Mini Guide to Twitter for beginners

Are you a Twitter newbie? Have you been told that Twitter is an epic marketing tool for small and big business alike? And now you want to get started? – This guide to Twitter is a great place to start. In this guide I will explain what Twitter is and how you can use Twitter for business. I am sure you know of twitter! Or have heard of twitter but are you using it yet? And are you considering using it for your business? Lets start by introducing you to Twitter:

Twitter is one of the biggest and most popular social networks n the world. Classed as a micro-blogging site. Millions of people, individuals and businesses post tweets or broadcasts (small 140 character posts) every single day. These tweets, consist of text, images, links, video and now small surveys.

What can users do on Twitter?

Follow – Follow other users Unfollow – Unfollow users Block - Block users you don't want to interact with Tweet text - Send up to 140 character tweet (text) Tweet images – As your image takes up space there is less space for 140 characters Tweet short video – this is a 2015 feature where you are able to create a short video and upload straight from your smartphone Tweet Survey – A new feature is where you are able to add a 2 answer survey to your tweets. Tweet Gif – An animated image Retweet others Tweets – Using the RT icon you are able to retweet other peoples content Reply to Retweet Like tweets – Liking by tapping the heart icon on others tweets (was favourite and a star icon) Hashtags – Using this # symbol with some text like this #socialmedia to follow a trend or event hashtag for example Pinned Post - You can pin an important post to the top of your profile Direct Message – Directly message any user privately Ad profile image - Starts with an egg but you upload your own image Add cover image - This should reflect your brand or personality Include a bio – No explaining required Include web address – You may include a clickable website link Lists - You are able to create lists of people and brands Advertising – Twitter ads is a platform you can use to pay for advertising on Twitter to reach more users Analytics - Twitters built in tool to help you analyse your interactions and traffic 3rd Party Applications – Applications created by others to work with Twitter

In a nutshell users are able to send promotions, create conversation, respond, send direct messages, retweet others tweets and so on.

The Twitter website / platform can be used via your desktop, laptop, tablet or through a mobile phone app.

So how can you use Twitter for business?

Twitter is free. It's a social network and for business you can use it in many ways. Twitters default setting is public where as many others aren't. This makes it particularly useful for connecting with many relevant people in your industry without having to wait for acceptance. If you wish to join in with a conversation on Twitter you can use a hashtag, this way you can join a conversation or topic without having to actually follow someone and vice versa. A hashtag is this # symbol followed by words. You can see what hashtags are trending and join those conversations or create your own hashtags to track how far the conversation about your brand has reached.

On Twitter you are able to follow as many people as you wish (up to 2000 before you have reached 2k followers). This platform is perfect for sharing your blog posts and valuable information for more visits. For building your brand and for building meaningful relationships which can of course lead to more business.

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