Twitter Is the Place to Be: How to Create Your Very Own Business Account!

Everybody’s on Twitter. Despite what the critics say, it’s the place to be right now. Every day on Twitter, there are people discussing exactly what your business offers. That’s why it’s important to establish your brand and presence on Twitter and join in on the conversation. 

But there’s a snag: how exactly do you get started creating and preparing a public-facing Twitter account for your business? You need to establish an account that makes a lasting, positive impression on a follower or visitor. One that shows you’re a trustworthy expert, able to help solve their problems. 

5 Key Elements of Starting a Twitter Account for Your Business

1. Your photos

Profile photo

Your account photos are the first thing anyone visiting your profile will see. Make them count. The best profile photo clearly and accurately represents your brand’s identity, color scheme, or logo. Some businesses forget this key tip: make sure your profile picture can fit within a 400x400 pixels circle. Don’t take a poorly lit photo of yourself or your office and use it as your business photo. Make sure it fits within the parameters of the profile picture and isn’t cut off! Your profile picture appears not just on your profile page, but on your follower’s feed. It needs to capture attention and stand out amongst the many accounts they scroll past. Remember, your goal is to stop the scroll!

Header photo 

Once someone taps on your photo or name, they’ve visited your profile. That’s where the header photo comes in. Think of your header photo as a billboard. It’s valuable screen real estate, and you should treat it as such. This is a great opportunity to communicate value and problem solving to a visitor. But don’t just set your header photo and forget it. Update it regularly and ensure it aligns with your own company’s branding. Generally, Twitter recommends header photo dimensions of 1500x500 pixels. 

One more tip: test how photos look on mobile and desktop displays! If there’s cropping issues, you can adjust your photos accordingly within the Twitter app’s edit profile feature or right on your desktop. Aim for an experience that appeals to mobile users the most, but don’t forget about desktop Tweeters either.

2. Your username and display name 

There are two types of names on Twitter, and both are equally vital for your business.

Username 

This is your account’s handle. A handle, or username, is how users can find your account directly. It’s completely unique to your account, which also means nobody else can share your username. It’s yours! You have the power to create and change it as you see fit. We recommend your username is simple, easy to type, and original. Don’t be clever here. Just be direct. The closer to your business’s actual name, the better. 

Here’s the big don’t of this section: DON’T change your username regularly. For the most part, Twitter allows you to do this every few weeks. But it’s not recommended. You want to maintain a consistent brand. If your username—the very thing people can use to find you directly—is always changing, then how in the world can your customers find you?

Display name 

While a username is fairly static, the display name is far more dynamic. You can change your display name at any time. Most businesses use display names to simply display their business. And that’s totally fine! However, you have fifty characters! This is valuable screen real estate that you can take advantage of. Without being rude or invasive, you can change or adapt your display name to communicate value, sales, or anything you think is attention-grabbing. Just please be responsible and think of what your followers and prospective customers might think when they read it.

3. The description 

If you confuse, you lose. As a Certified StoryBrand Agency, we know this all too well. You only have a few seconds to capture the attention of someone on Twitter. Make your description count. 

Your Twitter description is 160 characters. Use your description to tell the world how you can help them. Be direct, keep it simple, and be honest! 

Twitter offers you the space to pin a direct link in your description. Whichever link you choose, triple-check it’s where you want your customers to go. Their destination needs to offer two things: information and action. Ensure they can learn more about your business and, if you do it right, feel compelled to do business with you!

Location is important, even on your Twitter account! Brick and mortar stores must add their primary location, region, or founding city to appeal to their target audience. Just one location? Add your address. How about 50? Maybe add where it all began.

4. Analytics 

Analytics are essential to businesses. You need to be able to track, report, and optimize your social media efforts! It’s an uphill climb, but soon enough, you’ll find a healthy return on your social media investment. And it’s all thanks to Twitter’s helpful analytics tools! While limited, Twitter analytics do a great job at showcasing your individual post-performance and quarterly analysis. It’s a high-level snapshot of your business’s Twitter presence! Think of it as a jumping-off point. You’ll measure the engagement and discover new opportunities for success, explore key demographics and information of your followers, and can even track the performance of advertising campaigns. And these tools are free for anyone, business or otherwise.

5. Final tips

1.Use tools to communicate, track, and schedule

Managing individual social channels can be messy. How many social media accounts does your business have? If you’re using an app for each platform, you could be wasting a lot of time. Instead, manage all of your social channels, like Twitter, under one roof.

Maybe you’re trying to find free options for social media management and tracking. If that sounds more your speed, then here are three options for you to choose from:

• Tweetdeck is the tried and true solution to managing all of your active social media in one space. 
• Canva offers free and low-cost plans for people just like you who are looking for tools to learn, create, and share content right from one place.
• Hootsuite provides a free but limited plan for businesses that need a scheduling and integration tool that’s quick and easy.

2. Develop a strategy 

Starting without a game plan is guaranteed to create friction and problems. Developing a strategy before work begins is a great way to understand problems before they happen, and discover solutions to issues you otherwise wouldn’t have known about. This is applicable to any marketing initiative, not just social. For more information on why strategy is so vital, read our blog on why your marketing must begin with strategy.

3. Work with a growth agency that helps you put it all together

Sauce Agency is here to guide you through social media marketing. Our process is simple: we identify areas of improvement in your current social initiatives, offer opportunities, and help your team align on what needs to be done! Though we do not offer implementation of curated social media content, we do offer vital services like strategy development, branding, content plans, and even keyword research. 

To discover how a marketing agency can help you get started on Twitter, contact one of our dedicated growth guides today. We’ll be happy to talk with you!