This document provides guidance on setting up and using a Twitter profile effectively. It discusses choosing a Twitter handle, personalizing a profile with photos and a bio, populating engaging tweets, finding targeted followers through hashtags and lists, engaging on Twitter through replies and retweets, and using tools to automate some follow and message functions. The overall message is that an optimized Twitter profile and strategic engagement can help businesses and individuals build awareness and connect with customers.

1. Twitter Training
Setting Up a Profile,
Creating a Content Strategy,
and Maximizing Awareness and Engagement

2. What is Twitter
• Twitter is an immensely powerful platform for disseminating content
and engaging with customers and prospects.
• The real power lies in the fact that your tweets, conversations and
content can be amplified by orders of magnitude across the
Twittersphere – which can help increase your brand awareness,
thought leadership, trust, and authority.

3. How Businesses and
Solopreneurs Use Twitter
• Develop and promote your brand Interact with your customer base
• Track what people are saying about your company and brand
• Create buzz around upcoming events
• Help individual employees act as liaisons to the public
• Promote other content you‘ve created, including webinars, blog posts or podcasts
• Develop direct relationships with bloggers and journalists for potential pr placement
• Generate sales leads for your business

4. Fun Twitter Stats
• More than 50 million in the past year to reach 270 million active users.
• In 2013, Twitter generated $716 million in Auto Sales. The best returns were on luxury model cars. For every $1 invested in
Twitter marketing, luxury car brands saw a return of $17.80. That’s a return of 1,780%.
• Over 300 billion tweets have been shared since the network launched. 0.01% of these (32 million) were shared during the
2014 World Cup final. This is more tweets than were shared during any other single event, including the Superbowl.
• By 2015, one-fifth (20.5%) of internet users in the US are expected to have Twitter accounts. This figure has grown from
15.2% in 2012, and is set to rise to 24.2% by 2018.
• Katy Perry (60 million) and Justin Bieber (57 million) each have more Twitter followers than Barack Obama (50 million). Lady
Gaga is 6th in the world with 43 million followers, ahead of Britney Spears at 39.5 million.
• The average Twitter user follows five or more businesses. Over a third (37%) of Twitter users will buy from a brand they
follow.
• Mobile users are more active on Twitter than desktop users. People with Twitter on their smartphone are 79% more likely to
access Twitter several times a day. They’re also twice as likely to use Twitter the moment they wake up.
• Americans love to Tweet about what they’re watching. Between January and April 2014, 17 million Americans shared tweets
about a TV show. In total during this period, over 361 million tweets were shared about TV.
• Three in ten small businesses have yet to join Twitter. What are you waiting for guys?
• YouTube is the most popular brand on Twitter, with 46.5 million followers. They’re ahead of Instagram (36 million followers)
and Twitter (33 million followers). Facebook has just 14 million Twitter followers, less than the New York Times.

6. Twitter
• Twitter is a useful communication tool that allows you to interact with people around
the world in three different ways:
• Send a short message to a bunch of people publicly
• Send a short message to a specific person publicly
• Send a short message to a specific person privately
• Twitter is also referred to as a “micro-blogging” service, meaning you can post
short updates limited to 140 characters or fewer.
• Originally, this character limitation was implemented to make twitter compatible
with mobile phones and text messaging.
• Now, it’s a useful characteristic that allows users to receive rapid-fire, concise
information from many, many people!

7. Some Definitions

8. When you follow someone, their updates
will be displayed on your twitter homepage

9. Follow me back!

10. Follower

11. Status Update

12. @reply

13. Direct Message

14. Twitter Stream

15. Tweet-Up

16. Retweet

17. Twitter Lists

18. Trending Topics

19. Promoted Tweets

21. Sign up for Twitter
• Do you want a company or personal account?

22. 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

23. Personal Account
• A personal account used by an individual.
• This account type is more personalized 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 you‘re working on
• Share tidbits about your personality
• Expand your network and make connections

24. Before You Start - Research
the Competition
• Look at what your competitors and colleagues are doing on Twitter
• There is likely a similar blogger, freelancer, entrepreneur, local business, or any-sized business
already out there taking advantage of Twitter.
• You can find them by visiting their websites or using directories to search for Twitter users in a
specific industry.
• Twellow
• Wefollow
• Be sure to find the best examples to follow.
• If you’re a new eCommerce store, and you’re just getting started with Twitter, then look for other
eCommerce stores that have an awesome Twitter presence.
• Watch what they do and note what seems to get a good response and what doesn’t. For example,
does mentioning a limited, one day sale get a lot of replies and retweets? Or, is it when they post
pictures of their products?

25. Choose Your Twitter Handle
Carefully

26. Personalize Your Profile
• You should 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 profile, your chances of being followed back
will decrease dramatically. Others may mistake you for a
spammer - not what you want!

27. Custom Background
• When someone comes to your Twitter profile for the first time, they
should see a great design that reflects your brand.
• WePay tells us the three things they want us to know about their
product. They keep it simple and don’t bloat the background:

28. Netflix
• Netflix shows dramatic photos letting us know when they
will release the latest season of House of Cards.

29. Acer
• Acer shows us a few of their products.

30. Eye-Catching Header Photo
• If people are viewing your profile for the first time, they’re
going to check out your profile photo.
• By extension, they’ll also look at the header photo. Pick
something that describes your brand or displays
something you’re trying to promote.

31. CNN
• CNN showcases their upcoming documentary. The image
and name give us an idea of the subject of the
documentary, and they let us know when the
documentary will be airing:

32. Wistia
• Wistia shows the people behind the company.

33. Charity Water
• Charity Water shows us what their organization is about -
providing clean water.

34. Beats by Dre
• Beats by Dre showcases their bread and butter.

35. Write a Concise and
Descriptive Bio
• You get only 160 characters to describe yourself and
what people will get when they follow you on Twitter.
Make it interesting and convincing!

36. Profile Picture
• I recommend using your logo as the profile picture.
• This is another reason it’s so important to have a quality
logo.
• Keep in mind that people associate emotions with logos.
So, if you tweet too much or tweet annoying, mindless
comments, then that reflects on your logo and by
extension your brand.

37. Populate Some Great Tweets
• When people are deciding whether to follow you, chances are they will base
their decision on your most recent tweets.
• If you visit your profile, you’ll see your last fifteen tweets (at least).
• Make sure they all don’t look the same. Retweet others (to get a mix of logos
and variety), add pictures to tweets, and do a blend of sharing links and sole
text updates.
• Avoid syncing your Facebook status updates with your Twitter. If you are
going to do this with every tweet, it’s probably better to just use Facebook.
• In the ideal scenario, write your status updates on Facebook (where you’ll be
able to write more), and then write a separate message on Twitter.

38. Andrew Weil M.D. - Facebook
and Twitter Posts

39. Tweets with Photos and
Videos
• Every Twitter profile shows the most recently posted
images and videos, which also show on the official Twitter
mobile app.
• People’s eyes are drawn toward photos, so I wouldn’t be
surprised if one of the first things someone sees when
viewing a profile is the pictures and videos section. It’s
important to tweet images and videos that followers will
find valuable.

40. Charity:Water
• Here charity:water shows the mission of their charity –
providing access to clean water.

41. Vice
• Vice shows pictures of their latest stories as well as
pictures of what’s happening in the world.

42. Inc.
• “Inc.” shares entrepreneurial quotes as well as covers of
their latest issues.

43. Tweeting Advice
• Be authentic – Twitter is SOCIAL, not promotional.
• Don’t Tweet unless you’re certain it will make your follower’s day.
• How often? See above.
• 30-50% of your Tweets should have pics (and pics can be
graphics).
• Study competitors – don’t steal, but mimic the best behaviors.
• Use analytics to create an improvement feedback loop.

44. Twitter Stats to Help You
Reach More Followers
• Twitter engagement for brands is 17% higher on weekends.
• Tweets with links get 2X the engagement rate than those without.
• Tweets with less than 100 characters get 17% more engagement.
• Twitter’s fastest growing demographic is 55–64 year-olds.
• Tweets with hashtags get 2x more engagement.
• 66% of user-generated tweets that mention brands come from mobile users.
• Twitter users who mostly use a mobile device are 181% more likely to be on Twitter during their commute.
• Amplifiers are 122% more likely to send direct messages.
• Your tweets have a 12x higher chance of being retweeted if you ask for it, and 23x higher if you actually
spell out the word “retweet”.
• Tweets that include links are 86% more likely to be retweeted.

45. Action Words Get Results in
Your Twitter Posts

46. Tips For Engaging on Twitter
• Be patient. It takes time to build your Twitter network and organic growth is best.
• Use it everyday for four weeks, even if only for 5 minutes per day. Some people find that setting a goal of
15 minutes a day for the first few months helps.
• Remember twitter is a two way conversation — you need to answer as much as you ask but most
importantly share, share, share.
• Participate and say something, anything. Don’t always expect people to always answer. It does depend
on how many you follow and what you’re asking.
• Get involved in the conversation. Don’t be afraid to reply and if you don’t get a response back, don’t be
offended. It happens — you’ll soon see those that do/don’t engage in conversations.
• Learn the twitter language and how to use it well i.e. @, DM, #, hashtags, RT.
• Use a twitter client where possible and not the web interface.
• Avoid using up all 140 characters as it makes Retweeting harder.
• Remember online is forever. If you didn’t want it online don’t say it in the first place.
• It’s extremely easy for others to misinterpret your written text. Remember this!
• Think about how what you say reflects on how people visualize you.

47. Finding Targeted Followers
• After you have your profile set up, and you have some great tweets, your
next on-going goal will be to gain followers.
• While there are lots of ways to get just any followers, the key is to get
targeted followers who are interested in your industry. It’s better to have
300 engaged followers than 3,000 unengaged followers.
• While everything shouldn’t be about only numbers, there is something to
be said for having a good follower count showing on your profile.
• With a new Twitter account start by finding people who have a follow-
back policy in place, usually implemented by an online application.
Basically, you will be looking for people who have close to a 1:1 ratio of
followers to following.

48. Great Places to Find
Followers
• Enter in your keyword and you will see users with their following and follower counts.
• Connect Twitter Counter with your Twitter account and follow those users directly from the
search results.

49. Who Do Your Followers
Follow
• You can find great people to follow from looking at people
your followers are following.
• Once you begin receiving updates from a handful of
people, watch to see whom those people chat with by
looking at @replies - then look at the bios/stream and
decide if they would be good to follow.

50. Mine Twitter Lists
• Look at the lists that your followers have.
• Look at the lists of influencers, bloggers, and media - and the lists
they are on.

51. Other Ideas
• Look at your favorite bloggers and follow them.Collect
people’s twitter names at events - write down their
usernames and follow them later -- or even better, use
the twitter mobile app/hootsuite.
• Follow Hashtags (#) at events once you begin receiving
updates from a handful of people, watch to see whom
those people chat with by looking at @ replies. Maybe it
would make sense to follow that person as well!

52. Twellow
• Follow users by category.

53. View User Profiles for More
Info
• Each user has a Twellow
profile page where you
can see their
preferences for following,
their extended bio,
location, chosen
categories, as well as
their other social network
pages. You can follow or
unfollow them on Twitter
via their profile or even
tweet!

54. Add Your Twitter Profile

55. WeFollow : Search By
Interest

56. Follow Influential Tweeters
and Add Yourself

57. Tweet Adder - Twitter
Management Tool
• TweetAdder finds and follows new users regularly based on your customized searches. It also
unfollows people who do not follow you back within a specified time frame.
• Powerful follower searches help you create very tight, focused keyword searches within an
user’s biography and tweets. People who come up in these results are likely interested in
following you back. Useful for someone who is targeting a local business, industry influencers,
or just needing more fans.

58. Following Don’ts
• Don’t follow too many people at once.
• A best practice is to follow no more than 25-50 people a day, because there will be
a time gap between following people and when they 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 1,970 of the people you followed chose
not to follow you back. This unfavorable ratio won‘t help boost your credibility and
may negatively affect people‘s decisions to follow you. therefore, give your
followers some time to follow you back before finding a new batch of people to add
to your network.
• Don’t follow hundreds of people at once.
• Although many people do this in order to have a “valuable ratio” (or more followers
than people you‘re following), it’s artificial network building and not a best practice.

59. Get Followers From Your
Website/Other Social Profiles
• If you have a website, blog, email newsletter, or other way to share links with
others online - add your Twitter link to everything, down to your email signature,
forum signature, and even other social profiles (such as Facebook). This way,
people who already are connecting with you online can find you easily on
Twitter.
• Place “follow” buttons on your blog and various pages of your website.

60. Tweet Button
• Twitter’s tweet button allows you to put a tweet button on each of your blog
posts to make it easier for visitors to share those posts with their followers.
• When you create the button, you can put in a Twitter account to recommend
after someone shares your post.

61. Tweet Button
• This button will appear only if the person who tweeted the link is
not following the specified account. So, for this example, I used
@motortrend. Since I do not follow @motortrend, it shows after I
tweet the link:

62. Direct Messages
• Twitter users have a love / hate relationship with direct messages, as many of the ones sent seem like spam.
• As you follow others, you will see examples of good and bad direct messages. The bad ones are those that are pitching
a product or service right off the bat and those trying to get you to opt-in to their mailing list (usually with the temptation
of a free eBook).
• Think of that first direct message as the first thing you say to someone you have just met. You don’t want to put them off
immediately. Think of your direct message as a way to go above and beyond to connect with a new follower. Simply
thank them for following you, or ask them what they would like to learn from you on Twitter.
• The best way to write direct messages is to personalize each one to your new followers. But when you start getting
dozens of new followers daily, it becomes a bit of a productivity issue - this is where automation comes in.
• Free services such as Social Oomph let you register your Twitter account and send your new followers a direct message
automatically.
• My suggestion here is to remember not to pitch your new followers off the bat and ALWAYS try to reply personally to
them if they respond to your message.
• Don’t worry if they don’t reply. Most probably won’t. But, the payoff of sending a DM and getting a response is greater
than any damage you can do by sending a DM to someone who doesn’t reply.
• Something that can come in handy is to keep track of who direct messages you personally, past the initial welcome
message. For example, do you have people who direct message you asking you to promote their blog content? If so,
then the next time you have some content you want to push, you can feel good about direct messaging them for a favor.

63. Make Your Tweets Unique,
Relevant, and Helpful
• Make your tweets useful resources so people need you.
you are what you tweet. people will want to follow you if
they think they’ll get value from your tweets.
• Be sure to avoid making your twitter account a purely
promotional tool. Would you subscribe to a newsletter if it
didn‘t have anything useful to say?

64. Interact With Potential
Followers
• Interact with those people you follow who don’t yet follow
you back.
• Make sure to monitor your twitter stream and comment on
what other people are saying.
• Give feedback; compliment people. The key is to
engage. this will give them incentive to follow you back.

65. Avoid Putting @USER in the
Beginning of Your Tweets
• To make your tweets as visible as possible, avoid putting @user in
the very beginning of your tweet - as this will make your tweet
viewable only in the twitter streams of people who follow you and
the user to whom you‘re tweeting.By putting @user within your
tweet, twitter knows who to send it to. This type of tweet is also
called a reply or @reply (pronounced “at reply”). All of the @replies
you receive will go into your @connections tab across the main
twitter navigation.
• Anytime you put an @ in front of someone’s username, it
automatically becomes a link to that person’s profile. This feature
makes it easy for you to easily visit those users’ profiles and engage
with them as well.

66. Twitter Searches
• Twitter searches are very powerful in the sense that you can monitor any
tweets, including those for a particular keyword.
• For example, if you sell auto accessories, you can set up a Twitter search in
HootSuite for the keywords “best muffler?” to watch for anyone tweeting a
question related to finding the best muffler. If you run a food blog, you can set
up a search for “cookie recipe?” to watch for anyone asking for a cookie recipe.
• In both cases, you can reply from @username to the person and share a link to
your website where you have information that answers their question.
• You also can use advanced Twitter search to get even more detailed with your
searches, such as someone who tweets a specific keyword within 15 miles of a
particular area code.

67. Create Your Own Twitter
Lists
• Twitter lists allow you to add people (up to 5,000) to
particular lists to help you monitor those users. This is a
great way to monitor thought leaders in your industry. You
do not have to follow these people to have them on one
of your lists.
• You can create lists easily in HootSuite by adding a new
column to one of your tabs, creating a new list, and
adding users to it. Follow them to learn what topics are
most important in your industry, retweet their posts, and
respond to them when they have questions in order to get
on their radar.

68. Monitor Your Business and
Brand
• Another great listening / online reputation management strategy you can implement via
Twitter through HootSuite is monitoring mentions of your business, brand, website, blog, or
products by creating keyword searches for those names.
• This way, you can thank those who praise you, as well as respond quickly to those who
might have customer service issues or other negative commentary.

69. Attach to a Trending Topic or
#Hashtag
• This may not apply to every industry, but one way to spread your Twitter
message beyond your own followers is to attach it to a currently popular
hashtag (#keyword) or topic.
• The top 10 most popular hashtags are listed on the left sidebar of your
Twitter homepage. You can change it to show worldwide trends, trends
specific to a particular country, or even tailored trends.
• If there is a trend or hashtag that you can jump on board with, your tweet
will be seen by anyone following the topic. This is a great way to promote
relevant blog posts and content that will drive new traffic to your website
and possibly new followers to your Twitter account as well. Just be sure you
are authentic. If a trending topic is Justin Bieber, don’t tweet about Bieber
unless it makes sense for your brand to do so.

70. Hootsuite
• One of the best Twitter management tools that I highly
recommend for setting up your listening and posting
strategy on Twitter is HootSuite.
• This tool allows you to set up multiple tabs with 10
columns to help you schedule posts as well as monitor
your mentions, direct messages, searches, and Twitter
lists.

71. Getting Started with
Hootsuite

72. Add Streams & Tabs

73. Adding Streams

74. Adding Streams

75. Composing Messages

76. Link Shorteners - Tracking

77. Vanity URLs
• You do not have to Owl.ly as the link shortener - create your own branded URL shortener, that can still
make use of the tracking and click-through rate information that is provided through Hootsuite.
• This is incredibly important if you are striving to get your brand consistent across all social media
platforms.This option is only available for the Pro and Executive versions.

78. Choose Streams for Your
Post

79. Scheduling With Hootsuite

80. Twitter Lists in Hootsuite
• The Twitter Lists feature is a way to organize the people you are following (or not yet following) on
Twitter in preferred groupings. Lists offer a way to see updates from specific people you have
decided to focus your attention on. These lists are not just a listing of selected Twitter profiles, but
rather a curated stream of members’ most recent tweets.
• Creating lists helps improve your Twitter experience. And building lists isn’t a one-time activity. They
need to be developed, nurtured and grown over time.

81. See/Edit Scheduled Posts

82. How to Use Twitter Lists
• Monitor Competitors
• Keep your competitors’ Twitter accounts in one handy list so you can
easily monitor their tweets. It’s an excellent way to see how they
interact on Twitter: scope out their activities, view their updates, check
out their offers and stay on top of their news.
• Use these insights to improve your own Twitter strategy. See what
works for them and adapt it for your business. It will also give you a
competitive advantage, as you’re always a step ahead of their game.
• This is an instance where you want to make your Twitter list private.
That way, your competitors won’t know you’re monitoring them.

83. Connect With Industry
Leaders• Keep track of the leaders in your industry by putting them into one powerful list.
• Use this list to manage and improve your relationship with these leaders. When you follow their tweets, you can engage with
them consistently. Retweet their content, mention them and when they ask a question, be the first to respond.
• Creating a list of industry leaders also adds value to your account. Creating a list with all of the top influencers makes you a
valuable resource. Share your list with your followers and recommend they subscribe.
• Looking for more industry leaders to follow? Visit the Twitter accounts of your competitors and follow people on their
influencer lists.

84. Stay on Top of Trends
• To keep up with the latest news and trends on Twitter
without getting distracted by irrelevant tweets, create a
list.
• Add the top websites and users who constantly share
breaking news in your industry to one news-oriented
Twitter list. Also, find out-of-the-box sources and up-and-
coming news sites to make your list unique.
• This is an effective way to unclutter your Twitter feed,
while also increasing your profile’s status as an industry
leader.

85. Create Lists for Events
• If you’re planning an event, create a Twitter list of speakers and attendees.
This is a great addition to event marketing. And it helps everyone connect with
each other prior to the event.
• Additionally, those who can’t attend will be able to develop relationships with
attendees, as well as follow the activity from the event in real time.

86. Maintain Customer
Relationships
• Social media has improved customer service immensely. If
people can’t reach someone for service, they go right to the
company’s social media links. Nurture your relationships with
your most active social customers by adding them to a list.
• Whenever customers mention you, simply add them to your
Twitter list. That way, you can follow their tweets and interact
with them regularly by retweeting, responding and asking how
they are doing.
• Also, reach out directly to these loyal customers to share
promotions they may have missed.

87. Follow Bloggers and Media
• These days, the Internet has
greatly expanded information
sources over the traditional
publications of the past, so
create a list that
encompasses everyone who
writes about your industry.
• This includes influential and
up-and-coming bloggers,
journalists and reporters.

88. Reward Your Biggest Fans
• Use a Twitter list to share some love with your most active followers.
• Create a list of people who share your blog posts and/or those who actively retweet your content. Engage with these
fans on a regular basis by thanking them and sharing their tweets.
• This positive reinforcement also serves to increase the chances of them continuing to share your blog posts.
• The list can also be used to monitor from which other sources your most active users tweet.

89. Use Hootlet to Post From
Your Browser

90. Twitter Chats
• A great way to get involved with the Twitter community is
to participate in relevant Twitter chats.
• Joining in these chats can lead to an increase in targeted
followers as well as new traffic to your website, assuming
you have content that directly ties in with the topic of the
chat.

91. Hosting a Twitter Chat
• Choose a time, day and hashtag.
• Create a website with instructions for newbies.
• Advertise and promote.
• At the appointed time, start Tweeting using the hastag!

92. Twitter Chat

93. Add Meta Tags to Your Page
• With Twitter Cards, you can attach rich photos, videos and media experience to Tweets that drive
traffic to your website.
• Simply add a few lines of HTML to your webpage, and users who Tweet links to your content will
have a “Card” added to the Tweet that’s visible to all of their followers.
• https://dev.twitter.com/cards/overview

94. Thank You!