Starting a Twitter account for your business
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Head over to http://www.twitter.com, and if you haven’t already signed up for a Twitter account click on the orange ‘Give is a try >’ button.
You will then be taken to a page where you will create your log in details.
First type in your full name and the username you wish to be found as.
Ideally you want your username to be your business name but in some cases it may already be taken (for example feralart was already taken by someone else so I choose feralart_design), or it may be too long (your username can only be 15 characters long). In this case use something that describes your business, as I mentioned I used my business name plus what I do. One of my clients ‘EarthQuest’ could not register earthquest or their main brand naturessymphony so chose hairandbodycare as it encompassed all of their products. Also you cannot have a space in between words, but can use an underscore ‘_’ to break words up, the underscore does count as one of the 15 characters you can use.
Choose a password that you will remember, and enter your business email. Your email will be used to give you updates and let you know when someone starts following your twitter updates (a great way to keep track of new people and thank them for following you!). It also allows people to find you on Twitter if they know your email.
Finally read through the terms of service and click ‘Create my account’
Now you’ve created you account it’s time to set up your details!
Twitter takes you through three steps to start following people as soon as you create your account. These are all optional, you can skip them just by pressing the ‘Next >>’ button at the bottom of each step. The bonus of following other people is they may follow you back, it can also keep you up-to-date with latest industry news if you follow your suppliers or leading businesses within your industry.
Step 1 – Suggestions.
If you want to follow certain people or businesses within a topic (for instance technology or fashion) then click on one of the topics listed on the left side and some suggestions will appear. You can also search by locality (the screen shot below shows that it has picked up I am from Australia and will suggest other Australian accounts for me to follow).
Step 2 – Friends.
If you have an email account such as Yahoo or Gmail you can enter your account details which allows Twitter to look through your email address book and see if any of your contacts use Twitter as well. Then you can follow them straight away rather than contacting them individually and asking. They will get an email saying that you are following them and can follow you back.
Step 3 – Search.
You can make a manual search for someone to follow, if you know their Twitter account name or email.
Click the ‘Next step: You’re done! >>’ and you’re done!
Almost…
Head over to your email and you will have received one from Twitter asking you to confirm your account. Just click on the link they have provided and now you’re done, really.
So you’ve completed the initial set up of your account, what next?
Now you can start personalising your Twitter page and posting Tweets (updates) about your business.
Below is the screen you will see when you first sign in to Twitter, it has some useful suggestions to help get you started.
You can share your first Tweet with the world. Just write your update in the box and press Tweet. You have up to 140 characters (including spaces) to use each Tweet so always remember to keep things short and simple. There is a number next to the update box which will count down as you type so you don’t have to stop every few words to see if you’ve gone over 140 characters.
Let’s look at the design of your page next. Like anything you use to promote your business you should keep your corporate image running through the design.
Click on the ‘Settings’ link at the top of the screen, which will take you to the page shown below.
This shows your account settings, you can change your screen username (I wouldn’t suggest doing this unless you have just started and all of a sudden had a great username idea. Your username is how people will find you, link to you and how you promote your Twitter account, so it can cause broken links in emails and on websites).
You can change the email address the account is linked to, your preferred language, time zone, and choose whether you want everyone to see your Tweets or just people you have approved to watch you.
If you then click on the ‘Profile’ button you can upload a picture that will appear on your page and next to all your Tweets. I suggest using your business logo as people will recognise it. This picture will appear in a square format so if your logo is long and skinny be sure to add some space around it or the sides may be cut off (your graphic or web designer can help you with this if you need).
You can also add in useful information which will appear on your page for people to see, such as your website link, your location and a brief piece of text about your business.
Then click ‘Save’
Click on the ‘Design’ link and you can change the image and colours of your Twitter page.
There are some pre-made images to use for your background, or you can upload your own image/photo. Select the ‘Change background image’ link and use the ‘Browse’ button to select your own file. You must press ‘Save’ for your image to upload and appear as your background. You can also choose to tile the background if it is a patterned effect. Any other changes you do within Twitter change as you select them so you can preview before you press ‘Save’.
Select the ‘Change design colours’ link to change the background colour (if you have a background image that you aren’t tiling) colours of text, links, the information bar on the right side and it’s border.
Once you have saved your changes you’re done and ready to go!
