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Content Marketing

How to Set Up a Twitter Profile for Your Business to Maximize Conversions:
A Checklist for Success

In the noisy, cluttered world of social media, a business’ profile page can define a brand’s identity and set a business apart from the competition. It can also impact people’s decisions to follow a brand in social media and/or respond to its posts and calls-to-action.

In other words, a social profile page for a business can set a brand up for success (or failure) when it comes to social media marketing and growing that brand’s presence and authority online.

To help you position your business for success on Twitter, this week, I’m sharing some best practices and insider tips for setting up and maintaining Twitter profiles for businesses. These insights can help you attract attention for your business in Twitter, giving you the leverage you need to maximize engagement and conversions.

An Essential Checklist for Setting Up a Twitter Profile Page for Your Business

Once you’ve set up a Twitter account for your business, use this checklist to create an optimized, compelling Twitter profile for your brand:

• ★ Choose a good handle – Pick a handle (i.e., a Twitter username) that makes sense, aligns with your brand, and will be easy to remember. Your handle doesn’t have to be the same as your business name. But it should be reflective of your brand and its offerings.

  • ● Pro Tip: Keep it short and sweet. Consider adding an underscore or location to your handle if your first choice is taken. And try to avoid using numbers (unless your business name has a number in it) because these can be more challenging to remember (and they can be confused for letters or other characters).

• ★ Select the right images – A picture can be worth way more than a thousand words on Twitter. That’s because, even before someone takes the time to read your bio (or any of your other content), the right picture can capture their attention and get a message across. So, make sure you select an interesting, appropriate image for your profile picture, as well as your header.

  • ● Pro Tip: Consider picking images that show your staff, your operations, your storefront or other eye-catching facets of your business. Try to include people whenever possible in order to humanize your brand. And make sure you size your images appropriately (here’s a definitive guide to acceptable image sizes for Twitter and other social networks).

• ★ Take special care when writing your bio – Your bio (which can be up to 160 characters) is your space to explain why your business is special and why anyone should care about following your brand on Twitter. So, take the time to write something that matters. And be sure to include some useful information – like your business location and hours – in your bio.

  • ● Pro Tip: Ask a few people (staff and non-staff) to read your bio and give you feedback. Others’ input can offer new insights and reveal what’s more (and less) effective about your bio.

• ★ Add links to your website – Give people the option to easily learn more about your brand by linking part of your bio back to your business’ site.

  • ● Pro Tip: Use a unique link so you can track the traffic that your Twitter page is sending to your site. This can help you evaluate how successful your Twitter page is.

• ★ Pin a post – Pinned posts will stay at the top of your Twitter page, and they can be a good way to share more important content and information about your business.

  • ● Pro Tip: Consider pinning posts about upcoming events, promotions, new offerings or new locations. It’s also a good idea to pin posts that include positive customer reviews or feedback (as these can be effective “social” proof that your business provides quality products and/or services).

Business Twitter Profiles: More Helpful Tips

• ● Monitor the interest in your profile – Keep an eye on how your profile may be affecting follow (and unfollow) rates, as well as conversion rates. If your profile doesn’t seem to be gaining traction, don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board and try something new..

• ● Regularly review and update your profile – As your business evolves and you offer new (or different) services and/or products, make sure to update your Twitter profile page. It’s also a good idea to set up a schedule for regularly reviewing your Twitter profile (like every quarter or every year) to ensure that it’s up-to-date and still reflective of your brand’s identity and offerings..

• ● Check out your competition’s profile for new ideas – Looking for fresh ideas to spice up your brand’s Twitter profile page? Why not check out what your competitors are doing? Their pages can highlight images, content, etc. that may be helpful (or that you may want to avoid) when it’s time to refresh your profile.

• ● Know when it’s time to bring in a pro – Time is a precious resource for any business owner, and the reality is that there may just not be enough time (or staff) to dedicate to building and maintaining a good Twitter profile (and campaigns) for your brand. When this is the case, hiring a pro can be critical to your brand’s success on Twitter.

Have you set up a Twitter profile for your business yet? If so, how’s your profile faring? Have you run across any tricks or challenges along the way?

Tell me more on Facebook and LinkedIn. And don’t hesitate to get a hold of me on social media to ask any digital marketing question or just to say ‘hi.’ I look forward to hearing from you!