Just as a Facebook page can be created and used to promote your small business or private practice, so can a Twitter account be used as well - but it is important that you not create one if you are not committed to maintaining it regularly. If your business has only five followers six months from now, then such an appearance may tarnish your brand.
Before we discuss how to use a Twitter account, it is necessary, of course, to describe how to create one.
First, go to Twitter.com. After you fill in a name, e-mail address, and password, you will see the screen below:
"Sample Account," of course, will actually be whatever name you enter in the prior page. At this screen, click "next."
Before you proceed, Twitter will first ask to "follow" up to five accounts based on a search for specific people, interests, or topics. You can enter search terms in the field in the top right-hand corner. In this example, we searched for Twitter's suggestion of "Lady Gaga." After you have followed a few accounts, click the blue "next" box as shown by the red arrow.
Then, Twitter will take you to your "home" page. Of course, it will be very simple at this point since you have just created your account. The "timeline" in the main area will show the latest tweets by the accounts you had just chosen to follow.
Now, click on "profile" in the menu bar at the top of your screen. You will be taken to your profile page, which will show your most-recent personal tweets. (Of course, there will probably be none at this point.) Click on the link signified by the red arrow to "edit your profile."
At the profile section, you can personalize your Twitter account according to your business. You can upload your company's logo (or perhaps a personalized image if you are a private consultant), enter your firm's name, list your location and website, and then write a company description in the "bio" field.
Of course, this is just the first step in using another aspect of social media to market your business. In our next post in this series, we will detail the top features to know about Twitter and how to use them.