Twitter: Your First Day

So you’ve decided to get involved with the Twitter revolution. Congratulations! But now what?

Here are the things you should do on your first day.

1. Create your account. Just go to Twitter.com and sign up. Choose your user name wisely. If it’s available I recommend you use your own name. If not, consider variations, such as adding “The” infront of it. Or adding a middle initial. Or your first name with your city or state.As an alternative you could use your topic or area of expertise. Just make sure you’re going to stick with that – or you’ll be left with a user name that makes no sense to the people in your new niche.

InterCap your name, such as JeanetteCates. It makes it more readable.

2. Write your profile. Include information about your interests and use keywords that relate to your niche. You’re limited to 160 characters, so you may want to write it out ahead of time to be sure you get all of the critical information in there.

3. Load a photo. The picture itself can’t be over 700k – but it’s going to create a 48 x 48 pixel picture of you to show on your profile. So try to get a picture that is close enough they can see your face.

Remember, all of this information can be edited as you become more sophisticated in your use of Twitter. The important thing is to get started!

4. Now it’s time to start tweeting. If you’re experiencing the “blank page” syndrome you’re not alone. Almost everyone feels that way when they first start. Here are some suggestions on what to tweet about.

I’m new to Twitter. What do you find most helpful to teach you to use it?

I’m setting up a ____   (it could be a new page, new blog, new article – whatever you’re doing that is business-related.)

Really found this article about ___ helpful. Give URL

My cat just jumped up onto the keyboard erasing my latest idea!

A Quote. Just put the “quote goes here” along with author of the quote – these are great for getting people to re-tweet them. (Retweeting is passing it along for you. Builds your reputation and your traffic online.)

You want to post 5-10 tweets, spread throughout the day. That will give people who are considering following you an idea of who you are. Notice that you’re combining a little bit of personality along with business-related posts.

Also notice that you are not sending one promotional message after another. Instead, aim for 4-6 content tweets to every promotional tweet.

5. Start looking for people you want to follow. Search for the names of well-known people in your field, as well as those known for social media marketing. Search for names of your friends. Just click the Follow button under their name and you’ll start seeing their tweets.

That should take care of your Day One’s activities. Altogether you can easily complete these activities in 3 or 4 10-minute sessions. You won’t find an easier way to start marketing online than by using Twitter.

Dr. Jeanette Cates (http://Twitter.com/JeanetteCates) is an Internet strategist who works with new Online Business owners to help them create their Online Success, starting from where they are. She is the co-creator of Social Marketing Basics.

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