in: Twitter
by: Katie Hellmuth Martin
If you've been in business for awhile, you most likely have a business account for tweeting about your business, and creating your brand story. You may also have a personal Twitter account where you tweet about everything from what you're up to during the day to your favorite dinner dishes and TV observations. But what do you do if you start another venture? Even if it's "just a blog"? I'm not talking about the blog for your business. I'm talking about a totally new project that you have developed outside of your business.
If you have started something new, you should start a new Twitter account for it to brand it and spread the good word about it, whether it's a distinct initiative or project within a larger business, or a full out new blog or new brand that you have started on the side. Here is why and how you should start (and grow) your new Twitter handle from scratch:
ACCEPTING THE FACT THAT YOU NEED A NEW ACCOUNT
Twitter accounts have personality. If you tweet for your business, that business account is only talking about that brand. If you tweet on your own personal handle, people are following you for different reasons. To suddenly start tweeting about a new venture from your personal handle will not flow well. You can tweet about it at your personal handle, sure, but for your main storytelling efforts, you'll want to unleash in your new Twitter account. Your tweets will be easier to write and better received by current and new followers.
ADVERTISERS & BIG COMPANIES EXPECT IT
If you plan on making money or getting press from your blog or new venture now or in the future, potential partners from will look for your Twitter handle to see how many followers you have, and what you tweet about. People still get hung up on numbers, but it's a quality vs. quantity game here, I promise. There are so many scammers out there who get paid to follow accounts, you really just want to attract normal people who really want to read and share your content.
NAMING YOUR TWITTER HANDLE
Stay as close to your new brand name as possible. Twitter does have a character limit for new Twitter handle names, so you may need to compromise. If you can't have your full blog or business name in your Twitter handle, be sure that you include the full name in your profile description and Twitter first/last name.
BRANDING & DESIGNING YOUR TWITTER HANDLE
Here's the good news about starting your new Twitter handle from scratch: you're keeping it simple. If you already have your new blog or business website, keep the branded design for the new Twitter account very close to whatever design is at your blog or website. For instance, use the same graphics that are in the top area of your website for your big cover picture, and use your logo for the Twitter account handle.
USING TWITTER'S PROMOTED TWEETS TOOL
A must. Thanks to Twitter's promotion tool, starting a new Twitter account from scratch is way less scary and isolating than it used to be. To begin, you'll want to log into your Twitter account and visit ads.twitter.com. There, you will set up two things:
- Promoted Account: This only promotes your account and is used to suggest reasons for people to follow your new account.
- Promoted Tweets: This is for when you write a tweet and you want that tweet to be seen by more people than just your followers.
For both types, you should target "handles" for each advertising campaign you'll set up. And don't worry, Twitter has made this budget-friendly, so you can set your own budget for what you want to spend when attracting new followers.
A NEW TWITTER ACCOUNT IS NOT FOR THE HALF-HEARTED PROJECT
Do not start a new Twitter account for a project you are not fully invested in. Otherwise, you will have a ton of Twitter accounts littering the Internet. It will be like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. You want to start a new Twitter account when you are sure that you are committed to this new project. You may want to start the new Twitter account a few months or weeks after you have started your new business venture, just to make sure you are moving forward with the project. As you can see, running a Twitter account does take effort, both physically when you're setting up tweets, as well as mentally as you pre-plan tweets and identify opportunities to tweet to promote your brand and to foster relationships with others in the community of your business.
