What do you think of when I mention Twitter?  Do you think about teenagers posting what color socks their wearing to school today?  Or do you think about the sales/conversions your company makes by utilizing these accounts?  Social media is a fantastic way to increase your brand exposure.  By creating a successful Twitter account you essentially have a direct line to your customers.  Utilize the following tips to gain “followers” and to maximize your company’s Twitter experience. 1. Carefully Choose Your Twitter User Name Make sure you put some thought into what username you want to use on Twitter.  Do you want to use your company name, brand name, or your full name?  Each one of these types of user names has an advantage, for instance we use @DKS_Systems for our Twitter user name.  @billgates chose to use his real name even though he is the founder of his company Microsoft.  It’s up to you; decide which one is the best fit for your company. 2. Your Twitter Image Your Twitter image is what everyone will see next to your username.  Every time you publish a tweet people will see this image.  Does it make sense to put your company’s logo as the image? Alternatively you can post a picture of yourself.  Considering Twitter is a social network I like to suggest that everyone posts a picture of themselves.  This I believe adds more of a community feel and less of a B2B connection.  I find that it’s easier to get people to follow your account with a personal picture than a company logo.  This is an issue you can always test as Twitter easily allows you to update your picture within your account settings. 3. Twitter Profile Optimization The search engines will index your Twitter profile so it’s important to optimize as much as you can.  Below are a couple fields you can change to help your profiles search rankings. Title Tag – This is your “Name” followed by your Twitter user name. Meta Description – Google shows your profiles “BIO” as your meta description.  So keep in consideration whatever you type here is what will show up in the search engines. Your website URL – take the www out of your URL.  This way people can see more of the actual web address.  Twitter only shows 17 characters.  Our website address just makes the cut and shows “http://dkssystems” 4. Customize Your Twitter Background Twitter allows you to create and display your own custom background.  Create a background image that displays more information about your company!  (I will freely admit that I too really need to work on this tip!)   This is by far the best resource I can point you to on how to create the best Twitter background for your account. 5. Be careful who you follow You may not have any control over who follows your account however you do have full control over who you choose to follow.  Don’t follow any accounts that you wouldn’t be willing to explain to your boss or even your clients.  I have never seen this being an issue however it would be a real shame to lose a sale/client over you choosing to follow a specific political candidate or questionable celebrity.  This tip doesn’t apply to every user; however it’s something to keep in the back of your mind. 6. Use Hash Tags In Your Tweets It’s very important that you use Twitter just like everyone else on the website.  #hashtags help categorize your tweet in with a specific topic.  If you’re talking about SEO you might want to consider adding #SEO at the end of your tweet.  This way anyone who is searching for “SEO” tweets will find yours in the results. 7. Don’t Spam People Who Follow You! Remember how I suggested that you be careful who you follow on Twitter?  If you send out ten tweets in a one minute period your followers are going to be annoyed.  If you annoy them enough they may just un-follow your account.  You need to publish your tweets sparingly.  I would suggest a couple of tweets an hour at most.  This is just a general rule and is something you will need to figure out as you get use to your Twitter account. 8. It’s Not All About Business Don’t bombard your followers with your company’s products and or offers.  Twitter is a virtual hang out space for everyone.  If someone in real life got in your face and tried to make you buy something wouldn’t you avoid them each time you saw them on the street?  However, if one of your “buddies” suggested you go see the latest movie or buy a certain product wouldn’t you take it into a little more consideration?  Make sure to tweet about everything.  The color of your socks, your amazing fast food lunch, and a funny joke someone told you etc.  After several of these posts you can slide one or two tweets advertising your product or service. 9. Think Before You Speak… I Mean Tweet How many times have you read in the news about a celebrity or a successful business person putting their foot in their mouth?  People don’t always think before they tweet.  Twitter is not a place for you to complain about your clients or customers.  You don’t want to say anything that will sabotage your brand or company either.  My rule of thumb is before I submit a tweet I ask if my boss would be ok with reading this.  If I think it’s questionable I will re-phrase it or choose not to tweet that message.   Just remember to think before you tweet, if you don’t you may get yourself and or your company in trouble! 10. Personal Messages and Re-Tweets As mentioned before, Twitter is all about being social.  Talk to your followers, ask them questions, and make sure to answer any questions they may ask you.  You want to maintain a form of friendship with your followers.  Twitter allows customers/clients to have a direct access to you that they otherwise wouldn’t have.  Take advantage of this, write them personal messages. (Tweets only they can see)  Also make sure to re-tweet (RT) their tweets if you find it interesting.  Building these relationships may help you create some sales in the future. Have You Created A Twitter Account Yet? I hope that this article has shown you the value of investing time into Twitter.  Twitter is a fantastic way to keep in touch with your existing clients and customers. When customers get a sense of satisfaction they are more willing to make additional purchases.  Twitter also gives your company an opportunity to reach out to people interested in your niche.  Engage with them and answer their questions, you may just have another customer in the future if you do it right. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Does Your Company Twitter? 10 Tips To Become A Great Business