One of the most popular social media platforms is Twitter, and your business should have a presence on it. There are guidelines that professional business Twitter users need to follow, and these are not the same as those for casual and personal users.

Your Twitter name and profile

Many Twitter users use nicknames, often as amusing ways to present themselves. As a business user you need to use your real name or your company name. If your real name is already taken then you can try using initials. A good tip is to combine your industry with your name. For example, if you make red widgets and your name is John Smith, your Twitter profile name could be SmithRedWidget.

For most businesses your profile and image needs to be fairly conservative, but not bland and uninteresting. Your profile and images should be clear and attractive to engage your readers, not confuse them.

Discretion

Your Tweets need to be professional. Your style should not be too casual, and swear words should be avoided. You may have strong feelings on a topic concerning your industry, but being too political or controversial could alienate some of your readers, and this can reflect badly on your business.

Follow other professionals in your industry and join in their conversations, but do this in a mature manner with discretion.

Managing your Twitter account

There is a huge amount of traffic on Twitter so it is important to filter out topics that are irrelevant to you. Apps such as Tweet Deck can be used to manage Twitter. Using Tweet Deck, you can follow influential people, manage hashtags, find relevant content and engage better with your followers.

Twitter is a valuable platform to promote your brand, but it needs to be done in an efficient and professional way.

John Murray

John is every inch the wordsmith and loves a game of Scrabble above all else. With experience writing for newspapers, John’s time at university was spent studying Creative Writing – something which comes across in his love of the pun.