can only DM people if they follow you back. However, donât
pitch too much; they could easily unfollow you making it much more difficult to connect.
4. Use Twitter to check in on your media person before PR pitching. Check to see what the person youâre
about to pitch is up to before contacting them. In the event that the person is sick, having a bad day or
away on travelâit may be best to contact him or her at another time.
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Twitter for Customer Service
1. Respond to concerns people tweet about your company or products. Designate a specific person in your
company to track your company name and products in Twitter Search. That person can address any
negative comments, give feedback and help customers solve their products in real time. The speedy
response will impress the customer! Comcast at http://twitter.com/ComcastCares does a great job
tracking and addressing customer concern.
2. Use your company account to update customers with any temporary downâtime. If you work for a
company that offers an online service, let your followers know if you anticipate downâtime or if there is a
glitch you are working to fix. Your customers will be less upset and more appreciative that your company
is trying its best to relieve the problem.
3. Be sure to follow back everyone who follows your Company Account. Although itâs acceptable to pick
and choose whom you want to follow back in your personal account, thereâs no reason to limit who your
company follows. Also, the added benefit of following back everyone who follows your company account
is the ability to DM you.
4. Do not send an auto direct message whenever someone new follows you or your company. Itâs easy to
get into the trap of automating your Twitter activity. Many people will set up an auto direct message (or
auto DM) to be sent to every new follower. This looks artificial, and could make you appear apathetic
about building true relationships with your customers.
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Twitter in 10 points
1. Check and participate in Twitter every day
2. Post what you would read
3. Proofread before you post
4. Keep a nice and friendly tone
5. Never ignore users interacting with you (except trolls and spammers)
6. Keep a professional image
7. Promote your business subtly
8. Be creative and innovative
9. Make the first step to make new contacts
10.Keep up to date with the new terminology and customs