Twitter for the Professional
Twitter can be a great source of traffic, leads, and ultimately more conversions. The secret to reaching success on Twitter is followers. Thousands of followers is the goal all the while keeping the number of people you follow low, a good ratio between followers to following. Because of the popularity of Twitter many third-parties are developing useful applications everyday. Let’s explore what works, what doesn’t, and the best third-party tools available today.
Demystifying the Myth
If you still are one of the many who think Twitter is too personal, think again. Facebook is much more personal than Twitter. Dropping links in tweets is a common thing to do. You don’t get much SEO benefits from using links in tweets, but you do get traffic and the potential for more links as you are increasing your visibility.
Setting Up Your First Account
First, go to Twitter.com and click on the green “Sign Up Now” button and enter every field. The more profile information you utilize, the better. I recommend reading “Best Practices for Setting up a Twitter Account by the Numbers” before you pick a name and bio line. Remember, you can always go back and change your bio later. If a person was to click on your username they would end up on your profile page. Because so many other professionals have customized their profile page, you’d better get on the bandwagon now. Customized profiles are a great way to extend your brand and site as well. See Mashable’s post on Custom Twitter backgrounds for directions.
All About the Numbers (followers)
Now you should have your profile complete. The next step is finding those finicky followers! How do you go about doing that? This is probably the most frequently talked about subject by Twitter users looking to get more traffic. You simply need followers to get more traffic. The best strategy is to buddy up with industry leaders that have a good ratio of followers to following. You can go around the web and look for authorities in your field, chances are they are on Twitter too. You can also you the search feature in Twitter and search by username or by keywords. Being active is important. Other users will not find you through searches unless you are tweeting regularly, engaging industry leaders in conversations, and both retweeting others and getting your tweets retweeted. You should be producing keyword-rich tweets on a regular basis to stay visible to those who are interested in your subject.
the Hashtag
#keyword is a common method for showcasing certain keywords. Check through searches which hashtag keywords are being used frequently. If you are a Realtor you may want to use #citynames and #realestate in your tweets frequently.
Lists
Lists are relatively new to Twitter. Many people still don’t know how to properly use lists. It is a way to group users together. You can subscribe to other lists, make your own, and even share them on sites. Perhaps you want to make a list of all Realtors in Minnesota, you can do that, and then other local Realtors would use your list. Remember, you can list users without following them. Think of lists as a way to recommend a group to other users who might find this information useful.
Twitter Tools
Mr. Tweet – Is not the answer to all your problems, but it is an answer to most of your Twitter problems. Do not let the name fool you, Mr. Tweet is uses a complex algorithm for ranking users. This tool will scan your profile and take suggestions (as “communities”) for what niche or industry you are in. From there Mr. Tweet will find the highest ranking industry-related users and present them in a list on their website. You simply click “follow” and can even send them a tweet from the site. It’s so simple and effective, everyone should be using Mr. Tweet. Another feature of Mr. Tweet is recommendations. You can make a lot of friends by recommending them to Mr. Tweet. Be sure you tweet about it to let them know you nominated them.
Directories
Because Twitter doesn’t use links that search engines count you might as well put your Twitter profile on Twitter directories. There are new directories rolling out every month. Many utilize location and will list you based on a) popularity b) location c) interests. You can not only list yourself for free in these directories, it’s also a good way to find ideal people that are worth following.
Wefollow – Digg’s new directory that uses “Dofollow” or crawlable links. You get ranked by your profession and influence. Even though you may not be on the top of the list, it’s always good to have links, and setting your Twitter profile up here takes just a few seconds. Be certain to deselect the “Update my twitter url to be my WeFollow profile” box before submitting the form. No one in their right mind wants to show a directory as their homepage, right?
Twellow Pages - This is just like the Yellow Pages. Simple and quick. Browse users by keywords, location, or “Twellowhood” and you can even find suggested users here. Feel free to link to your stuff as these are not “nofollow” links and the search engines will count these links.
Geofollow – As the name states this is a location-only directory. Not much to mention with this one other than it takes just two seconds to set your profile listing up.
Tweetfind – Following suit of normal web directories, these guys say submission approval could take 2-4 weeks. Obviously they are wanting people to pay for “featured listings” and my take is there are too many free ones to be paying for featured listings. If anyone has paid and can prove me wrong, post it in the comments section. I would love to hear that I am wrong.
Twitr – Self-proclaimed as the “Number 1″ Twitter directory. Twitr can give you stats on your tweeting history.
Because many people search tweets for keywords you can obtain new followers by tweeting consistently. A great way to do this is by using a feed to utilize content from other sources. You can use an account through Flickr, YouTube, a Blog, Friendfeed, or anywhere you are creating content. If the site does not have a feed you can create one through the many html to rss converting services available. Once you have your feed, copy the address of the feed, then simply paste it into your RSS2Twitter or Twitterfeed account. This is so simple and is essential for anyone who wants to get more followers. Set up a ‘#keyword’ as a prefix to all tweets from your RSS feed.
A good RSS to Twitter application will include monitoring and analytical data on clicks. You should also be able to set up multiple Twitter accounts for a feed.
Since other sites have already done the heavy lifting, all we have to do is refer you to their site. Here is a list of OVER 760 Twitter tools.
Keep a Cool Head
If you are using Twitter for work be sure to always keep your goals in mind. You should never say anything too personal. Never get into heated arguments and always be aware that someone is watching your tweets and ask continue reading »
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