Making the Most of Twitter: A B2B Twitter Checklist
When you first join a social network like Twitter, it can be daunting. The many options for customization can be confusing and the ins and outs of interaction unfamiliar. Even if you’ve had a Twitter account for a while, you may have missed some important aspects of using it. This is especially true for B2B Twitter accounts. Which parts of Twitter are truly useful for B2B companies, and which are primarily for individuals interacting with their friends?
If you’re new to Twitter, or you’re unsure if your account is optimized for B2B usage, here’s a handy checklist to help you make the most of Twitter:
Creating your profile
When you create your B2B Twitter profile, don’t forget to:
- Pick a memorable, easy-to-spell handle. Usually some variation on your company name or product will work best. Make sure it’s not too many characters.
- Upload your company logo as the “profile picture.”
- Upload company-related images as the “cover” and “background” photo. These can be pictures of employees working, your product, or something similar.
- Write a short, catchy company description to go underneath your profile picture.
- Include your company URL with the description, so followers can find your site.
Finding followers
- Start finding followers by brainstorming customers, thought leaders in your industry, and others such as trade media or industry associations. Search for them on Twitter.
- Check out Technorati to find thought leaders if you’re not sure who in your industry is important to follow.
- Create lists to organize the people you’re following. Your lists can be of customers, thought leaders, or other categories. You can make these lists public (those on the list can see they are there, and others can see the list) or private (no one else can see the list).
Monitoring hashtags
- Search for hashtags that are important to your industry. Many established B2B Twitter accounts in your industry will have created hashtags that you can use. This makes you part of their conversation.
- Monitor trending hashtags and take advantage of ones that can be related to your industry or product.
- Create a company-specific hashtag. This is especially effective if you can get your followers to use the hashtag as well, to share a story or answer a question.
Stay on top of your Twitter activity
There are some tools you can use to keep track of your Twitter activity:
- Use Web-based apps like SumAll and TweetReach if you want to know how many people are seeing your tweets. They track retweets, views, and other information that may be important if you want to analyze your Twitter activity and its potential for lead generation.
- Use programs like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck if you have large numbers of interactions that are hard to keep track of. If you feel overwhelmed by the number of interactions your company receives on Twitter, Twitter decks can help you organize your account and keep track of mentions and @replies. They let you see all the activity on your account at once and schedule tweets for different times of day. Both programs have a free option.
With a little help, Twitter doesn’t have to be overwhelming. For more information on getting started with Twitter, download Boomm’s white paper “B-to-B Twitter 101: Mastering Twitter for Effective B-to-B Marketing.”