6 Things To Do To Get Started On Twitter

Getting started with a new social platform may be a little scary or may look like a ot of work. I get it - you are not too sure what to do, you fear to look dumb, or you don't know what is the value you will get out of it yet. Here are the facts, it is easy to put off getting started to tomorrow, next week, next month… Believe me, been there, done that too.

Here are a few tips I wished someone told me to get started on the right foot with Twitter.

Tip#1: Ask yourself: what is your reason to use Twitter?

From my experience, all social platforms have slight differences in the way we use them but what will make you stay on a certain platform (or not) is the value you see in it. Being curious about it is a great start, but what would you like to achieve using this platform? Be on top of the latest news? Find specific content? Build connections in a specific field? No matter what it is, as long as you see the value you will be just fine! You might as well discover other aspects of Twitter along your journey that bring additional value - nothing is set in stone, especially with social media.

Tip#2: Complete your profile

I know it seems obvious but this is absolutely crucial, especially if you want to be noticed by the right people. Like any other social platform, your profile should reflect the value you can offer to others; hence have a picture that makes you stand out, be verified, and have an bio that reflect what your business/profile is about. You want to be found easily, and therefore use the right username (or Twitter Handle for the experts) and the right keywords (or Hashtags, again for the experts!).

Tip#3: Understand what Hashtags are

Hashtags absolutely rule Twitter - therefore it is important you understand what they are and how to use them. Long story short, hashtags (#) have been brought to Twitter in 2007 : the idea was to share specific content only to certain users who would be specifically interested in it. Since 2007, the rule has not changed. If you are interested in a certain topic, you will have to find the hashtag(s) that is (are) associated to this topic. (Side note: Hastagify.me is a great tool for this). If you want to position yourself as an expert in this topic, your posts (tweets for the experts) and bio should contain these hashtags so you can be found by users who share your interest.

If you are using Twitter for research purposes, follow a specific topic or Donald Trump's latest tweets, you can stop reading here. If you are interested in growing an audience and/or building meaningful relationships, tips 4, 5 and 6 will give you the basics.

Tip#4: Post (Tweet!) consistently and frequently

LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter… the platform does not matter - if you want to build relationships, increase your credibility, you will have to tweet with consistency. On LinkedIn or Facebook once you connect (or are friends) with people, you can expect your network to increase (or at least be flat) even if you do not post very often. On Twitter, your audience follows you - which is slightly different and waaaaaay less forgiving. You are followed for the quality of content you post but also for its quantity. Twitter is known as a "real time news" platform because tweets are short and this is where the latest information is easily released. Which means, there is a lot of content out there and you will need to post a bit more often that on other platforms to get noticed - and of course relevant content for your audience.

Tip#5: Engage with your audience

About audiences… what is your audience? Twitter is a wonderful platform to grow an audience (really fast) as long as you know who they are and given that you actually engage with them. Tweeting (yes, it is also a verb) on its own is not enough. Get even more traction by liking other users tweets, resharing their tweets (retweeting), mentioning them in your own tweets, thanking them for following you, connect with them on other platforms... Of course using the right hashtags is absolutely key, once again!

Tip#6: Track your progress

Whatever your initial objective using Twitter is, I strongly recommend you track your progress. There are multiple metrics you can look at to measure how you are getting on. Let me give you a few ideas: your audience size and interests over time, who the biggest influencers in your network are, how much engagement your tweets are generating. Over time you can really start understanding what content works best and who is engaging most with it. Twitter Analytics is a great starting point that will give you all this information... for free!

Last but not least, stop overthinking. Just get started and see how you are getting on!

What are your thoughts on this? How did you get started on Twitter?