“No, I’m NOT going to have a Twitter account and I’m definitely not blogging.” – Myself, September 2013
Just a few months down the line I signed up to Twitter and I’m now an avid blogger. So much for that!

So, what Changed my Mind?

Twitter is fast-moving – responses are almost immediate, and results are fast.
To start with I was just dipping my toe in the Twitter ‘pool’ to see if it was okay to jump in, and I was amazed with the results.
Not only have I gained some fabulous Tweeters as friends, but I’ve driven a ton of traffic to my website in a way that other social media platforms haven’t. That’s the message I want to put across to you today.
Twitter – if done properly – is a fabulous tool for building relationships and brand trust, which is essential if you’re going to convert new business leads into customers and brand ambassadors.

How to Optimise the New Twitter Profile

Twitter recently changed its profile layout which allows space for a larger profile header and profile photo; it’s not dissimilar to Facebook’s timeline header.
Make the most of the extra header space (1500 x 500 pxl) to maximise your visibility but bear in mind that not all aspects are visible on a smart phone, so be sure to position the important elements of your header where they’re going to be seen on a laptop, tablet and smartphone.

For your profile photo, try to use a good, clear and professionally taken head shot using the new dimensions (500 x 500 pxl).

If you sell services as opposed to products, make sure your profile is engaging and inviting (don’t be dull and corporate). Bear in mind that potential clients or customers tend to read a brand’s social media content before they even considering buying from you so keep tweets professional, friendly and don’t use it as a platform to air your personal grievances!
You now have the option to ‘pin’ posts to the top of your profile to optimise them; Twitter will make them the largest and most obvious tweets on your profile.
Similarly, Twitter enhances posts according to how popular they are; the more interaction and retweets they get, the larger they become.

Top 10 Twitter Tips

1. Smart Search: use the search tool to find people in your niche, or find out where your ‘ideal’ Tweeters are lurking.
2. #RT: find out who the influential Tweeters are and retweet their tweets. Do the same for anyone else you want to follow and befriend.
3.  80/20 Rule: promote & retweet others’ posts 80% of the time and tweet about yourself for the remaining 20% of the time. Nobody likes self-promoters; you’ll soon end up becoming more unfollowed than followed.
4. Inform & Be Useful: find good articles, blog posts, YouTube or Vine videos and images to Tweet to your followers. If your speciality is social media, retweet some articles from the experts.
5. Visual: use visual content in tweets for greatest impact. Tweet: Tweets with images get 150% more interaction [Buffer]
6. Short but Sweet: tweets of between 71 – 100 characters win the most retweets [TrackSocial].
7. Early Birds & Night Owls: there is a lot of Twitter chat first thing in the morning as people travel to work and in the evenings when they relax in front of the sofa. Don’t write off these times.
8. Weekends: there is nearly 17% more Twitter engagement at weekends than mid-week so keep tweeting!
9. Twitter Chats: get involved in the weekly # hashtag chats to increase your followers.
10. Competitions: have a go at winning a Twitter competition. You’ll win a shiny badge to put on your profile and have your business retweeted the next day – a great way to get yourself known & win friends.

Best Twitter Apps

TweetDeck – free to use, TweetDeck will cut out all the Twitter noise according to your preferences so you only see what you want. Organise streams into columns, create searches, make lists.
Hootsuite – great for managing multiple accounts, scheduling bulk uploads using CSV files, organising what you want to see into columns.
FollowerWonk – good for analysing who your followers are, when they tweet, who are the influencers in your niche for more targeted marketing.
Twicca (for Android) – great tweet filtering, uses Twitpic for image uploads, geotagging, supports multiple accounts.
Tweetbot (for iOS) – just the best Twitter app for Apple devices.

by Nickypasquier